JSwat as a NetBeans module

So I recently came to discover this quite amazing application platform
called the NetBeans Platform. This is the same platform that the
NetBeans IDE is based on, as well as a number of other graphical
applications that apparently have nothing to do with programming.

Anyway, the NetBeans platform provides a fair number of features for
free. I am considering rewriting JSwat to run on the NetBeans platform.
This would essentially be a rewrite as everything would have to be
changed. Regardless of that, changing to this platform will save me a
lot of trouble in implementing certain feature requests and fixing some
stupid bugs in JSwat. Below is a list of the bugs that would be
affected:

  395: Add customizability to toolbar
  396: Add ability to change default font
  438: Dragging toolbar to separate window is not remembered
  585: Capture keyboard shortcut assignments
  795: New layout: panels sized and positioned relative to each ...
  810: Better support of JSP source debugging
  827: Add plugin support
  836: Advanced scripting support
  840: Should use javax.swing.Action properties

Some of the other benefits are:

- Can find and load tools.jar file dynamically -- eliminates the need
  for the startup scripts and for the unnecessary complication in the
  README file (or at least I hope this is the case).
- Provides a lot of support for interface components, persistent
  settings, data display, and file systems (and the list goes on).
- Get support for JSwat plugins for free.
- Rewriting the actions to be NetBeans actions means making them more
  easily testable with JUnit.
- Can use Filesystems library to rid ourselves of the SourceSource
  classes and friends.
- Can use Java editor to provide useful functionality.

Issues still to be resolved are:

- Will one "binary" work on all Java-based platforms?
- Will a startup script be necessary to launch JSwat?
- Will the console mode still be a possibility?
- Will the jEdit plugin still be a possibility?

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or comments concerning this
change.

nathan