When beginning a new NetBeans Platform application... there is always one crucial question that you should ask yourself in the design/architecture phase of the project. I.e., before you put your hands on the keyboard, you should have TMINPQ answered. The entire direction of the application will depend completely on the answer to that single question.
What is that question? In under 15 minutes from now, that question will be very clear, if you watch this brand new YouTube movie:
And, if you liked part 1, you'll REALLY like part 2, especially if you also like visualizations of seismic data:
Related tutorial: http://platform.netbeans.org/tutorials/nbm-filetype.html