SivaLabs

Maven is a good project management tool that greatly reduces the amount of time we spend creating Java projects with a proper structure. With so many predefined Maven archetypes, it is even easier to create projects by simply selecting the archetype based on the technologies we need and the type (jar/war/ear) of project we want to create.

However, sometimes those predefined archetypes’ structures may not suit our needs well, or we may need some more additions to the pre-configured dependencies/frameworks, etc.

Also, in Eclipse, the default Java compiler level is 1.5, and configuring it to 1.6 every time is frustrating. So I thought of creating some custom archetypes for the most common combination of technologies/frameworks that I frequently use.

Yes, I am aware of AppFuse, which provides a lot more Maven archetypes. But the structure I follow is a bit different, so I thought of creating archetypes that suit my needs/style. 🙂

Most of my projects are Spring-based applications, so I have created the following templates so far:

1. Quickstart Java App: A Simple Java Application with JDK 1.6, SLF4J (Logback/Log4J), and failsafe plugin configuration.

2. Quickstart Web App: A Simple Web Application with JDK 1.6, Servlet 2.5, SLF4J (Logback/Log4J), and failsafe plugin configuration.

3. Quickstart Spring App: A Java project with Spring 3.1.x, MySQL, JdbcTemplate, and Log4j/Logback configuration.

4. Quickstart SpringMVC App: A Web project with SpringMVC 3.1.x, MySQL, JdbcTemplate, jQuery, and Log4j/Logback configuration.

5. Quickstart SpringMVC-Tiles-SpringSecurity App: A Web project with SpringMVC 3.1.x, Apache Tiles, SpringSecurity 3.1.x, jQuery, and Log4j/Logback configuration.

6. Quickstart SpringMVC-SiteMesh-SpringSecurity App: A Web project with SpringMVC 3.1.x, SiteMesh 2.x, SpringSecurity 3.1.x, jQuery, and Log4j/Logback configuration.

7. Quickstart SpringMVC-JPA2(Hibernate) App: A Web project with SpringMVC 3.1.x, JPA2 (Hibernate 4.x), SpringDataJPA, Apache Tiles, jQuery, SpringSecurity, and Log4j/Logback configuration.

8. Quickstart SpringMVC-MyBatis App: A Web project with SpringMVC 3.1.x, MyBatis, jQuery, and Log4j/Logback configuration.

9. Quickstart Spring-JSF2(PrimeFaces)-JPA2(Hibernate) App: A Web project with Spring 3.1.x, JSF2 (PrimeFaces), JPA2 (Hibernate), SpringDataJPA, and Log4j/Logback configuration.

These are the archetypes I have completed so far and uploaded to my GitHub repository: https://github.com/sivaprasadreddy/maven-archetype-templates

I have mentioned how to install them in your local repository in the README file.

I am planning on writing some more template archetypes, including Spring RESTful Services, Spring-ApacheCXF App, Spring Integration, Spring-JavaEE6, etc.

Stay tuned 🙂