This document discusses different approaches to creating Gradle plugins, including build script plugins, buildSrc projects, and standalone plugins. It explains that build script plugins are only visible within the build script they are defined in, while buildSrc projects and standalone plugins can be shared and reused across multiple builds. Standalone plugins require publishing a JAR file and can include multiple plugins. The document also covers implementing plugins in different languages and creating tasks, extensions, and domain-specific languages within plugins.

1. Anatomy of a Gradle plugin
Dmytro Zaitsev
Mobile Team Leader @ Lóhika

2. #dfua

3. Build script buildSrc project Standalone project
Script plugins Binary plugin

4. Build script
Not visible outside the build script
Can’t reuse the plugin outside the build script it’s defined in
Easy to add
Automatically compiled and included in the classpath

5. buildSrc project
Not visible outside the build
Can’t reuse the plugin outside the build it’s defined in
Has dedicated directory
Automatically compiled and included in the classpath
Visible to every build script used by the build
|____rootProjectDir
| |____buildSrc
| | |____src
| | | |____main
| | | | |____groovy

6. Standalone project
Can be used in multiple builds
Requires a separate project
Can be published and shared with others
Packaged JAR may include many plugins
Requires an ID (e.g. ‘java’, `com.android.application` etc)

7. Standalone project
apply plugin: 'groovy'
dependencies {
compile gradleApi()
compile localGroovy()
}
implementation-class=GreeterPlugin
src/main/resources/META-INF/gradle-plugins/greeter.properties

8. Language

9. Language
*.JAVA
class GreeterPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
@Override
public void apply(Project project) {
System.out.println("Hello Java!");
}
}
class GreeterPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
@Override
def apply(Project project) {
println(‘Hello Groovy!’)
}
}
*.GROOVY
class GreeterPlugin : Plugin<Project> {
override fun apply(project: Project) {
println("Hello Kotlin!")
}
}
*.KOTLIN
class GreeterPlugin extends Plugin[Project] {
override def apply(project: Project) {
println("Hello Scala!")
}
}
*.SCALA

10. Language
But Groovy is your best
friend here!

12. GreeterPlugin
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
import org.gradle.api.Plugin
import org.gradle.api.Project
class GreeterPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
@Override
void apply(Project project) {
println 'Hello World!'
}
}

13. GreeterPlugin
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
import org.gradle.api.Plugin
import org.gradle.api.Project
class GreeterPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
@Override
void apply(Project project) {
println 'Hello World!'
}
} Represents an extension to
Gradle
This interface is the main API
you use to interact with Gradle

14. GreeterPlugin
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
import org.gradle.api.Plugin
import org.gradle.api.Project
class GreeterPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
@Override
void apply(Project project) {
println 'Hello World!'
}
}

15. GreeterPlugin
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
class GreeterPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
@Override
void apply(Project project) {
project.tasks.create('sayHello') {
group 'greeter'
description 'Says hello'
doLast {
println 'Hello World!'
}
}
}
}
TaskContainer
Task name
Task action

16. $ gradle tasks -q
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
------------------------------------------------------------
All tasks runnable from root project
------------------------------------------------------------
Build Setup tasks
-----------------
init - Initializes a new Gradle build.
wrapper - Generates Gradle wrapper files.
Greeter tasks
-------------
sayHello - Says hello
Help tasks
----------
Our task with specified
group and description

17. $ gradle -q sayHello
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
$ gradle sayHello -q
Hello World!
$

18. SayHelloTask
ENTER FILENAME/LANGimport org.gradle.api.DefaultTask
import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskAction
class SayHelloTask extends DefaultTask {
@TaskAction
void sayHello() {
println 'Hello World!'
}
}
the standard Task
implementation. You can
extend this to implement
your own task types.
Marks a method as the
action to run when the task
is executed.

19. GreeterPlugin
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
import org.gradle.api.Plugin
import org.gradle.api.Project
class GreeterPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
@Override
void apply(Project project) {
project.tasks.create('sayHello', SayHelloTask) {
group 'greeter'
description 'Says hello'
}
}
}

20. GreeterPlugin
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
import org.gradle.api.Plugin
import org.gradle.api.Project
class GreeterPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
@Override
void apply(Project project) {
project.tasks.create('sayHello', SayHelloTask) {
group 'greeter'
description 'Says hello'
}
}
}
Create the Task of specific type

21. build.gradle
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
apply plugin: GreeterPlugin
// or apply plugin: `greeter`
greeter {
speaker 'Dmytro Zaitsev'
}
build.gradle

22. build.gradle
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
apply plugin: GreeterPlugin
greeter {
speaker 'Dmytro Zaitsev'
}
build.gradle
Project extension we need to register
in our plugin

23. GreeterExtension
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
class GreeterExtension {
@Optional
String speaker = ‘Dmytro Zaitsev`
}
build.gradle
So, we create a class...

24. GreeterPlugin
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
class GreeterPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
@Override
void apply(Project project) {
project.extensions.create('greeter', GreeterExtension)
/* … */
}
}
… and register new Project property
ExtensionContainer

25. SayHelloTask
ENTER FILENAME/LANGimport org.gradle.api.DefaultTask
import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskAction
class SayHelloTask extends DefaultTask {
@TaskAction
void sayHello() {
println "Hello ${project.greeter.speaker}!"
}
}

26. $ gradle -q sayHello
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
$ gradle sayHello -q
Hello Dmytro Zaitsev!
$

28. Create a DSL
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
apply plugin: GreeterPlugin
greeter {
addSpeaker('Dmytro Zaitsev', 'Kiev', 'Lohika')
addSpeaker('Jake Wharton', 'San Francisco', 'Square')
addSpeaker('Mateusz Herych', 'Kraków', 'IGcom')
}
build.gradle
UGLY!

29. Create readable DSL!
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
apply plugin: GreeterPlugin
greeter {
speakers {
‘Dmytro Zaitsev’ {
city 'Kyiv'
company 'Lóhika'
}
‘Jake Wharton’ {
city 'San Francisco'
company 'Square'
}
‘Mateusz Herych’ {
city 'Kraków'
company 'IGcom'
}
}
}
build.gradle
NamedDomainObjectContainer
Domain objects

30. Speaker domain object
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
class Speaker {
String name
String city
String company
Speaker(String name) {
this.name = name
}
def city(String city) {
this.city = city
}
def company(String company) {
this.company = company
}
}
We need a name property
so the object can be created
by Gradle using a DSL.

31. GreeterExtension
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
import org.gradle.api. NamedDomainObjectContainer
class GreeterExtension {
NamedDomainObjectContainer <Speaker> speakers
GreeterExtension (NamedDomainObjectContainer <Speaker> speakers) {
this.speakers = speakers
}
def speakers(Closure<NamedDomainObjectContainer <Speaker>> closure) {
this.speakers.configure (closure)
}
}
GreeterExtension.groovy

32. GreeterExtension
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
import org.gradle.api.NamedDomainObjectContainer
class GreeterExtension {
NamedDomainObjectContainer <Speaker> speakers
GreeterExtension(NamedDomainObjectContainer <Speaker> speakers) {
this.speakers = speakers
}
def speakers(Closure<NamedDomainObjectContainer<Speaker>> closure) {
this.speakers.configure(closure)
}
}
GreeterExtension.groovy

33. SayHelloTask
ENTER FILENAME/LANGimport org.gradle.api.DefaultTask
import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskAction
class SayHelloTask extends DefaultTask {
@TaskAction
void sayHello() {
project.greeter.speakers.all {
println "Hello ${it.name}!"
}
}
}

34. GreeterPlugin
ENTER FILENAME/LANGclass GreeterPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
@Override
void apply(Project project) {
// add extensions
project.extensions.create ('greeter',
GreeterExtension , project.container(Speaker))
// add tasks
project.tasks.create('sayHello', SayHelloTask) {
group 'greeter'
description 'Says hello'
}
}
}

35. $ gradle -q sayHello
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
$ gradle sayHello -q
Hello Dmytro Zaitsev!
Hello Jake Wharton!
Hello Mateusz Herych!
$

37. Extension test
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
class GreeterPluginTest {
@Test
public void canAddGreeterExtension() {
Project project = ProjectBuilder.builder().build()
project.apply plugin: 'greeter'
assert project.greeter instanceof GreeterExtension
}
}

38. Extension test
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
class GreeterPluginTest {
@Test
public void canAddGreeterExtension() {
Project project = ProjectBuilder.builder().build()
project.apply plugin: 'greeter'
assert project.greeter instanceof GreeterExtension
}
}
Stub a Project

39. Extension test
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
class GreeterPluginTest {
@Test
public void canAddGreeterExtension() {
Project project = ProjectBuilder.builder().build()
project.apply plugin: 'greeter'
assert project.greeter instanceof GreeterExtension
}
}
Apply the plugin

40. Extension test
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
class GreeterPluginTest {
@Test
public void canAddGreeterExtension() {
Project project = ProjectBuilder.builder().build()
project.apply plugin: 'greeter'
assert project.greeter instanceof GreeterExtension
}
}
Check that extension exists

41. Task test
ENTER FILENAME/LANG
class GreeterPluginTest {
@Test
public void canAddSayHelloTask() {
Project project = ProjectBuilder.builder().build()
project.apply plugin: 'greeter'
assert project.tasks.sayHello instanceof SayHelloTask
}
}

42. Links
1) Official Gradle documentation:
https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/custom_plugins.html
2) Example of plugin written in Kotlin:
https://github.com/RxViper/RxViper/tree/1.x/rxviper-gradle-plugin
3) Books:
https://gradle.org/books/

43. #dfua

44. Thank you!
Questions?Questions?
@DmitriyZaitsev