How to manage application.properties in a utility project - java

I'm working on a project intended for managing images (it creates a table in the database with references to the image files so I don't need to upload them directly to the database). I'm trying to create this project as a JAR that I can import in any other project.
So far, I can create the JAR file, but when I import this JAR file in another project so I can use its features, it seems like the imported JAR will not use the destination project's application.properties. It will use its own.
The only important thing in the application.properties to be set (to get it to work) is the jdbc driver and the database url and credentials, but it should be using the info contained in the destination project application.properties file.
And if I delete or rename the utility project application.properties I won't be able to generate the JAR.
How am I supposed to do this?

I finally managed to fix my issue. I've been about to delete the question, but I thought it could be useful for someone else in the future, so I decide to add an answer:
(I'll explain for people without much experience, like me)
And a "Tool project": which will produce a JAR
I have a "Main project": which will import the JAR to take advantage of the Tool Project features.
In order to create a tool (or a utility project. I think it's the same thing), I created a Spring Boot project, as I usually would do.
That tool project doesn't need to have controllers. Instead, it has Services with public methods, which Main Project will use. Also, if needed (as in my particular case), it has Entities and Repositories.
In the Tool Project's POM.xml file, place the least amount of dependencies possible. Don't place any dependencies like MySQL, JPA, etc... since the Main Project will have them as well. Also, remove the <parent> tag and its content.
You can also delete de Application class (The starter class) or just comment the #SpringBootApplication annotation.
In the application.properties (or YML), you don't really need to have anything.
After that, unless I forgot something, you're ready to go:
Clean
Maven Update
Install
After you install, a new folder will be created inside:
C:\Users\YOUR_USER\.m2\repository\com\guillermo\myTool\MyTool\1.0.0
Now, go to your Main Project and add the dependency for the tool.
Mine is as follows:
<dependency>
<groupId>com.guillermo.myTool</groupId>
<artifactId>MyTool</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1</version>
</dependency>
I really hope this helps someone!

Related

Add unmanaged dependency to Class Path of Eclipse Maven Project

I have a Maven project that is distributed commercially that offers the ability to connect to many different databases via JDBC. Normally the customers place the necessary JDBC drivers in their web server's lib directory to make them accessible. We can't include certain jdbc drivers in the pom, for example Oracle, due to it's license type.
I'm trying to use an Oracle JDBC connection in the app while running in Eclipse. I need to get the JDBC jar on the class path and for some reason can't seem to be able to do that without adding it to the pom.xml via maven dependency.
I thought for sure going to Properties-->Java Build Path --> Libraries --> Add External JARs would work. When added to the build path in that way it shows correctly in the package explorer but if I run Class.forName at run time it throws ClassNotFoundException. Why isn't it on the class path at that point?
Take a look at the following descriptive article, which gives the shortcuts to setting a classpath to your throw-away code or to have a modest solution to manage your classpath dependencies and then to a complete and a professional solution to manage and even automate your classpath dependencies - should there be a need to have these automated for a larger projects.
It is a better way to set your CLASSPATH variable if you are not going to change any of those jar versions very frequently or else you might end up hours of your valuable time debugging the wrong side of the problem.
Hope this helps you understand and also resolve your problem!
I would include the relevant jars into the pom, but make them <optional>. Then, they are not packaged into the application but they can be provided by the user.

How to properly use any Java API

I have been trying to use the vget library/api to make my own youtube video downloader. The vget library can be found here: https://github.com/axet/vget
I have downloaded the zip on github and I imported the project into eclipse. However, I am confused to how I am supposed to properly use this API. Should I make a completely new project, and import the classes that I need or do I put my own source files in the project of the api?
I have read other threads concerning this problem. However, they all mention how a api is typically packaged in a JAR file, but in my case it is just files and classes. So I am confused to how I should properly use this api.
The vget project is a maven project. You can see that because it has a pom.xml file in the root folder of the project.
To use it, you don't even need to download the source, because the compiled jar files are already stored in the central maven repository. You can find more information about this here:
http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.github.axet/vget/1.1.23
(in general, you can use the http://mvnrepository.com/ site to search whether your library is available on the maven central repository. If it's even a mildly popular library, then chances are that it is)
What you need to do is to make your own project a maven project.
Here's a "5 minutes" starter guide that describes how to do that.
When you've done that, you just add the dependency on vget to your pom.xml file in the <dependencies> section:
<dependency>
<groupId>com.github.axet</groupId>
<artifactId>vget</artifactId>
<version>1.1.23</version>
</dependency>
Since you are making use of a 3rd party software, and not extending it with your own logic, the way to go is to create a new project, which references the 3rd party software.
You then construct your application and make it do whatever you need it to do. When it comes to using logic which is available within the 3rd party logic, you would then simply delegate that call to the 3rd party library.
I have seen on the link you have provided, that this is a maven project. You have to execute a maven package command, or maven install, so that the jar file will be generated.
With this jar follow the Bill's instructions, and add it as external library to your claspath.
When you do this, you will be able to invoke methods of that api.
Let us know if you need some help doing this in eclipse.
If your project is a maven project, you can solve dependencies problems just adding the dependency written on Readme file to your pom file.
The easiest and most automatic way is to use something like maven, ant, or gradle, that will automatically download and put the jars in to your classpath if they are in the central repositories. For example, in the maven configuration file(pom.xml) you can add this to the dependency list:
VGet Maven Repository
These build tools also allow you to add external jars if needed.
If
I would suggest you get familiar with Maven. At the bottom there is a Maven dependency you just have to include into your pom.xml, and then you can use the extension immediately.
Maven is a build platform which organizes your project in a technical way (convention over configuration, e.g. code is in /src/main/java, tests are in /src/test/java). The proper way is it to create a Maven project in Eclipse (you have to install the plugin and download Maven as well) and put the dependency
<dependency>
<groupId>com.github.axet</groupId>
<artifactId>vget</artifactId>
<version>1.1.23</version>
</dependency>
into your <dependencies> inside your pom.xml. After adding it, you project recognizes the additional package automatically.
Nobody tinkers by adding libraries manually. It's actually not professional to work without a build platform like Maven or Gradle.

Sharing Code between eclipse and intellij

I work with a partner in java programming, I use intellij and he uses Eclipse.
Is there a way that we can somehow mutually share our code with each other so we could work on the same code each in our own time?
Thanks
There is that possibility using GIT or another Code repository. Look at https://github.com/
or https://bitbucket.org/. There is also very helpfull article.
To be also independant you can simply integrate your code with Maven, both incellij and eclipse can import project based only on pom.xml file created in maven setup.
In this your should use repository when there are more than one programmer on a single project whether you are using even same IDE. SVN will be one of the choices for repository
Given that you guys need to implement version control, one important aspect of co-operating together is to keep your codebase IDE-agnostic.
Thankfully, with java and maven there is an easy way to do this.
Firstly, commit to building your project with a build tool such as maven. Therefore, using this example, the pom.xml is the master configuration file for your project.
In contrast, your "project" files (either your .idea folder for intellij or your .project, .classpath and related files for eclipse) should not be checked into version control at all.
You can then add "ignores" to your VCS so that IDE-specific configuration files are not checked in - this way you won't interfere with each other with IDE-specific things.
Then, it is relatively easy for both of you to share a maven (pom.xml) based project with each other, and to configure your IDE independently from each other (i.e.: locally).

How can one both be able to use IntelliJ to manage a project's configuration and yet also have a VCS repository with none of IntelliJ's metadata?

I have two things that I want to do that seem like they are in conflict with each other. On the one hand, I would like to use IntelliJ's GUI interface to manage my project's configuration and so I would like to put the metadata in its version-controlled repository. On the other hand, I want the result of my work to be a repository that does not require the end-user to have IntelliJ, so I not only want there to be no metadata in the repository I publish, but in its place I want to have files that provide some standard Java build system in their place. Is there a convenient way to let me have both of these things?
IntelliJ lets you use tools like Ant or Maven for its builds, and provides a nice GUI for interfacing with them. And anyone without the tool can just use Ant or Maven to run the builds from the command line. You'll either have a build.xml (for Ant) or a pom.xml (for Maven) as part of your source tree.
If you're not going to check in the Intellij project configuration, I recommend setting up a configuration-directory-based project then just set up your version control to ignore the .idea directory. Personally, I consider my project configuration to practically be source code, so I tend to check in everything except my .idea/workspace.xml file. As long as I'm using Ant or Maven to do the builds, people without IntelliJ can still build the project fine.

Share entities between multi-projects

I have 3 Java projects with the same entities.
I want to share entities between these projects because entities can evolve during the development phase.
We are thinking about building a jar with entities and sharing it using Maven (with a repository).
Maybe you have another solution ?
I also can recommend to use Maven to share code between projects.
Here are some tips to get started:
Use a Maven Repository Manager such as Nexus. It will help you to
create a stable development environment.
Every developer (also the Continuous Integration Server user) should configure their settings file to use your Maven Repository
Manager. Don't specify your repositories in the POMs, confiugre them
only in your Maven Repository Manager.
http://www.sonatype.com/books/nexus-book/reference/maven-sect-single-group.html
Use the dependencyManagement and pluginManagement elements of your parent POMs to specify all versions of the plugins and dependencies
you are using. Omit these versions in the other POMs (they will
inherit them from the parent POM).
I also recommend to use different POMs for multi-module builds and parent POMs.
If you want to share common interfaces, classes, functionality or components, Maven is the way to go. In addition to the dependency management, you also get the added bonus of a standard project layout that will simplify things. Easy integration with most common continuous integration servers and a standard release process are further benefits.
Definitely take a look at Maven!
making an own JAR-library is definitely a good solution.
The jar-file is easy to distribute via dependency management (maven, ivy, gradle ..)
The jar is versioned
The projects using the library can be tested against a certain verion. Otherwise it may gets a problem if you change enties and forget to change a depending project. -> integration tests
Regards
Entities are the representation of a given object am I correct? If so the default mechanism implemented by Java is Object serialization - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serialization. In the case of jar files if an entity changes you would have to change jar once again each time as well. It may be tedious.
Geneate a standard war file in roo.. But then change it's package to jar file.
Then from any standard war file you can just deploy this jar (Ill use the jar as a maven dependency). Ill maintain a unique named applicationConext like pizzaShop-applicationContext.xml and like pizzaShop-applicationContext-jpa.xml. so from a parent spring project I can stack up various roo projects in this fashion.
Ill also keep their generated webapps folder to allow for the generator to work more easily. (This means I have to open up the pom.xml and keep changing it back to jar). Also helps with cut and paste fodder for non roo generated war files web.xml entry additions.
Seems like it may be a confusing point about roo.. You can just mix and match these jars as you would any spring project. They function like self contained units of springness and work fine sitting side by side with other spring jars all under the same webapp/web.xml context.
Its tedious but still better then writing spring code by hand.

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