I couldn't find info on how to do it. Increasing memory settings for NetBeans itself is the matter of updating /Applications/NetBeans/NetBeans 7.0.1.app/Contents/Resources/NetBeans/etc/netbeans.conf on my Mac.
However, I'd like to increase the memory settings for the vm process that is started when I run my plugin from NetBeans. Without bumping the memory I'm hitting java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space in about 30 secs playing with the UI. This situation only happens on my Mac, on Windows 7 I don't have that issue :)
My platform is: java version "1.6.0_26" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_26-b03-384-10M3425) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.1-b02-384, mixed mode) MacOs 10.6.8 NetBeans 7.0.1
I appreciate any help!
You can set JVM command line arguments in your platform.properties file using the following:
run.args.extra=<your-args>
This only works during development, so for production you'll need to set them in the app's .conf file (just like NetBeans' .conf). See the following FAQ for more info:
http://wiki.netbeans.org/DevFaqPassCommandLineArgumentsAtDevTime
In the future, you'll probably have better luck with questions regarding NetBeans Plugins if you asked them in the NetBeans Platform Users forum.