Sample Project, Gradle Setup

Objective

Import the sample REST_lamp, Gradle-based, project in Eclipse.

You can use the description that follows below to replace step #4 in the "Sample Project, Setup" document. When you're done you will have a fully functional REST project with Gradle as the build automation tool.

Download the sample project

• Download the project file into your Downloads folder.
• Uncompress the file and move the contents into your Eclipse workspace.

  

    $ cd ~/Downloads
    $ gunzip REST-Lamp-gradle.tar.gz
    $ tar xvf REST-Lamp-gradle.tar
    $ mv REST-Lamp-gradle <path_to_your_eclipse_workspace>
  

• Install gradle (please note that sudo apt install gradle will install an older version of gradle that's not going to work for purposes of this tutorial):

  

    $ sudo mkdir /opt/gradle
    $ cd ~/Downloads
    $ wget https://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-6.3-bin.zip
    $ sudo unzip -d /opt/gradle gradle-6.3-bin.zip
    $ sudo echo "export GRADLE_HOME=/opt/gradle/gradle-6.3" >> /etc/profile.d/gradle.sh
    $ sudo echo "export PATH=\${GRADLE_HOME}/bin:\${PATH}" >> /etc/profile.d/gradle.sh
    $ source /etc/profile.d/gradle.sh
    $ gradle --version
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    Gradle 6.3
    ------------------------------------------------------------

  

• Create the gradle wrapper and build the "executable":

  

    $ cd <path_to_your_eclipse_workspace>
    $ cd REST-Lamp-gradle
    $ gradle wrapper
    $ ./gradlew build
  

Import the sample project into your Eclipse workspace

• Start Eclipse.
• Go to "File > Import" and select "General > Existing Projects into Workspace"
• Select the REST-Lamp-gradle project.

Final touches

You'll have to adjust slightly step #8 in the "Sample Project, Setup" document: instead of "REST_lamp" in this case we have "REST-Lamp-gradle".

That's all. Now you can select "Run > Run" and the project will be built and deployed to the local server. You can access the REST services at http://localhost:8080/REST-Lamp-gradle/lamps

Noteworthy

The two configuration files that are important are:

• build.gradle under <path_to_your_eclipse_workspace>/REST-Lamp-gradle/
• web.xml under <path_to_your_eclipse_workspace>/REST-Lamp-gradle/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/ -- please note that this is the default gradle location for the file. Older tutorials have the WEB-INF directory under the project root, but that is no longer the case.

The deployable built is REST-Lamp-gradle.war under <path_to_your_eclipse_workspace>/REST-Lamp-gradle/build/libs/

Start a REST Gradle project from scratch

Here are the steps:

• In Eclipse go to "New > Project" and select "Gradle project" then click "Next" and "Next" again.
• Type in the name of the project and then "Finish". Wait until the project is created, then expand it in the left pane of Eclispe (the Package Explorer).
• Expand the src folder; right click on main, select "New > Folder", and name it webapp.
• Right click on webapp, select "New > Folder", and name it WEB-INF.
• Right click on WEB-INF, select "New > Other" then "XML > XML File" and "Next"; name the file web.xml and then click "Finish".
• Edit build.gradle and web.xml to suit the needs of your project. Just to get started you could use the same files we use in the sample REST-Lamp-gradle project. You can download the files from the links below:
  • Sample web.xml file
  • Sample build.gradle file
• Right click on the name of the project then select "Gradle > Refresh Gradle Project". NOTE: In Eclipse you need to do this every time you modify the buid.gradle file.