Enhancement: Improve Maven multi-module support and Projects view to match VSCode-like unified project management

[AndyLuke]

Description

Affected Version

All

Project Type

Maven multi-module project

Component

Maven support / Projects view / Project UI

What happened (current behavior)

1. Maven multi-module project loading
   • When opening a Maven parent project, NetBeans does not auto-detect and load all declared submodules in the Projects view.
   • Each submodule must be opened individually; once opened, submodules appear as top-level siblings with the parent project (flat list), not nested under the parent.
   • With 20+ submodules, the Projects view becomes cluttered, unstructured, and hard to navigate.
2. Unopened submodules break IDE features
   • Unopened submodules are visible in the Files view (physical file system) but not in the Projects view.
   • Opening Java files from unopened modules treats them as plain text files: no code completion, static analysis, error checking, breakpoint debugging, or refactoring support.
3. Projects view missing root files
   • Key root files (README.md, .gitignore, LICENSE, docker-compose.yml, .gitlab-ci.yml, etc.) are not shown in the Projects view.
   • Users must switch back and forth between Projects and Files views to view/edit these files, which is disruptive and inefficient.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open a standard Maven multi-module project (parent pom.xml with > list).
2. Observe the Projects view: only the parent project is loaded; submodules are not auto-imported.
3. Open several submodules: they appear as top-level entries, not nested under parent.
4. Open a Java file from an unopened submodule via Files view: no IDE intelligence.
5. Check root directory: README.md and other config files are missing in Projects view.

What you would like to happen (expected behavior)

1. Auto‑detect & nest all Maven submodules
   • Open parent pom.xml → automatically recognize and load all submodules declared in pom.xml.
   • Display submodules hierarchically nested under their parent module in Projects view (not flat list).
   • Support large multi‑module projects (20+ modules) with clean, collapsible tree structure.
2. Full IDE support without manually opening submodules
   • Any file from any submodule (opened via Projects or Files view) gets full Java intelligence: completion, linting, debugging, goto definition, refactoring.
   • No need to manually “open” a submodule to use IDE features.
3. Unified Projects view = logical structure + physical files
   • Show root project files (README.md, .gitignore, config files) directly in Projects view, under parent/module root nodes.
   • Eliminate constant switching between Projects and Files views.
   • Deliver a unified, VSCode‑like project explorer that combines logical Maven structure and physical file visibility.

Use case/motivation

This improvement is critical for enterprise Java development with large Maven multi‑module projects.
Current behavior:

• Slows down daily navigation and file lookup
• Breaks debugging and coding assistance for unopened modules
• Forces context switching between two views
• Scales poorly for teams with many modules

A unified, hierarchical Projects view matching modern IDE ergonomics will greatly improve productivity and make NetBeans more competitive for professional Maven‑based development.

Proposal

Redesign the Maven project provider and Projects view to:

• Parse full multi‑module tree at project open time
• Render parent‑module hierarchy natively
• Enable full language server/debugger support for all submodules by default
• Show configurable root files (README, configs) in Projects view
• Merge logical project structure and physical file visibility into one coherent view

Related issues

No response

Are you willing to submit a pull request?

No