Maven Plugin Development - Include Current Project's Resources to Plugin - "include-project-dependencies" - "NoSuchElementException"

Question

I am trying to develop a maven plugin that uses resource files of the project that uses it as a plugin. I implemented that suggestion into my maven-plugin project and it was builded well. But when i clean & build my project that uses the plugin, i get this exception:

"Failed to execute goal sample.plugin:maven-plugin:1.0-SNAPSHOT:convertproperties (default) on project temp: Unable to retrieve component configurator include-project-dependencies for configuration of mojo sample.plugin:maven-plugin:1.0-SNAPSHOT:convertproperties: java.util.NoSuchElementException role: org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.ComponentConfigurator roleHint: include-project-dependencies"

POM file of the maven-plugin:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>sample.plugin</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>maven-plugin</packaging>



    <name>maven-plugin</name>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
            <artifactId>plexus-utils</artifactId>
            <version>[1.5.0, 1.5.1 ]</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-plugin-api</artifactId>
            <version>2.0.9</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugin-tools</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-plugin-annotations</artifactId>
            <version>3.2</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
            <artifactId>jackson-core-asl</artifactId>
            <version>1.9.3</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
            <artifactId>jackson-mapper-asl</artifactId>
            <version>1.9.3</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>taglibs</groupId>
            <artifactId>standard</artifactId>
            <version>1.1.2</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.json</groupId>
            <artifactId>json</artifactId>
            <version>20090211</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
            <version>1.4</version>
            <type>jar</type>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-project</artifactId>
            <version>2.0.9</version>
            <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                    <artifactId>maven-artifact</artifactId>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
                </exclusion>
            </exclusions>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-model</artifactId>
            <version>2.0.9</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-core</artifactId>
            <version>2.0.9</version>
            <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                    <artifactId>maven-artifact</artifactId>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
                </exclusion>
                <exclusion>
                    <artifactId>maven-repository-metadata</artifactId>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
                </exclusion>
                <exclusion>
                    <artifactId>wagon-provider-api</artifactId>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven.wagon</groupId>
                </exclusion>
            </exclusions>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-artifact</artifactId>
            <version>3.0</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-repository-metadata</artifactId>
            <version>2.0.9</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.wagon</groupId>
            <artifactId>wagon-provider-api</artifactId>
            <version>1.0-beta-2</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <pluginManagement>
            <plugins>
                <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
                    <artifactId>plexus-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                    <executions>
                        <execution>
                            <goals>
                                <goal>descriptor</goal>
                            </goals>
                        </execution>
                    </executions>
                </plugin>
                <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                    <artifactId>maven-plugin-plugin</artifactId>
                    <version>2.3</version>
                </plugin>
                <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                    <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
                    <version>2.4</version>
                </plugin>
            </plugins>
        </pluginManagement>
    </build>
</project>

POM file of my project that uses the maven-plugin:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.mycompany</groupId>
    <artifactId>temp</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>war</packaging>

    <name>temp</name>

    <properties>
        <endorsed.dir>${project.build.directory}/endorsed</endorsed.dir>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
            <artifactId>jackson-core-asl</artifactId>
            <version>1.9.3</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
            <artifactId>jackson-mapper-asl</artifactId>
            <version>1.9.3</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax</groupId>
            <artifactId>javaee-web-api</artifactId>
            <version>6.0</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>4.8.2</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>taglibs</groupId>
            <artifactId>standard</artifactId>
            <version>1.1.2</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
            <version>1.1.2</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.json</groupId>
            <artifactId>json</artifactId>
            <version>20090211</version>
        </dependency>

    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>sample.plugin</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <phase>compile</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>convertproperties</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
                <configuration>
                    <sourcePath>/lang</sourcePath>
                    <destinationPath>lang_json</destinationPath>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                <configuration>
                    <additionalClasspathElements>
                        <additionalClasspathElement>src\main\webapp\lang</additionalClasspathElement>
                    </additionalClasspathElements>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.3.2</version>
                <configuration>
                    <source>1.6</source>
                    <target>1.6</target>
                    <compilerArguments>
                        <endorseddirs>${endorsed.dir}</endorseddirs>
                    </compilerArguments>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.1.1</version>
                <configuration>
                    <failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.1</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <phase>validate</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>copy</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <outputDirectory>${endorsed.dir}</outputDirectory>
                            <silent>true</silent>
                            <artifactItems>
                                <artifactItem>
                                    <groupId>javax</groupId>
                                    <artifactId>javaee-endorsed-api</artifactId>
                                    <version>6.0</version>
                                    <type>jar</type>
                                </artifactItem>
                            </artifactItems>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
        <resources>
            <resource>
                <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
            </resource>
        </resources>
    </build>

</project>

Any help would be very useful, thanks.

Answer 1

I have found a very good solvation to use the resources of the project inside maven-plugin. Firstly i gave up using that suggestion. My plugin's aim was to convert some resource (.properties) files and save them into the location where jsp pages are stored inside the project. So, first step is to copy the needed resource files and rename them as needed by using another maven-plugin called "maven-antrun-plugin" by setting it like that:

        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <id>CopyLanguagePropertiesAsJson</id>
                    <phase>compile</phase>
                    <configuration>
                        <tasks>
                            <copy file="${basedir}\src\main\resources\x.properties"
                                  tofile="${basedir}\src\main\webapp\x\y.z" />
                        </tasks>
                    </configuration>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>run</goal>
                    </goals>
                </execution>
            </executions>
        </plugin>

After that movement, I send the opened properties file and destination file into my plugin as variables typed "file" and converted the properties file and stored into the converted file ==> x.properties --> y.z I said opened because maven does the job exactly like tihs; at build time opens the files that are set as variables for some maven-plugins and sends those objects that are references of those files. The maven-plugin gains the ability to change those files by this way.

Like this:

        <plugin>
            <groupId>group.id</groupId>
            <artifactId>artifact-id</artifactId>
            <version>x.x.x</version>
            <configuration>
                <properties>
                    <file>${basedir}\src\main\resources\x.properties</file>
                </properties>
                <convertedFiles>
                    <file>${basedir}\src\main\webapp\x\y.z</file>
                </jsons>
            </convertedFiles>
        </plugin>

And those files are taken inside the code (class extends AbstractMojo) of my plugin like this:

/**
 * @parameter 
 */
private File[] properties;
/**
 * @parameter 
 */
private File[] convertedFiles;

Those are the steps that fully achieves the aim on converting .properties files into another files and storing inside somewhere of a project.

In addition, i have faced with an exception that tells some classes are not found while executing the maven-plugin on the build time of the project which uses it. This is caused by not being able to find needed jar files of the maven-plugin at the build time of the current project. The solvation of that is to use plugin called "maven-assembly-plugin" that builds the jar of your maven-plugin including the dependency jar libraries that your maven-plugin uses. The configuration of the plugin inside the pom file of your maven-plugin :

        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <descriptorRefs>
                    <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
                </descriptorRefs>
            </configuration>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <id>make-assembly</id> <!-- this is used for inheritance merges -->
                    <phase>package</phase> <!-- bind to the packaging phase -->
                    <goals>
                        <goal>single</goal>
                    </goals>
                </execution>
            </executions>
        </plugin>

If in some cases, the plugin fails to compile your jar as described, it may be caused by not containing a main class inside your maven-plugin. Because the resason to use such plugins that compile all jar files into one is to be bale to execute the jar of the current project alone itself, not needing any other classes on runtime (building standalone jar files). So, simply create a main class that uses the class of your maven-plugin (class extends AbstractMojo) and try to compile again. After a successfull compilation you can delete your main class, it would build your maven-plugin successfully again without a main class.

I vould be very happy if this post is helpful for somebody.