Creating a Plexus application project using an archetype

Maven Archetypes are discussed in detail here.

1. From the command prompt, change directory to the location where you want to setup the Plexus application project.
2. Run the following command to set up a skeleton Plexus Application project.

   
    mvn archetype:create -DarchetypeGroupId=org.codehaus.plexus -DarchetypeArtifactId=plexus-archetype-application \
        -DarchetypeVersion=1.0-alpha-1-SNAPSHOT -DgroupId=org.codehaus.plexus -DartifactId=plexus-website-monitor-application \
        -DremoteRepositories=http://snapshots.repository.codehaus.org/
   

The maven-archetype-mojo sets up a skeleton Maven plugin project 'plexus-website-monitor-application' for us with reasonable defaults.

Updating pom.xml dependencies

1. Locate pom.xml under the 'plexus-website-monitor-application' folder.
2. Edit it and add a dependency to the plexus-website-monitor-component that we have developed in earlier chapters.
3. We also configure a

   The pom.xml should look like this now:

   
   <?xml version="1.0"?><project>
     <parent>
       <artifactId>plexus-examples</artifactId>
       <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus.examples</groupId>
       <version>1-SNAPSHOT</version>
     </parent>
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
     <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
     <artifactId>plexus-website-monitor-application</artifactId>
     <packaging>plexus-application</packaging>
     <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <build>
       <plugins>
         <plugin>
           <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
           <artifactId>plexus-appserver-maven-plugin</artifactId>
           <extensions>true</extensions>
           <configuration>
             <configurationDirectory>src/conf</configurationDirectory>
             <applicationName>foo</applicationName>
             <applicationConfiguration>src/conf/application.xml</applicationConfiguration>
             <configurationProperties>src/plexus.properties</configurationProperties>
           </configuration>
         </plugin>
       </plugins>
     </build>
     <dependencies>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>junit</groupId>
         <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
         <version>3.8.1</version>
         <scope>test</scope>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
         <artifactId>plexus-website-monitor-component</artifactId>
         <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
       </dependency>    
     </dependencies>
   </project>
   

Setting up an IDE project

Before we proceed further let us set up an Eclipse project for our Plexus application project. To do so currently, and as a workaround we comment out the generated <packaging> element in the pom.xml and add a <packaging>jar</packaging>. To generate an Eclipse project:

1. Open up a command prompt/terminal, and
2. run the following command

   
     mvn eclipse:clean eclipse:eclipse 
   

Import the generated project under an Eclipse Project.

Adding an Application Entry Class

For any standalone Java application, we need a Class that defines a main method; the case of Plexus application is no different. We add a Application main class for our application (don't worry about the implementation details yet).

We create a folder for Java sources src/main/java and add a sensible package for the main class. For this trail, we have created the package org.codehaus.plexus.site.monitor and create a main class Main.java under it.

The generated source with a System.out.println() looks like below:

public class Main
{

    public static void main( String[] args )
    {
        System.out.println ("Hello Plexus application!");

    }

}

Having imported the project and added a main class, we now revert the packaging back to value plexus-application.

Setting up packaging configuration

Next we set up an application assembler plugin for our Plexus application project. To do this,

1. Locate the pom.xml for the plexus application project
2. update the <build> element configuration such that it is reflected as below

   
   ...
     <build>
       <plugins>
         <plugin>
           <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
           <artifactId>plexus-appserver-maven-plugin</artifactId>
           <extensions>true</extensions>
           <configuration>
             <configurationDirectory>src/conf</configurationDirectory>
             <applicationName>foo</applicationName>
             <applicationConfiguration>src/conf/application.xml</applicationConfiguration>
             <configurationProperties>src/plexus.properties</configurationProperties>
           </configuration>
         </plugin>
         <!-- Application Assembler plugin config -->
         <plugin>
           <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
           <artifactId>appassembler-maven-plugin</artifactId>
           <executions>
             <execution>
               <phase>package</phase>
               <goals>
                 <goal>assemble</goal>
               </goals>
             </execution>
           </executions>
           <configuration>
             <assembleDirectory>target/site-monitor-app</assembleDirectory>
             <includeConfigurationDirectoryInClasspath>
               true
             </includeConfigurationDirectoryInClasspath>
             <programs>
               <program>
                 <name>monitor</name>
                 <mainClass>
                   org.codehaus.plexus.site.monitor.Main
                 </mainClass>
               </program>
             </programs>
           </configuration>
         </plugin>
       </plugins>
     </build>
   ...
   

Note how the assembly directory is specified in the appassembler plugin configuration - this is where our Plexus application will be packaged up when the Maven plugin is invoked.

The discussion on Plugin configuration is beyond the scope of this tutorial, you can refer to book 'Better builds with Maven' or other resources available at:

1. Maven Books and Articles.

Adding <pluginRepositories> for Appassembler plugin download

As of this writing the Appassembler pluging is available from the Codehaus snapshots repository. To have Maven download the latest version (snapshot), we add the pluginRepositories information to the pom.xml

<project>
....
....
  <pluginRepositories>
    <pluginRepository>
      <id>codehaus-mojo-snapshots</id>
      <name>Codehaus Snapshots</name>
      <url>http://snapshots.repository.codehaus.org/</url>
    </pluginRepository>
  </pluginRepositories>
</project>

Testing Application configuration

Before we go any further, let us take our Plexus site monitor application for a spin. To do this:

1. Open a command prompt/terminal
2. Change directory to the Plexus application project's directory
3. Run the following Maven command

   mvn clean package 

If you look under target directory you will see that the Site Monitor application is assembled under site-monitor-app directory. The contents under that directory consist of executable scripts (Shell and batch script by default).

Lets try running the application and see what happens. To do this:

1. At the command prompt, change directory to $project-home/target/site-monitor-app/bin
2. Run the script appropriate for your operating system.

   You should an output similar to as below on the console:

   E:\plexus\plexus-examples\plexus-website-monitor-application\target\site-monitor-app\bin>monitor.bat
   Hello Plexus application!

   At this point we are ready to play with Plexus Embedder and hook our Website monitor component into our Plexus application.

   Next: Plexus Embedder Intro & Site Monitor component integration into the application