To install FindBugs in NetBeans 6, the basic idea is to add an updatecenter configuration to NetBeans plugin manager. It will then periodically keep your installed plugin updated. These are the steps that worked for me. Note that these steps will install FindBugs + PMD + CheckStyle co-bundled plugins.
1, Go to NetBeans Tools -> plugins, click Settings tab. It shows a list of existing update centers like 3rd Party Plugins, NetBeans, NetBeans Beta, Plugin Portal.
2, Click Add button on the right side. You will see a Update Center Customizer popup, asking for Name and URL. Enter the following values. You may also enable Check for updates automatically.
Name: SQE Update Center
URL: https://sqe.dev.java.net/updatecenters/sqe/updates.xml
3, Click OK and you will see it is added the the list of update centers. Otherwise, most likely your network proxy is not properly configured. You can also manually verify the above URL in the browser.
4, Click Available Plugins tab, and then click the Reload Catalog button beneath the tab. After a short while, you will see a long list (close to 100) plugins. Plugins that are already installed are not included here.
5, Click Category column head to sort them. Notice 3 plugins under Quality category: SQE Java, SQE Update Center, SQE Platform.
6, Select all 3 plugins and click Install button. The rest is just clicking a few OK buttons. At the end, you will see 4 new icons on your tool bar: Check Quality, Run FindBugs, Run PMD, Run CheckStyle.
sqe (Software Quality Environment) is a java.net project. It also has instructions for integrate these tools with NetBeans here. But this page is slightly dated, with an invalid updatecenter URL (https://sqe.dev.java.net/updatecenters/sqe/catalog.xml). That page consists largely of screen shots and no way to copy that URL, which is the most critical data.
In sqe home page under Announcement section, it does mention that:
1, Go to NetBeans Tools -> plugins, click Settings tab. It shows a list of existing update centers like 3rd Party Plugins, NetBeans, NetBeans Beta, Plugin Portal.
2, Click Add button on the right side. You will see a Update Center Customizer popup, asking for Name and URL. Enter the following values. You may also enable Check for updates automatically.
Name: SQE Update Center
URL: https://sqe.dev.java.net/updatecenters/sqe/updates.xml
3, Click OK and you will see it is added the the list of update centers. Otherwise, most likely your network proxy is not properly configured. You can also manually verify the above URL in the browser.
4, Click Available Plugins tab, and then click the Reload Catalog button beneath the tab. After a short while, you will see a long list (close to 100) plugins. Plugins that are already installed are not included here.
5, Click Category column head to sort them. Notice 3 plugins under Quality category: SQE Java, SQE Update Center, SQE Platform.
6, Select all 3 plugins and click Install button. The rest is just clicking a few OK buttons. At the end, you will see 4 new icons on your tool bar: Check Quality, Run FindBugs, Run PMD, Run CheckStyle.
sqe (Software Quality Environment) is a java.net project. It also has instructions for integrate these tools with NetBeans here. But this page is slightly dated, with an invalid updatecenter URL (https://sqe.dev.java.net/updatecenters/sqe/catalog.xml). That page consists largely of screen shots and no way to copy that URL, which is the most critical data.
In sqe home page under Announcement section, it does mention that:
There is a new updatecenter url for NetBeans6 Beta 1 or later compatible development builds (pre-alpha) https://sqe.dev.java.net/updatecenters/sqe/updates.xml.This should allow the PluginManager to detect SQE as as 3 plugins (all other modules are hidden)!