hi people,

i am new to java and i am looking for a java IDE (for my linux and windows boxes) which is similar to VS.net which allows me also to make forms easily.
if you know an IDE like that could you please let me know + maybe a little explanation.

thank you in advance.

Not sure if free solutions exists, but Sun Java Studio Creator looks like fitting your needs if you're interested in commercial software. (http://www.sun.com/software/products/jscreator/)

Eclipse, its amazing. www.eclipse.org

edit: its written in Java so of course theres Linux versions as well.

You might also try NetBeans. It's a free IDE that's been pretty much spun off from Sun and uses a lot of the same features that are available in the Sun Java Studio Creator.

Nope, netbeans is Sun Java Studio's freeware brother, which, like IBM WSAD's Eclipse, is primarily targetting enterprise developers (J2EE).
Sun Java Studio Creator is a different product targetting "non developers", just like Visual Studio.NET.

I agree that netbeans is targeted more to enterprise users, but you don't need to use any of the J2EE stuff that it includes, and the OP said he was looking for something like VS.net. I believe it, too, is pretty much targeted at enterprise users... Not trying to be argumentative or anything. I just happen to like netbeans, it's available for free, and it works fine for Linux and Windows...

JoeMayer, I'm in fact a netbeans supporter too and agree about the fact it is a very good piece of free software.

I just wanted to point out that "Sun Java Studio" and "Sun Java Studio Creator" are despite the similar names, different products with AFAIK no code in common beyond the Java SDKs.
The latter is designed to provide a mainstream easy to use interface for small two tier developments (drag and drop RAD), designed to go head to head with Microsoft's Visual Studio as well as tools like IBM's WebSphere Studio while the former target a narrower more "professional" audience with multi-tier architecture projects.

The OP is asking for a tool allowing to "make forms easily", the reason why I suggested Sun Java Studio Creator.

yes that was my main question actually, an IDE which i can create GUI's easily with.

does netbeans or eclipse have that easy use to create quick GUI's?

thanks for all the suggestions

I find netbeans to be easy to use to create basic guis, but it's kind of annoying to really do complex stuff sometimes. I find myself going back in after the fact and tweaking with the auto-generated code that the gui editor creates. That being said, it's pretty easy to put together a form and the functions behind it.

Can't really speak for Eclipse, since I haven't used it much...

I don't think there is yet a suitable (free) GUI builder for java. Netbeans is okay for GUI building and is an excellent IDE, give it a try.

Just for a correction about something I mistakenly wrote about SJS Creator, it *IS* actually sharing some code with netbeans. Sorry for the misinformation.

thanks for all the replies, i think i will give netbeans a try.
i was a bit confused between netbeans and eclipse because some teacher in my uni use eclipse so logically i thought it is better then netbeans but it seems that more people here prefere netbeans.

I think your professor is probably smart to use Eclipse: It has a lot of advantages over NetBeans. It supports multiple languages and multiple operating systems, there are a bajillion plugins for it that do everything but shine your shoes, and it has a large following that keep creating neat new add-ons for it. However, just like with many other products, there are some compromises: It's got a pretty steep learning curve and it takes a fair amount of horsepower on your machine (more than NetBeans, from my earlier experiences).

I guess my overall assessment is to use NetBeans (or a paid IDE, like CodeWarrior, IntelliJ, or the new Sun Studio Creator) for ease of use, but go ahead and get Eclipse if you are seriously looking to code for a living into the future. I think Eclipse will take you further in the long run.

Joe