This document presents a discussion on mavenizing Liferay projects, focusing on the advantages of using Maven over Ant for build systems. It details the benefits of a standardized approach for project management, including dependency and version control, and highlights the functionalities of a custom Maven plugin that integrates with Liferay. The presentation also outlines future steps for enhancing Maven support and improving documentation and features.

1. Mavenizing your
Liferay project
April 18th 2012
Presented by
Jan Gregor
…the open source integrator

2. Presenter
• Introductions Jan Gregor
Senior Portal Consultant
• Questions?
• Presenter
26.04.2012 2

3. Agenda
• Choosing the right build system- Stable and
efficient build system is a heart of good software
engineering
• Maven & Liferay– Transforming good to perfect
• Live demo - build, deploy and release of real
project using Maven
• Next steps – what is planned…
• Q&A
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4. Choosing the right build system
• OOTB Liferay IDE/SDK comes with Ant
• What is wrong with Ant ?
└ Learn the ant tasks (non-standard)
└ Non standard folder structure
└ Integration into existing maven build infrastructure
└ No dependency management
└ No versioning
└ No simple release management
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5. Choosing the right build system
• What is wrong with Ant ?
└ “Works on my machine ” code
└ Machine/User-dependant builds
└ Installation/management effort
└ Inconsistency of developer environments
└ Scalability in big teams
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6. Choosing the right build system
• Impact on project
└ Decrease of quality
└ No releasing
└ No dependency management
└ Maintenance & Scalability in future
└ Higher costs
└ High effort for each developer setup
└ Delay by WOMM problems….
└ Higher project risk
└ Non-standard processes
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7. Choosing the right build system
• Maven
Maven's primary goal is to allow a developer to comprehend
the complete state of a development effort in the shortest
period of time. In order to attain this goal there are several
areas of concern that Maven attempts to deal with:
└ Making the build process easy
└ Providing a uniform build system
└ Providing quality project information
└ Providing guidelines for best practices development
└ Allowing transparent migration to new features
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8. Maven & Liferay
• Need for a maven plugin for Liferay development
└ Liferay Maven plugin
└ Official maven support provided by Liferay with focus on copying the
ant-based approach in maven enviroment
└ Mimacom Maven plugin
└ Custom maven plugin focused on maximizing potential and
advantages from Maven build system and connecting it with Liferay
portal
└ Open source
└ Plugin maven site
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9. Mimacom Maven plugin
• Goal of plugin
└ Wraps the ant scripts with a nice maven facade
└ Use of standard maven project layout
└ No learning effort
└ All maven features are available
└ Produces self contained artifacts, deployable directly on
any application server
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10. Mimacom Maven plugin
• Plugin features
└ Standardized and transparent build system
└ Portal customizations without ext
└ Full support of all liferay plugins development
└ Product-like packaging of software
└ Application-server specific builds
└ Migration & dependency management
└ Patch management
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11. Standardized & transparent build
• Project structure with standard maven modules
└ Parent (defines project base configuration)
└ Portal (represents Liferay portal)
└ Plugins (represents Liferay plugins)
└ Another modules (can be anything…)
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12. Portal customizations without ext
• Portal as a part of project
└ Standard maven module
└ Opposite of “ext” approach
└ Original and customization on
one place
└ Always separated
└ Delivered as a black box
└ Built and deployed by maven
└ Live preview in eclipse
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13. Support of all liferay plugins
• Standard maven modules
└ Themes
└ Hooks
└ Plugins
└ Layouts
• Build & deploy to server
• Standard folder structure
• Specific plugin configuration
└ Live preview in eclipse
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14. Product-like packaging
• All components are managed by Maven
└ OOTB Liferay portal
└ Portal customizations
└ Plugins
└ Configuration
└ Libraries
└ Singe point of
└ Compile
└ Build
└ Release
└ Delivery
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15. Product-like packaging
• Developing portal customizations
└ “Ext way”
└ Separate installation of Application server + Liferay
└ Developing ext-modules and deploying to portal
└ Maven way
└ OOTB Portal with all artifacts and dependencies stored in Maven
repository
└ Customizations are made in a maven module
└ By build time the ootb portal + customizations are merged and
delivered as a single monolithic package
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16. Product-like packaging
• Developing portal customizations
└ Customizations to
└ Portal-impl
└ Portal-web
└ Portal-service
└ Portal configuration
└ 3 delivery artifacts
└ Portal war file
└ Portal configuration
└ Portal dependencies
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17. Product-like packaging
• Developing portal-service
customizations
└ Using standard maven approach
└ New maven module
└ Packaging jar
└ Added portal-service dependencies
└ Overriding classes
└ Finally add to portal module as
dependency
└ Configure for automatic
deployment into /lib/ext
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18. Product-like packaging
• Delivery artifacts
└ Portal war-file
└ Merge ootb + changes
└ Clear separation for developer
└ Transparent delivery for customer
└ Portal dependencies (zip)
└ Manageable and configurable
└ Portal configuration (zip)
└ Separated config files
└ Manageable and configurable
└ Getting profits from all standard
development approaches
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19. Product-like packaging
• Profits
└ All software components managed on a single place
└ Full control of used versions, components, changes
└ Clear separation of customized and original code
└ “Blackbox” delivery of software to a customer without
any previous installation of portal
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20. Application-server specific builds
• Common problems
└ Different development / production environments
└ Automatization and control of AS dependent builds
└ Missing auto deploy functionality by some Application
servers
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21. Application-server specific builds
• Individual builds for different AS’s
└ Integration with maven profiling
└ Current support of Tomcat & Websphere AS
└ Simulating deployment process in Liferay by build time
-> Ensure simple deployment to WAS
└ Live preview in Eclipse
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22. Migration & dependency management
• All artifacts stored in maven
repository
└ Portal-web/impl/service
└ Portal dependencies
└ 3rd party libraries
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23. Migration & dependency management
• Installing new Liferay version (Step 1)
└ Download the artifacts
└ CE
mvn org.mimacom.maven.plugins:maven-liferay-plugin:downloadLiferay
-Dversion=6.0.6
└ EE (Requires access to Customer portal)
mvn org.mimacom.maven.plugins:maven-liferay-plugin:downloadLiferay
-Dversion=6.0.11
-DfileVersion=6.0-ee-sp1
-Dusername=XXX
-Dpassword=XXX
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24. Migration & dependency management
• Installing new Liferay version (Step 2)
└ Upload the artefacts to maven repository
mvn org.mimacom.maven.plugins:maven-liferay-plugin:deployLiferay
-DrepositoryId=mimacom-repo-id-deploy-thirdparty
-DrepositoryUrl=${mimacom-deploy-path-thirdparty}
-Dversion=5.2.9
-DfileVersion=5.2-ee-sp5
-DserverType=tomcat
└ Plugin will automatically upload all artifacts into
repository
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25. Migration & dependency management
• Migrating to newer Liferay version
└ Change the dependency version
└ All dependencies and ootb portal will be
automatically updated by build time
└ Possible compile problems and API incompatibility
immediately signalized
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26. Patch management
• Profiting from maven
dependency
management
└ All patches provided by
Liferay need to be installed
in Maven repository
└ Versioning enables
installation of “wrong”
patches
└ Internal persistent storage
of all provided patches
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27. Patch management
• Integrating patches to
project
└ Portal-impl
└ Dependencies with scope
compile
└ Portal-service
└ Dependencies with scope
compile and moved by plugin
to global libraries
└ Portal-web
└ Integrated as a maven
module (hook plugin)
└ Portlets
└ Integrated a maven module
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28. Next steps
• Support of maven archetypes
• Support of more application servers
• Integration with Liferay IDE and Liferay’s maven
support
• Improving product-like documentation &
features
• Providing enterprise support
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29. How to start
• Visit plugin maven site
└ http://repo.mimacom.org/content/repositories/mimaco
m-sites-
open/org/mimacom/maven/plugins/1.5.5/org.edorasfra
mework.tools.parent/maven-liferay-plugin/index.html
• Any feedback is very welcome!
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30. mimacom path
Idee Lösung
© mimacom ag 10/21/10
31

34. Contact
Contact mimacom: Contact Liferay
International: +41 31 329 09 00 Free: +49 6196 773 0680
johan.oelen@mimacom.ch sales-eu@liferay.com