How to build, iterate and publish the plugin

Process flow

The process flow is as follows:

Ensure that you have built the scaffolding:

java -jar gradle-plugin-java-create-<version>.jar
  1. Edit the code to get it to do what you want it to do
  2. If you have never built the version of the plugin before gradle -b build.plugin.initial.gradle build pTML
  3. Run and test the plugin gradle -b build.plugin.gradle <taskName>
  4. Happy with the results
    1. Publish your plugin build -b build.plugin.gradle build pP
  5. Unhappy with the results?
    1. Update the version number in build.plugin.initial.gradle and build.plugin.gradle
    2. go back to the beginning

See below for more detailed instructions

The initial build

Step 1

Generate the scaffolding:

java -jar gradle-plugin-java-create-<version>.jar \
    -a synapticloop \
    -d "a simple test plugin" \
    -dg Sample \
    -dn "Synapticloop sample test plugin" \
    -jp synapticloop.plugin.sample \
    -n TestSample \
    -t "test,sample"

Step 2

Check the following files to ensure that everything looks good to go: (Especially the version numbers which should default to 0.0.1)

  1. build.plugin.initial.gradle
    • Ensure that the line synapticloop(MavenPublication) { is only a single word (i.e. it show here synapticloop and should not show com.synapticloop)
  2. build.plugin.gradle

Step 3

Build the initial plugin and publish it to maven local repository:

gradle -b build.plugin.initial.gradle build publishToMavenLocal

or as a shorcut:

gradle -b build.plugin.initial.gradle build pTML

Step 4

Test that the plugin is registered

gradle -b build.plugin.gradle tasks

You should see the following output:

... snip ...


Sample tasks
------------
testSample - a simple test plugin

... snip ...

Step 5

Run the plugin

gradle -b build.plugin.gradle testSample

And you will see the following output

:testSample
This will be logged as output on standard out.
Logging out the boolean value of 'booleanValue' as 'true'
Logging out the string value of 'stringValue' as 'this is a string value set from the build.plugin.gradle file'
Logging out the string value from the list 'stringList' as 'one'
Logging out the string value from the list 'stringList' as 'two'
Logging out the string value from the list 'stringList' as 'three'

BUILD SUCCESSFUL

Note that you do not see the 'info' or 'debug' messages - to see these, you will need to pass in the --info, or --debug command line parameters to the gradle build.

Iterating

Now that you have tested that the build works, you can now iterate over the Task.java code until it works as expected.

Updating the plugin version

In the build.plugin.initial.gradle file, update the version number in the line version = '0.0.1' and then:

gradle -b build.plugin.initial.gradle build pTML

This will publish the plugin to the local maven repository which you can then update the plugin number in the build.plugin.gradle file and test it again.

Publishing

Now that you have iterated and built the plugin - and you are happy with your plugin, you need to publish it.

Step 1

Login or signup to the gradle plugin portal ensuring that you have specified your username.

Step 2

Retrieve your API keys buy clinking on the 'API Keys' tab on your home page. Follow the instructions (i.e. copy the gradle.publish.key and gradle.publish.secret) to your gradle.properties file (e.g. HOME_DIR/.gradle/gradle.properties).

gradle -b build.plugin.gradle build publishPlugin

or just simply

gradle -b build.plugin.gradle build pP

Step 3

You, (and everybody else) is now ready to use your plugin - congratulations!