# conventionMapping woes... what am I doing wrong?
**URL:** https://discuss.gradle.org/t/conventionmapping-woes-what-am-i-doing-wrong/6665
**Category:** Old Forum Archive
**Created:** [April 26, 2014, 11:22am UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/conventionmapping-woes-what-am-i-doing-wrong/6665 "2014-04-26T11:22:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sion\_Williams1](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Sion_Williams1)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2014, 11:22am UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/conventionmapping-woes-what-am-i-doing-wrong/6665/1 "2014-04-26T11:22:00Z")
I am working on writing a [SoapUI plugin](https://github.com/willis7/soapui-gradle-plugin) for Gradle and I’m having a bad time with conventionMapping.
```gradle
@Override
void apply(Project project) {
// Create and register the extension object with name EXTENSION_NAME
SoapUIPluginExtension soapUIPluginExtension = project.extensions.create(EXTENSION_NAME, SoapUIPluginExtension)
configSoapTest(project, soapUIPluginExtension)
}
private void configSoapTest(Project project, SoapUIPluginExtension soapUIPluginExtension) {
project.task(SOAP_TEST_TASK, type: TestTask) {
conventionMapping.projectFile = { soapUIPluginExtension.test.projectFile }
conventionMapping.settingsFile = { soapUIPluginExtension.test.settingsFile }
conventionMapping.projectPassword = { soapUIPluginExtension.test.projectPassword }
...
}
}
```
Everything I have seen and read would indicate this is correct, and my unit test for a thrown exception when projectFile isn’t set also passes. However, when I step through the code in debug mode I can see the values are null, and when I compile and try running the project in a test build, it fails. Ignoring the duff unit tests for a moment, is there anything strikingly obvious that I’m doing wrong?
Any help gratefully appreciated.
---
### Author:  [@Chris2](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Chris2)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/conventionmapping-woes-what-am-i-doing-wrong/6665/2 "2014-04-28T21:21:00Z")
dont know if this is the cause but according to this example (might be outdated?): [http://code4reference.com/2012/08/gradle-custom-plugin-part-2/](http://code4reference.com/2012/08/gradle-custom-plugin-part-2/)
you have to explicitly create the nested Extensions like this:
```gradle
project.extensions.create("c4rArgs", Code4ReferencePluginExtension)
project.c4rArgs.extensions.create("nestedArgs",C4RNestedPluginExtention)
```
---
### Author:  [@Chris2](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Chris2)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/conventionmapping-woes-what-am-i-doing-wrong/6665/3 "2014-04-28T21:48:00Z")
for some reason this seems to work:
```gradle
SoapUIPluginExtension soapUIPluginExtension = project.extensions.create(EXTENSION_NAME, SoapUIPluginExtension)
project.soapui.extensions.create("tool", SoapUIToolConvention)
project.soapui.extensions.create("security", SoapUISecurityConvention)
project.soapui.extensions.create("load", SoapUILoadConvention)
project.soapui.extensions.create("test", SoapUITestConvention)
project.soapui.extensions.create("mock", SoapUIMockConvention)
```
but only with SoapUIPluginExtension being empty and thus all extensions being added dynamically like this:
```gradle
class SoapUIPluginExtension {
}
```
see [http://www.gradle.org/docs/current/dsl/org.gradle.api.plugins.ExtensionAware.html](http://www.gradle.org/docs/current/dsl/org.gradle.api.plugins.ExtensionAware.html) for a similar example.
having it like this will not work (object will be null):
```gradle
class SoapUIPluginExtension {
SoapUIToolConvention tool
SoapUISecurityConvention security
SoapUILoadConvention load
SoapUITestConvention test
SoapUIMockConvention mock
}
```
this will also not work (properties of these objects will be null):
```gradle
class SoapUIPluginExtension {
SoapUIToolConvention tool = new SoapUIToolConvention()
SoapUISecurityConvention security = new SoapUISecurityConvention()
SoapUILoadConvention load = new SoapUILoadConvention()
SoapUITestConvention test = new SoapUITestConvention()
SoapUIMockConvention mock = new SoapUIMockConvention()
}
```
Smells like a bug or at least there is room for improvement: - maybe add an “Extension”-Annotation and then automatically initialize nested extensions - at least warn if People try to use the 2nd or 3rd Version of the Extension class (shadowing the actual nested-extensions with null objects or uninitalized Extension objects)
---
### Author:  [@Sion\_Williams1](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Sion_Williams1)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/conventionmapping-woes-what-am-i-doing-wrong/6665/4 "2014-05-01T17:18:00Z")
I was sincerely hoping this would work but still no satisfaction.
```gradle
:soaptest FAILED
FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.
* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':soaptest'.
> soapui-project-file setting is required
* Try:
Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.
BUILD FAILED
Total time: 2.855 secs
```
When I run my test that ive now added to the project I get the error above
---
### Author:  [@Chris2](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Chris2)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2014, 9:25am UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/conventionmapping-woes-what-am-i-doing-wrong/6665/5 "2014-05-02T09:25:00Z")
hi Sion,
as stated in this thread: [Convention mapping for plugins - Old Forum - Gradle Forums](http://forums.gradle.org/gradle/topics/convention_mapping_for_plugins)
> Convention mapping only works if the getter is called. Groovy automatically calls the getter if you use \> property syntax, except when the property is declared in the same class.
so when you change your code from
```gradle
if (!projectFile) {
new GradleException('soapui-project-file setting is required')
}
```
to
```gradle
if (!getProjectFile()) {
new GradleException('soapui-project-file setting is required')
}
```
it works. This is needed since the projectFile property is defined in the same class and groovy will not call the conventionMapinng-getter.
Of course this has to be done in all methods of classes that rely on convention mapping and currently use properties directly without the getter.
result:
```gradle
:soaptest (Thread[main,5,main]) started.
:soaptest
Executing task ':soaptest' (up-to-date check took 0.0 secs) due to:
Task has not declared any outputs.
:soaptest (Thread[main,5,main]) completed. Took 0.018 secs.
BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 2.503 secs
```
---
### Author:  [@Sion\_Williams1](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Sion_Williams1)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/conventionmapping-woes-what-am-i-doing-wrong/6665/6 "2014-05-02T15:23:00Z")
Thanks Chris.
Unfortunately the project still doesn’t run properly but I can do some debugging from here. Thanks!