Building an executable jar, then using it to generate source

[kjkrum]

Project A produces an executable jar artifact that generates Java source from XML files specified on the command line. So far so good.

Now I want project B to run A's artifact (building it if necessary) in B's process-resources phase to generate some of B's source. How do I do that?

My Google-fu is weak tonight...

[kjkrum]

It may not be ideal, but this is how I did it: exec-maven-plugin runs my custom build tool in the generate-sources phase and registers its source output directory as a Maven source directory. Then build-helper-maven-plugin registers the tool's resource output directory as a Maven resource directory. All the generated stuff is under target so it gets cleaned automatically.

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
	<groupId>com.github.kjkrum</groupId>
	<artifactId>JTX</artifactId>
	<version>1.0</version>
	<name>Java Terminal eXtreme</name>
	<description>A fast and flexible Swing terminal system</description>
	<properties>
		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
	</properties>
	<dependencies>
		<dependency>
			<groupId>junit</groupId>
			<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
			<version>4.6</version>
			<scope>test</scope>
		</dependency>
		<dependency>
			<groupId>com.github.kjkrum</groupId>
			<artifactId>Automaton</artifactId>
			<version>1.12</version>
		</dependency>
	</dependencies>
	<build>
		<plugins>
			<plugin>
				<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
				<artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
				<executions>
					<execution>
						<id>jplex-build</id>
						<phase>generate-sources</phase>
						<goals>
							<goal>java</goal>
						</goals>
					</execution>
				</executions>
				<configuration>
					<mainClass>krum.jplex.JPlex</mainClass>
					<arguments>
						<argument>${basedir}/src/main/jplex/DemoLexer.jplex</argument>
						<argument>${project.build.directory}/generated-sources/jplex/</argument>
						<argument>${project.build.directory}/generated-resources/jplex/</argument>
					</arguments>
					<sourceRoot>${project.build.directory}/generated-sources/jplex/</sourceRoot>
					<includePluginDependencies>true</includePluginDependencies>
				</configuration>
				<dependencies>
					<dependency>
						<groupId>com.github.kjkrum</groupId>
						<artifactId>JPlex</artifactId>
						<version>1.1</version>
					</dependency>
				</dependencies>
			</plugin>
			<plugin>
				<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
				<artifactId>build-helper-maven-plugin</artifactId>
				<executions>
					<execution>
						<id>add-resource</id>
						<phase>generate-resources</phase>
						<goals>
							<goal>add-resource</goal>
						</goals>
						<configuration>
							<resources>
								<resource>
									<directory>${project.build.directory}/generated-resources/jplex/</directory>
								</resource>
							</resources>
						</configuration>
					</execution>
				</executions>
			</plugin>
			<plugin>
				<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
				<configuration>
					<source>1.5</source>
					<target>1.5</target>
				</configuration>
			</plugin>
		</plugins>
	</build>
</project>