Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
96 lines (70 loc) · 4.18 KB

HOW_TO_GRADLE.md

File metadata and controls

96 lines (70 loc) · 4.18 KB
Raw

What is Gradle?

Gradle is a powerful and flexible build tool. On the contrary to Apache Ant but similarly as Maven, this tool is able to manage all kind of dependencies. Basically, you just have to specify which libraries your project does need and it will fetch them for you.

For a better description of Gradle and examples, please check out the following URL: https://gradle.org/

How to use it?

Installation

On Debian:

sudo apt-get install gradle

For other operating system or for a manual installation, you should consult the official Gradle webpage: Gradle Installation.

In command line

All task to execute is performed by suffixing the command gradle.

Here are some useful and common tasks:

  • gradle help : get an help about the gradle command.

  • gradle projects : list and describe this project and its available sub-projects if there are any.

  • gradle tasks : display and describe all the available tasks in the current project/directory.

  • gradle build : build the whole project (and sub-projects). In a Java project, this builds all the classes and generate a JAR with all the built classes of this project.

  • gradle clean : remove all files and directories created by the gradle build command.

  • gradle test : execute all test classes (e.g. JUnit test cases) defined in this project (and sub-projects).

  • gradle eclipse : for projects applying the Eclipse plugin (which is the case in this project), this task configure the project as an Eclipse project. Concretely, at least a .classpath file and a .project/ directory are created.

  • gradle cleanEclipse : remove all files and directories created by the gradle eclipse command.

In Eclipse

You have at least two options.

The first one is to generate the Eclipse project using the gradle eclipse command and then to import this project in your Eclipse project (i.e. File -> Import... -> Existing Projects into Workspace). Theoretically, the dependencies are already resolved and the classpath is already set correctly. So, you can now work on the code, but to compile the project you will have to go back on command line and execute gradle build.

The second option is to import the project directly as a Gradle project. Thus, you can execute any task you want directly from Eclipse using suitable views. For that, you must install an additional plugin:

  • Go to the menu Help -> Eclipse Marketplace....
  • Search for 'gradle'
  • You must install 'Buildship Gradle Integration' and optionally 'Minimalist Gradle Editor' for a nicer build file editor.

You may have to restart your Eclipse. Once done, select File -> Import... -> Gradle/Existing Gradle Project. You will be asked for a root directory. This could be the directory of the main project or of one of its sub-project. If you select the main project, all sub-projects will be imported. If you select just a sub-project, you should know that other dependent sub-projects will be also imported. When going to the next step, you are asked for a Gradle distribution: the default one ('Gradle wrapper') should be enough. Go to the next step and you should see all (sub-)projects detected by Eclipse and that will be imported if you click on Finish. Once done, you should now have additional projects in your workspace.

'Buildship Gradle Integration' provides two additional Eclipse views: 'Gradle Tasks' and 'Gradle Execution'. The first one is equivalent to the command gradle tasks. The second one is only displayed while executing a task. You should also notice the addition of an item in the contextual menu of you Gradle project(s): 'Gradle'/'Refresh Gradle project'. This is particularly useful when you updated the Gradle build file to update the 'Gradle Tasks' view ; there is no automatic update from Eclipse.

For more information and documentation about 'Buildship Gradle Integration', check out this link: https://projects.eclipse.org/projects/tools.buildship.