Easily customize the eclipse-wtp facet version

[David_Tombs]

Continuing the discussion from Be able to easily customize the eclipse-wtp facet version:

@jnizet

Hi.

I just gave a training about Java web development, using eclipse as an IDE, servlet 3.0, and gradle to create the project.

I had a problem though: gradle generates a jst-web facet with version 2.4. This makes eclipse continually generate an unwanted web.xml deployment descriptor (no web.xml is necessary with servlet 3.0), and with the wrong webapp version of course (2.4 instead of 3.0). As a result, the application isn’t functional anymore until the facet version is manually edited in the eclipse configuration file. And if the project is regenerated (because a dependency is added, for example), the configuration is lost.

I managed to customize the version with the following code:

eclipse {
  wtp {
    facet {
      file {
        whenMerged { wtpFacet ->
          def installedJstFacet = wtpFacet.facets.find { facet ->
            facet.name == 'jst.web' && facet.type == org.gradle.plugins.ide.eclipse.model.Facet.FacetType.installed
          }
          installedJstFacet.version = '3.0'
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

But I find it too complex to figure out, for something that should always be configured (the eclipse wizard for web projects asks which version the project should have).

I have a fix ready to be submitted as a pull request, which consists in adding a property webVersion in the DSL. The configuration would then become:

eclipse {
  wtp {
    facet {
      webVersion = '3.0'
    }
  }
}

Please tell me what you think about this. Should I submit a pull request? Is “webVersion” the appropriate name? Maybe “webAppVersion”?

Continuing the discussion from Be able to easily customize the eclipse-wtp facet version:

@Nicolas_Bihan

I think

eclipse {
  wtp {
  facet {
    facet name: 'jst.web', version: '3.0'
    facet name: 'java', version: '1.7'
    facet name: 'wst.jsdt.web', version: '1.0'
  }
 }
}

already does that.

This no longer works in Gradle 2.3 because the facet method adds facets instead of updating them. I couldn’t get @jnizet’s suggested workaround to work either. I’m not even sure how to do this in Gradle 2.3.

[sterling (Sterling Greene)]

It’s still a little clunky, but could you try:

eclipse {
    wtp {
        facet {
            facet name: 'jst.web', version: '3.0'
            def oldJstWebFacet = facets.findAll {
                it.name == 'jst.web' && it.version == '2.4'
            }
            facets.removeAll(oldJstWebFacet)
        }
    }
}

[David_Tombs]

That didn’t work for me. I copy+pasted your exact code but I still ended up with 2 jst.web facets in my Eclipse project: 2.4 and 3.0.

[David_Tombs]

So is this a regression in Gradle 2.3?

[sterling (Sterling Greene)]

Ah, it’s merging existing .settings files too. So if you generate a bad .settings/org.eclipse.wst.common.project.facet.core.xml (with jst.web 2.4), even with my bit of code, it’ll retain both versions. If you clean the .settings directory, that doesn’t happen.

[David_Tombs]

You’re right, I cleaned the .settings directory and ran gradle eclipse and it generated fine with your code. Thanks.

I still wouldn’t call this easy, though. Could Gradle support overriding a default facet version somehow? Maybe the facet() method could override an existing facet with the same name?

[Andrew_Oberstar]

Definitely agree with David on this one. Applying a facet should replace an existing facet with the same name.

The behavior has changed recently (can’t remember when). In the old days, setting any facet would clear all default facets and you would start from a clean slate. This was already a pain since it meant you had to recreate everything gradle does out of the box if you want a different facet version. The new behavior is only different, not better.