Is there a Java Class that generates a POM.xml file?

Question

In my job project I have recently been asked to generate POM files via a java class. The problem is that I am very, very new to Maven (like since last December).

Wha

Answer 1

It depends on what you are trying to do. If you just want to create POMs for new projects of a certainly type, the best way is through Maven archetypes (you can create your own archetypes with the templates you want).

If you really have a need to programmatically write a POM, you can use the following:

import org.apache.maven.model.*;
import org.apache.maven.model.io.xpp3.MavenXpp3Writer;
...
Model model = new Model();
model.setGroupId( "some.group.id" );
...
new MavenXpp3Writer().write( w, model );

... where w is a java.io.Writer and you add all the necessary exception handling.

The Javadoc is here: http://maven.apache.org/ref/2.2.1/maven-model/apidocs/index.html

To access this API, you should add this dependency:

  org.apache.maven
  maven-model
  2.2.1

There is a corresponding read API as well, but bear in mind that it won't do all the Maven operations such as inheritence and interpolation (to do that requires more advanced API usage).