First, there is a template for an XML layer in the Modules API section.
Second, the special tag OpenIDE-Module-Layer
is recognized in
module manifests and will display the layer currently set for a module, if any.
In the Explorer, just Copy your new layer and Paste to the Layer
category underneath the manifest node.
Third and most interestingly, XML files in general which correspond to the DTD
for layers are marked with a special
icon. They may be opened as XML text and edited. The node in the Explorer for the
layer displays underneath it the files that it will install, in their natural
structure. This way you can test that all resources you mention are available,
that various file attributes such as
template
are recognized as you
expect, and so on. To correct something, just edit the file and save it - you will
see the results immediately in the Explorer.
If there is some sort of parse error in the XML file, the layer node will show a red X to indicate the error, and the details will be printed to a tab in the Output Window. When you correct the error, the mark will go away and you should again see the current set of installed files.
If you use the following special attributes recognized by the system file system,
the layer node will mimic their effect for you in advance:
SystemFileSystem.localizingBundle
, of string type and pointing to a
bundle file (by resource name, e.g. org.netbeans.modules.foo.Bundle)
which has keys (named according to file paths, e.g. Templates/Other/foo.qqq)
giving localized display names for files; and SystemFileSystem.icon
and SystemFileSystem.icon32
, of URL type and pointing to icon images
to be used in place of the default icons for the files.