NetBeans Development - Windows 7 64-bit ... modules appear to not be loading

Being new to NetBeans 7 (this is running on Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate Edition) I found it extremely interesting that I can't get any POC (proof of concept applications) to be "viewable." Allow me to explain.

Going through the tutorials - about as simple as anything can ever be in software dev:

1) I create may NetBeans Development application ... but using a product location other than the default. NetBeans wants to use C:\Users{user_name}\Documents\NetBeanProjects as the root path to your projects, then create project folders underneath. Reasonable, but I have dedicated "development drives" where all my development happens, which is not where NetBeans wants to put it.

2) Create a Module for the application. Here I created an Installer and placed a System.out.println() in an overriden restored() method .... you never see this in the Output windows of the IDE. I also added a new Window with a button and textArea, and set the new Window's properties to be shown on application startup and in the Editor location .... you never see these either.

Long story short, I uninstalled NetBeans v7.0 from the computer, and reinstalled it again, but this time allowing the IDE to use the location it wants for project folders. Though, I still do not get the System.out.println() text in the Output window, I do get my new Windows with the button and TextArea.

I've added this post because I did a bunch of seaches trying to find an answer to all this to no avail. I certainly don't have the real answer, but if someone else is strugling with the same problem you'll at least have a "partial answer" i开发者_如何学编程f you've changed default project locations and your applications "don't seem to run or be visible."

If anyone knows the real answer to these questions PLEASE advise.

EDIT #1 ... thinking this might be a security or privilege issue I tried running the IDE "as Administrator" and this didn't make any difference. I do not see any prompts or anything in the OS' logs that indicate a problem either, so I'm assuming it's NetBeans.

EDIT #2 ... Found it. Finally discovered where all my System.out.println()'s are ending up. Not in the IDE's Output Window as I would have expected (pretty sure I'm not the only one) but in a "message.log" text file located at

C:\Users\{User_Name}\Documents\NetBeansProjects\{Project_Name}\build\testuserdir\var\log

That was fun - Not! I am assuming that this probably means the System.out is currently set to do this in a property somewhere. But at least I know it's not disappearing off into space somewhere now.

re. the System.out "Not in the IDE's Output Window", have you tried to instantiate a logger instead?

Directly after the class declaration, paste in the following field definition:

private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger("thePackageName.andYourClassNameHere");

import the import java.util.logging.Logger; library.

then simply log what ever you want to trace on the output console.

ie: logger.info(" ... " + ....);