# How to set subproject artifact as task input?

**URL:** <https://discuss.gradle.org/t/how-to-set-subproject-artifact-as-task-input/44043>\
**Category:** Help/Discuss\
**Created:** [October 13, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/how-to-set-subproject-artifact-as-task-input/44043 "2022-10-13T19:45:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![silverhammermba](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gradle/user_avatar/discuss.gradle.org/silverhammermba/32/10040_2.png) [@silverhammermba](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/silverhammermba)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/how-to-set-subproject-artifact-as-task-input/44043/1 "2022-10-13T19:45:23Z")

</div>

My gradle build has a subproject with a task that produces a file

```
$ ./gradlew :strings:tokenizeStrings # creates strings/string_tokens.csv

```

then in my root project I have a task which consumes that file

```gradle
tasks.generateLocalizationFiles {
    inputTokensCsvFile.set(layout.projectDirectory.file("strings/string_tokens.csv"))
}

```

this works, but since gradle doesn’t know about the dependency, it only works if I run the two tasks manually in the right order

```
$ ./gradlew :strings:tokenizeStrings
$ ./gradlew :generateLocalizationFiles

```

I want to add the proper dependency to gradle so that I can run just `:generateLocalizationFiles` and it will go into the subproject and do whatever it needs to. But I can’t figure out the right way to do it.

**What I’ve tried:**

Following [Simple sharing of artifacts between projects](https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/cross_project_publications.html#sec:simple-sharing-artifacts-between-projects), I tried adding a consumable configuration to the suproject build script

```gradle
val localizationData by configurations.creating {
    isCanBeConsumed = true
    isCanBeResolved = false
}

tasks.tokenizeStrings {
    artifacts {
        add("localizationData", outputTokensCsvFile) {
            builtBy(this)
        }
    }
}

```

and then a resolvable configuration plus the dependency to the root project build script

```gradle
val localizedStringData by configurations.creating {
    isCanBeConsumed = false
    isCanBeResolved = true
}

// hook up our resolvable configuration to the strings' consumable configuration
dependencies {
    localizedStringData(project(mapOf(
        "path" to ":strings",
        "configuration" to "localizationData")
    ))
}

tasks.generateLocalizationFiles {
    dependsOn(localizedStringData)
    inputTokensCsvFile.set(localizedStringData.singleFile)
}

```

but that fails, seemingly because the consumable configuration is not populated?

```gradle
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Expected configuration ':localizedStringData' to contain exactly one file, however, it contains no files.

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![silverhammermba](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gradle/user_avatar/discuss.gradle.org/silverhammermba/32/10040_2.png) [@silverhammermba](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/silverhammermba)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/how-to-set-subproject-artifact-as-task-input/44043/2 "2022-10-13T21:02:27Z")

</div>

You need to add the outgoing artifact directly in the subproject build script, not inside the task configuration (which is only run lazily). You also don’t need `builtBy` if you’re using a `RegularFileProperty` for the artifact.

```
val localizationData by configurations.creating {
    isCanBeConsumed = true
    isCanBeResolved = false
}

artifacts {
    add("localizationData", tasks.tokenizeStrings.get().outputTokensCsvFile)
}

```