In the NetBeans IDE version 4.0 and later, you may create projects …with Existing Ant Script, henceforth freeform projects. While there are several New Project wizards they all create the same kind of project, just with different initial configuration.
For many purposes the IDE’s graphical user interface will suffice to create and use this project type. However, you may need to do some manual customizations to the project in areas where the IDE’s GUI does not yet support you; a variety of common tasks can be performed using the instructions given here:
The following pages tries to explain the configuration format of freeform projects in detail, for those who need to do more advanced things.