From c014158904b6de6a1538f877c7c85713d60128cb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Bien <mbien42@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2025 08:55:17 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Add NetBeansProjects dir to Favorites tab

 - projects dir is now registered as favorite
 - fixed bug: when a custom project dir location is specified by
   setting  'netbeans.projects.dir', the dir is now automatically
   created, instead of falling back to the default dir, which
   gave the impression that the property isn't working
---
 .../modules/project/ui/OpenProjectListSettings.java    |  7 +++++--
 .../netbeans/modules/project/ui/ProjectUtilities.java  | 10 +++++++++-
 .../src/org/netbeans/modules/ide/branding/layer.xml    |  8 ++++++++
 3 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/OpenProjectListSettings.java b/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/OpenProjectListSettings.java
index 2032e89c83e1..fa602d15f00f 100644
--- a/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/OpenProjectListSettings.java
+++ b/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/OpenProjectListSettings.java
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
  */
 public class OpenProjectListSettings {
 
-    private static OpenProjectListSettings INSTANCE = new OpenProjectListSettings();
+    private static final OpenProjectListSettings INSTANCE = new OpenProjectListSettings();
     
     private static final String RECENT_PROJECTS_DISPLAY_NAMES = "RecentProjectsDisplayNames"; //NOI18N
     private static final String RECENT_PROJECTS_DISPLAY_ICONS = "RecentProjectsIcons"; //NOI18N
@@ -310,8 +310,11 @@ public File getProjectsFolder(boolean create) {
         if (result == null || !(new File(result)).exists()) {
             // property for overriding default projects dir location
             String userPrjDir = System.getProperty("netbeans.projects.dir"); // NOI18N
-            if (userPrjDir != null) {
+            if (userPrjDir != null && !userPrjDir.isBlank()) {
                 File f = new File(userPrjDir);
+                if (create && !f.exists()) {
+                    f.mkdirs();
+                }
                 if (f.exists() && f.isDirectory()) {
                     return FileUtil.normalizeFile(f);
                 }
diff --git a/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/ProjectUtilities.java b/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/ProjectUtilities.java
index 388524766847..ddc3676fcb55 100644
--- a/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/ProjectUtilities.java
+++ b/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/ProjectUtilities.java
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@
 import org.netbeans.api.actions.Openable;
 import org.netbeans.api.project.Project;
 import org.netbeans.api.project.ProjectUtils;
-import static org.netbeans.modules.project.ui.Bundle.*;
 import org.netbeans.modules.project.ui.groups.Group;
 import org.netbeans.spi.project.AuxiliaryConfiguration;
 import org.netbeans.spi.project.ui.support.ProjectConvertors;
@@ -60,6 +59,7 @@
 import org.openide.util.Exceptions;
 import org.openide.util.Mutex;
 import org.openide.util.NbBundle.Messages;
+import org.openide.util.Utilities;
 import org.openide.windows.Mode;
 import org.openide.windows.TopComponent;
 import org.openide.windows.WindowManager;
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@
 import org.w3c.dom.Element;
 import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
 
+import static org.netbeans.modules.project.ui.Bundle.*;
+
 /** The util methods for projectui module.
  *
  * @author  Jiri Rechtacek
@@ -601,6 +603,12 @@ private static List<String> getOpenFilesUrls(Project p, String groupName) {
         }    
         return new ArrayList<>(set);
     }
+    
+    // called from (ide.branding) layer.xml on Favorites tab open
+    public static URL getProjectsFolder() throws MalformedURLException {
+        File projectsFolder = OpenProjectListSettings.getInstance().getProjectsFolder(true);
+        return Utilities.toURI(projectsFolder).toURL();
+    }
 
     // interface for handling project's documents stored in project private.xml
     // it serves for a unit test of OpenProjectList
diff --git a/nb/ide.branding/src/org/netbeans/modules/ide/branding/layer.xml b/nb/ide.branding/src/org/netbeans/modules/ide/branding/layer.xml
index 5228863f1144..37dd850ca9ee 100644
--- a/nb/ide.branding/src/org/netbeans/modules/ide/branding/layer.xml
+++ b/nb/ide.branding/src/org/netbeans/modules/ide/branding/layer.xml
@@ -38,6 +38,14 @@
       <attr name="currentFontColorProfile" stringvalue="FlatLaf Light" />
     </folder>
 
+    <folder name="Favorites">
+        <file name="NetBeansProjects.shadow">
+            <attr name="originalFile" methodvalue="org.netbeans.modules.project.ui.ProjectUtilities.getProjectsFolder"/>
+            <attr name="originalFileSystem" stringvalue="org.netbeans.modules.masterfs.MasterFileSystem"/>
+            <attr name="position" intvalue="110"/>
+        </file>
+    </folder>
+
     <folder name="Windows2">
       <folder name="Background">
         <attr name="backgroundImage" stringvalue="org/netbeans/modules/ide/branding/apache-netbeans.png" />