Working With IntelliJ for Java 1/2

Downloading and Installing

Follow the instructions to first download, and then install IntelliJ IDEA to your machine.

1. Go to the IntelliJ IDEA download page.
2. Click the download button under the "Community" edition. Save the file to your computer.

   

3. Once the download is complete, locate the downloaded file and run it. If you are asked anything such as "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?" just agree.
4. Click NEXT on the opening welcome screen.

   

5. The next screen confirms the location of your installation. The default is fine: you don't need to change anything. Click NEXT to continue.

   

6. The next screen asks you to configure a couple of options for your installation:
   • Create Desktop Shortcut: unless your computer is really old, select "64 bit launcher" (if your computer is that old, you probably won't be able to use it in term 2 and should start thinking about getting a new one).
   • Create Associations: select ".java". This just means that when you double-click any .java file on your computer, it will automatically open with IntelliJ IDEA. Feel free to leave this unchecked if you prefer and you know what you're doing.
   Once you've set your options, click the NEXT button.

   

7. The next screen asks you to choose a name for the folder in your Windows Start menu for IntelliJ IDEA. You can leave the default or change it if you want, it's up to you. As long as you know where it is in future, it doesn't matter. Click INSTALL.

   

8. The installation will take some time. You can watch the progress window while the software is installing.
9. The last window confirms that your installation is finished and asks if you'd now like to run the IntelliJ IDEA program. If you're in class, you probably want to check the box. If you're at home and doing this on your own, it's up to you if you want to run IntelliJ now or not. Either way, click the FINISH button.

   

Running IntelliJ for the First Time

When you run IntelliJ for the first time, you'll be asked whether or not you want to import any settings from a previous installation. It's assumed you don't have a previous install, so just make sure "Do not import settings" is selected and click OK.

Next, you'll be asked to agree to the JetBrains privacy policy. This is standard. Scroll down to the bottom of the policy text (the ACCEPT button will remain disabled until you do so). Click the ACCEPT button once it has become enabled.

The next screen asks if you would like to share your usage stats with JetBrains (this is common for many companies where they want to track how/when users use their software). Personally, I never agree to these things, but it's really up to you. Click either button, depending on your preference.

Finally, IntelliJ IDEA starts up and you are asked to choose a default theme (you can change or customize this in the settings, later). Choose whether or not you want the darker theme or the lighter theme. You won't need to change any of the other options they're going to ask you about, so once you've made a choice, click "Skip Remaining and Set Defaults" on the bottom-left of the screen.

The splash screen appears while the program loads. When it disappears, you'll see the Welcome screen. This screen asks you what you'd like to do. We might as well start a new project!

Creating a New Project

You can create several different kinds of projects in IntelliJ. For this course, we'll primarily be creating simple Java projects. A Java project consists of one or more source code files that are then compiled into bytecode files. Bytecode files can then be run by any Java virtual machine.

After choosing to create a new project, you'll be asked what kind of project you want to create. Make sure Java is selected in the list on the left side of the screen.

To the right is the Project SDK field. This asks you to choose which Development Kit you want to use for your project. If it says "No SDK", you'll have to select the one you installed earlier. Click the NEW button.

A dialog opens asking you to choose the location of your SDK. You should see your C: drive listed there, so use the little tiny arrow on the left to expand it and browse to your Program Files / Java directory on your system.

In the Program Files / Java directory, you should see your JDK folder, e.g. jdk-10.0.2 but the numbers might be different for you. Select that directory and then click the OK button.

Now you're back in the New Project dialog box. Ignore the bottom part of the screen where it asks about libraries. Click the NEXT button.

The next screen asks what template you want to use. We won't be using templates at this time so just ignore this screen. Click NEXT.

The last screen asks you to name your project and choose a project location. Earlier today you created directories/folders for your courses, including a java1/projects folder (or you might have called it prog10082 instead of java1, it doesn't matter). This is where you should store all of your projects. A single project contains multiple files, so when you make a project in IntelliJ, it will create a new directory/folder to contain all those files (this is often called the project's root). The name of your project root is the same as the name of your project.

Next, we create a name for our project. The project name is important, since that's how you'll be able to tell one project from another. Project names should be "self-documenting" (you should be able to accurately guess what the project is for just by reading the project name). In the example below, I called the project "FirstJavaProject". Enter an appropriate project name for your new project.

Next, we choose a location for our project files. Each project you create goes inside its own directory/folder. For example, if you create a project called "MyFirstProject", and you store it in your java1/projects folder, your project files should be located in the directory java1/projects/MyFirstProject directory.

The "Project Location:" field determines where your project and its files will be stored. By default, your Project Location may be listed as some other directory, but wee need to make sure we set it to our projects directory we created earlier. Also, since the project's files should go inside a FirstJavaProject directory, we'll need to create that directory, too.

Beside the "Project Location:" field, there's a small button with 3 dots (ellipsis) on it. Click that button to open the file browser.

Now you have a file browser dialog open. Browse to your prog10082/projects (for Java 1) or prog24178/projects (for Java 2) directory and select it.

Then click the "New Folder" button in the button bar at the top.

Now a smaller dialog opens, asking you to enter a new folder name. For this example, I typed "FirstJavaProject" since that's the name I chose for this project. After you enter a folder name, click the OK button.

Now your file browser shows the new project directory inside your /projects directory. Make sure it's selected and then click OK.

You should now be back at the original new project dialog, and the Project Location field has been updated to your newly created project directory.