The structure of typical Xtext projects does not match the standard layout of Maven projects. Xtext projects more adhere to standard Eclipse project layout, which means
- manual implemented Java sources are in folder /src
- the plugin Manifest is /META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
- generated sources go to /src-gen
In my customer’s project Xtext sources are built with Maven, and also the sources produced by Xtext are produced within the Maven build, using the Fornax Workflow Maven plugin. Until now we have adjusted the Maven build to match the standard Xtext project structure, which requires some configuration in the build section of the POM like follows:
<build>
<sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory>
<resources>
<resource>
<directory>src</directory>
</resource>
<resource>
<directory>src-gen</directory>
</resource>
</resources>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.fornax.toolsupport</groupId>
<artifactId>fornax-oaw-m2-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.0.3</version>
<configuration>
<checkFilesets>
<checkFileset>
<directory>${basedir}</directory>
<includes>
<include>src/**</include>
</includes>
<excludes>
<exclude>**/.svn/**</exclude>
</excludes>
</checkFileset>
</checkFilesets>
<outletSrcDir>src-gen</outletSrcDir>
<outletSrcOnceDir>src</outletSrcOnceDir>
<outletResOnceDir>resources</outletResOnceDir>
<properties></properties>
<workflowDescriptor>xtext/example/GenerateMyDsl.mwe</workflowDescriptor>
<workflowEngine>mwe</workflowEngine>
</configuration>
<executions>
<execution>
<phase>generate-sources</phase>
<goals>
<goal>run-workflow</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>build-helper-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>add-source</id>
<phase>generate-sources</phase>
<goals>
<goal>add-source</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<sources>
<source>src</source>
</sources>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
Now requirements changed and the project structure should conform to the Maven structure, which means:
- src/main/java: Contains hand-written Java code
- src/main/resources: All non-Java hand-written code (including Workflow and Xtext grammar)
- target/generated/java: Contains generated code
Another requirement from the build team is that the actual output directory ‘target’ should be configurable. This means mainly that we have to use properties that Maven uses to refer to the source and target directories (project.build.sourceDirectory and project.build.directory), so that the build could override just these settings by passing a system property and all output gets produced to and compiled from an alternative directory structure.
Of course this is possible with small changes, but you have to know where.
Xtext Generator Worklow
In order to produce the output of the Xtext generator to different directories than default (src, src-gen => src/main/java, target/generated/java) the MWE workflow file has to be changed. For the generator component we have to override the properties srcPath and srcGenPath. Further, these output directories should be parametrized by the same properties that Maven uses, namely project.build.directory and project.build.directory. These properties need to be configured in the Generate<MyDSL>.properties with defaults.
Generate<MyDSL>.mwe
<workflow>
..
<component class="org.eclipse.xtext.generator.Generator">
<pathRtProject value="${runtimeProject}"/>
<pathUiProject value="${runtimeProject}.ui"/>
<projectNameRt value="${projectName}"/>
<projectNameUi value="${projectName}.ui"/>
<srcPath value="/${project.build.sourceDirectory}"/>
<srcGenPath value="/${project.build.directory}/generated/java"/>
..
</component>
..
</workflow>
<pre>
Generate<MyDSL>.properties
basedir=.
project.build.directory=target
project.build.sourceDirectory=src/main/java
grammarURI=classpath:/.../MyDSL.xtext
file.extensions=...
projectName=...
pom.xml: build section
The Java source directories also contain non-Java resources, like the workflow, grammar file etc. Normally this would go to the resources directory for Maven projects, but Xtext (0.7.2) cannot be configured to produce resource files to another directory than Java sources. On the other side those resources need to be found on the classpath during the build. This requires that we add the Java directories as resource directories in the build section of the POM. This settings already existed before, it just has been adopted.
Before:
<build>
<sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory>
<resources>
<resource>
<directory>src</directory>
</resource>
<resource>
<directory>src-gen</directory>
</resource>
</resources>
...
</build>
After:
<build>
<resources>
<resource>
<directory>${project.build.sourceDirectory}</directory>
</resource>
<resource>
<directory>${project.build.directory}/generated/java</directory>
</resource>
</resources>
...
</build>
The <sourceDirectory> entry is not necessary anymore, since the main Java source directory is now src/main/java, which follows the Maven standard directory layout and gets automatically compiled.
maven-clean-plugin
Xtext produces output into two projects – the grammar project and the UI project. Now if the generated UI sources are produced below /target calling ‘mvn clean install’ would have an undesired side effect. Maven builds both modules after each other, so when the UI module is built with the goals ‘clean install’ the target directory is removed and the previous generated sources get lost.
The solution is that the maven-clean-plugin must be deactivated for the UI module and the grammar module must clean the target directory for the UI module.
pom.xml – Grammar project
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<filesets>
<fileset>
<directory>../my.dsl.ui</directory>
<includes>
<include>${project.build.directory}</include>
</includes>
</fileset>
</filesets>
</configuration>
</plugin>
pom.xml – UI project
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<skip>true</skip>
</configuration>
</plugin>
Eclipse settings
The new project structure affects, of course, the project settings for Eclipse. The settings apply for the grammar and UI plugin.
build.properties
Change the source folders in the build.properties file:
source.. = src/main/java/,target/generated/java/
bin.includes = META-INF/,\
.,\
plugin.xml
Java build path
Open the project properties and change the Java Build Path settings:
- Source Folder src -> src/main/java
- Source Folder src-gen -> target/generated/java
- Default outputr folder: bin -> target/classes
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