Using Apache Maven and the App Engine Plugin (Cloud SDK-based)

This page explains how to manage an App Engine project using Apache Maven, a software project management and comprehension tool. It is capable of building Web Application Archive (WAR) files for deployment into App Engine. Google provides a plugin and Maven Archetypes that are supported by Maven 3.5 or newer.

Maven downloads the Java libraries from the App Engine SDK. You can use Maven to test your app locally and deploy it to App Engine.

Warning: The standalone App Engine SDK, and the Maven plugin (com.google.appengine.appengine-maven) which is based on it, are now deprecated. You should use Cloud SDK tooling, including the Maven plugin (com.google.cloud.tools.appengine-maven). For more information, see Migrating to Cloud SDK.

Before you start

1. Use the Google Cloud Console to create and set up your Cloud project:
   Go to App Engine
   1. Select or create a new Cloud project.
   2. If you need to create an App Engine application for your project, follow the prompts to select the region where you want your App Engine application located.
2. If you don't have Java, download, install, and configure it.
3. Set the Java compiler flags in your project's pom.xml to specify Java 8 bytecode.
   Java 8

   <properties>
     <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
     <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
   </properties>

4. You must have Maven 3.5 or newer installed. To see if Maven 3.5 or newer is installed, run:

    mvn -v

5. If you don't have Maven 3.5 or newer installed:
   1. Download Maven 3.5 or newer from the Maven website.
   2. Install Maven 3.5 or newer on your local machine.

      Note: Linux users may need to download Maven instead of using apt-get install to install Maven 3.5 or newer.

6. You don't need to install the Cloud SDK because the plugin automatically installs the SDK when required.

Adding the App Engine Maven plugin to an existing project (optional)

To use the Google App Engine Maven plugin in an existing Maven project, add the following into the plugins section in the project pom.xml file:

<plugin>
   <groupId>com.google.cloud.tools</groupId>
   <artifactId>appengine-maven-plugin</artifactId>
   <version>2.2.0</version>
</plugin>

Note: If there is a newer version, upgrade to the latest version.

Choosing an App Engine archetype

Maven Archetypes allow users to create Maven projects using templates that cover common scenarios. App Engine takes advantage of this Maven feature to provide some useful App Engine archetypes at Maven Central. Select an App Engine archetype appropriate for your app:

Application Type	Artifact	Description
App Engine app	appengine-skeleton-archetype	Generates a new, empty App Engine project ready for your own classes and resources, but with required files and directories.
App Engine app	appengine-standard-archetype	Generates a basic Java application for the App Engine standard environment.
App Engine app	appengine-flexible-archetype	Generates a basic Java application for the App Engine flexible environment.

Creating a new project using Maven

During project creation, Maven prompts you to supply groupId, artifactId, version, and the package for the project.

Term	Meaning
groupId	A namespace within Maven to keep track of your artifacts. When people consume your project in their own Maven Project, it will serve as an attribute of the dependency they will end up specifying.
artifactId	The name of your project within Maven. It is also specified by consumers of your project when they depend on you in their own Maven projects.
version	The initial Maven version you want to have your project generated with. It's a good idea to have version suffixed by -SNAPSHOT because this will provide support in the Maven release plugin for versions that are under development. For more information, see the Maven guide to using the release plugin.
package	The Java package created during the generation.

Creating a new App Engine app

The following procedure describes how to use the appengine-skeleton-archetype to create an App Engine application.

To use App Engine Maven archetypes to create an App Engine app:

Note: Some of the following commands can take time to execute, and some can potentially download large artifacts. We recommended that you run these with a good internet connection.

1. Change to the directory where you want to build the project.

2. Invoke the following Maven command:

   mvn archetype:generate -Dappengine-version=1.9.59 -Dapplication-id=[YOUR-PROJECT-ID] -Dfilter=com.google.appengine.archetypes:
   

   Set -Dappengine-version to the most recent version of the App Engine SDK for Java, and application-id to the ID of your Cloud project.

3. To create an empty project that contains the required directory structure and files, ready for your own classes, supply the number corresponding to com.google.appengine.archetypes:appengine-skeleton-archetype.

4. Select the most recent version from the displayed list of available archetype versions by accepting the default.

5. When prompted to Define value for property 'groupId', supply the desired namespace for your app; for example, com.mycompany.myapp.

6. When prompted to Define value for property 'artifactId', supply the project name; for example, myapp.

7. When prompted to Define value for property 'version', accept the default value.

8. When prompted to Define value for property 'package', supply your preferred package name (or accept the default). The generated Java files will have the package name you specify here.

9. When prompted to confirm your choices, accept the default value (Y).

10. Wait for the project to finish generating. then change directories to the new project directory, for example myapp/.

11. Build the project by invoking

        mvn clean package
    

12. Wait for the project to build. When the project successfully finishes you will see a message similar to this one:

        [INFO] --------------------------------------------------
        [INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
        [INFO] --------------------------------------------------
        [INFO] Total time: 1:16.656s
        [INFO] Finished at: 2016-08-04T16:18:24-07:00
        [INFO] Final Memory: 16M/228M
        [INFO] --------------------------------------------------
    

13. If you created a new, empty app using the appengine-skeleton-archetype artifact:

    1. Before starting to code your own classes for the app, familiarize yourself with the basic project layout and the required project files: inside the directory where you created the project, you'll have a subdirectory named myapp, which contains a pom.xml file, the src/main/java subdirectory, and the src/main/webapp/WEB-INF subdirectory:

       

       • Add your own application Java classes to src/main/java/...
       • Configure your application using the file src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/appengine-web.xml
       • Configure your application deployment using the file src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml

    2. Create your application Java classes and add them to src/main/java/.... For more information, see Getting Started.

    3. Add the UI that you want to provide to your app users. For more information, see Adding Application Code and UI.

    4. The artifact you used to create the project has done the basic src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/appengine-web.xml configuration for you. However, for more advanced configuration, you may need to edit this file. For more information, see Configuring with appengine-web.xml.

    5. Edit the file src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml to map URLs to your app handlers, specify authentication, filters, and so forth. This is described in detail in The Deployment Descriptor.

Managing, testing, and deploying a Maven project

Compiling and building your project

To build an application created with the Maven App Engine archetypes:

1. Change to the main directory for your project.

2. Invoke Maven:

   mvn clean package
   

3. Wait for the project to build. When the project successfully finishes you will see a message similar to this one:

   BUILD SUCCESS
    Total time: 10.724s
    Finished at: 2016-08-04T16:18:24-07:00
    Final Memory: 24M/213M
   

4. Optionally, test the application using the following procedure.

Testing your application with the development server

During the development phase, you can run and test your application at any time in the development server by invoking the App Engine Maven plugin.

To test your App Engine app:

1. If you haven't already done so, build your app:

   mvn clean package
   

2. Change directory to the top level of your project (for example, to myapp) and invoke Maven:

   mvn appengine:run
   

   Wait for the server to start. When the server is completely started with your application running, you will see a message similar to this:

   [INFO] GCLOUD: INFO: Module instance default is running at http://localhost:44180/
   [INFO] GCLOUD: Jul 29, 2016 9:23:55 PM com.google.appengine.tools.development.AbstractModule startup
   [INFO] GCLOUD: INFO: The admin console is running at http://localhost:44180/_ah/admin
   [INFO] GCLOUD: Jul 29, 2016 9:23:55 PM com.google.appengine.tools.development.devappserver2.DevAppServer2Impl doStart
   [INFO] GCLOUD: INFO: Dev App Server is now running
   

3. Use your browser to visit http://localhost:8080/ to access your app.

4. Shut down the application and the development server by pressing Control-C.

Specifying a port for local testing

When you run your application in the local development server, the default port is 8080. You can change this default by modifying the plugin entry for appengine-maven-plugin. For example, you can specify port and address in the pom.xml file of your application directory:

<plugins>
   <plugin>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud.tools</groupId>
     <artifactId>appengine-maven-plugin</artifactId>
     <version>2.2.0</version>
     <configuration>
       <devserver.host>0.0.0.0</devserver.host>
       <devserver.port>8181</devserver.port>
     </configuration>
  </plugin>
</plugins>

In this example, the <devserver.port> sets the port to 8181 instead of the default, and the address 0.0.0.0 is specified, which means the development server will listen to requests coming in from the local network.

The prefix devserver is optional; you can use <port>8181</port> instead.

Debugging on the development server

To debug a locally running application, set the jvmFlags in the plugin configuration to enable debugging on the underlying JVM, for example:

<configuration>
  <jvmFlags>
    <jvmFlag>-Xdebug</jvmFlag>
    <jvmFlag>-Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=y,address=5005</jvmFlag>
  </jvmFlags>
</configuration>

Deploying your application

To deploy your application:

mvn package appengine:deploy -Dapp.deploy.projectId=PROJECT_ID

Replace PROJECT_ID with the ID of your Cloud project. If your pom.xml file already specifies your project ID, you don't need to include the -Dapp.deploy.projectId property in the command you run.

The appengine:deploy goal and all other goals in the App Engine Maven plugin have associated parameters that you can use. For a complete list of goals and parameters, refer to App Engine Maven Plugin Goals and Parameters.

What's next

• Explore the App Engine Maven plugin code and report issues on GitHub.
• Learn how to specify parameters for goals by referring to App Engine Maven Goals and Parameters.