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

Author: mbien

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);
                 }

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

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" />