Does Grails Project Structure change with Gradle? - grails

I am new to grails and have created my first project using grails-init. I now have a grails project that uses gradle as it's build tool. However, as I go through online tutorials I find that I am missing a lot of the files that are commonly cited. Files such as config.groovy and datasource.groovy.
I've tried re-creating the project, but I get the same structure and files. Can I just add these files manually? I have tried doing so, but they don't seem to be getting picked up when I run the application.

Config.groovy and DataSource.groovy are both applicable to Grails 2 applications but not Grails 3 applications. In Grails 3 the default place for the information that used to go in those files is application.yml.

Grails 3.1 have new features and structure changes. Now grails uses spring boot and Spring 4.2 and as mentioned, Config.groovy and Datasource.groovy can be configured using application.yml. You can found more information here Grails documentation

Related

Grails 3 Application or Plugin

If I'm looking at project source code (in Intellij) how can I tell whether the Grails source code I'm looking at is an Application or a Plugin?
I get it that the output of a Grails Application build is a WAR, and a JAR for a Plugin but I can't figure out how to tell the difference by looking at the source code.
Bonus question: If it is a multi-module project, how do I tell which module is the Application and which modules are the Plugins? Or am I missing some important concept here?
Plugins can be run as applications as well and will often have an Application.groovy file. Plugins will have a <pluginname>GrailsPlugin.groovy file which sets up the plugin. In grails 3, this is in /src/main/groovy file structure.

How to copy Grails 2 plugin resources to the Grails app?

I'm writing a custom Grails 2 plugin to modularize my Grails applications. In the plugin I'm planning to define basic GSPs that can be overridden by the application that will utilize the plugin. I'm thinking of writing a Grails command script that copies those GSPs into the grails-app directory of the app the plugin is installed in. If in the plugin, I put those GSPs in grails-app/views, how do I refer to the actual Grails app directory in the Grails command script, which is also grails-app/views?
The solution to this is almost the same as this answer. The built-in properties basedir and <plugin_name>PluginBaseDir differentiate the target app and the plugin directories.

What are inline plugins?

What is an inline plugin in Grails 2.X? How to make a plugin inline? I can find the documentation for Grails 3 but not for Grails 2.
Inline plugins in Grails 2.x are outlined in the documentation section for plugins.
From the documentation:
An application can load plugins from anywhere on the file system, even
if they have not been installed. Specify the location of the
(unpacked) plugin in the application's
grails-app/conf/BuildConfig.groovy file
Creating an inline plugin is done using the grails create-plugin command, just like a non-inline plugin.
The only real difference between an inline-plugin and regular plugin is how it is referenced by your application. A normal plugin is pulled from a repository (such as maven) while an inline-plugin exists in source format local to the application that is using it. Take for example:
/usr/foo/grails/MyApplication
/usr/foo/grails/MyInlinePlugin
/usr/foo/grails/MyOtherInlinePlugin
The above application (MyApplication) can include the two plugins listed as inline plugins by using the following in the BuildConfig.groovy
// BuildConfig.groovy
grails.plugin.location.'my-inline-plugin' = "../MyInlinePlugin"
grails.plugin.location.'my-other-inline-plugin' = "../MyOtherInlinePlugin"
Overall inline plugins are useful when developing (or testing) a plugin as well as creating modular Grails applications.
You can find the documentation in this URL: Grails Documentation
Go to the section: User guide for older versions
And select your version of Grails.
Here you can find, for example, the documentation of Grails 2.5.0: Grails Documentation 2.5.0
The inline plugins can help you to debug an application or change the code of your plugins to do your tests, instead of apply the changes in the plugin and when it's released, test if it's OK. It's very useful to change different plugins in the same time.
Hope this helps!

Using Grails 2.4.3 in IntelliJ

I've been unable to create/import a Grails 2.4.3 project with IntelliJ 13.1.4. For example, when I create a new module, choose Grails, then click the create button (highlighted below) and choose the location where Grails 2.4.3 is installed, the project is not created correctly (I get a module with just a /src directory instead of a Grails project) and Grails 2.4.3 is not added to the list of Global Libraries. I don't have this problem with any earlier version of Grails.
I have used Grails 2.4.2 with Intellij 13.1.4 successfully. What I did is create the application with the grails create-app command and then do a File / Import Project in Intellij. Give that a try.
As an alternative solution to the IntelliJ 13.1.4 and Grails 2.4.3 bug you can:
grails create app <app-name>
cd app-name
grails integrate-with --intellij
This configured the project correctly for me with just minor tweaks to SDK and application server. This is a minor twist on the work around described above.
See grails doc here
I had the same problem with IntelliJ 13.1.4 and Grails 2.4.3, which i just downloaded.
After using the grails create-app command from the command line i had to import the project, by "create from existing sources" (point to the new top level folder), "Configure SDK" (to set for the Grails 2.4.3) and finally edit the run configuration. In a second test run with a new test project i did not have too configure the run config.
Then the Grails libs for the were downloaded and the basic app ran. Also the Grails specific option in the Intellij "Tools2 section were suddenly available.
So the given answer by Joe is the way to setup a new Grails project but the IDE should be fixed anyways.
It is not consistent. After several tries I can get some applications to work but it does not seem to be automatic. I think I am going to go back to Grails 2.4.2 until this is resolved within Intellij 13.1.4.
In the screenshot above, there are options for groovy/grails/griffon, and so far the alternative offered was command-line. Try choosing groovy option within intelliJ.
We are using IDEA 13.1.4 with grails 1.3.7 and grails 2.2.1(diff projects) and saw the same issue. It appears this is an intelliJ issue and not so much the grails version, so reverting your grails won't gain you anything. Choosing groovy, you should see a prompt for grails directory structure. This does work if you are presented with this option. Seeing inconsistencies here. Thanks to all for posting your workarounds; never hurts to have multiple approaches.
-Duane

How do I create a Grails skeleton project for plugin development?

I am working with a (sort of) framework built on top of Grails. This framework is a set of Grails plugins that add functionality to the Grails app (e.g. user authentication). This framework is a bit of a pain to setup, as it requires around 64 lines of site specific configuration in the apps's Config.groovy file.
I want to develop my addons to this app as plugins. That is, the Grails app would really just be a set of installed plugins and some configuration files.
I have created a local Maven style repository to hold all of my plugins. Thus, I can add plugin dependencies to the BuildConfig.groovy file and they will be installed automatically (side question: is it possible to specify the install order?).
So my question is, how do I create skeleton project for developing my plugins that would:
Include the base configuration for my application (the aforementioned 64 lines)
Allow me to do a grails package-plugin to package only the plugin's code
You can use the post-installation hooks mechanism: http://grails.org/doc/latest/guide/plugins.html#hookingIntoBuildEvents
Not really an ideal setup for me, but the following works:
Create the "base" application: cd ~/GrailsDev/ && grails create-app my-app
Configure my-app as desired/required
Create your dependent plugin: cd ~/GrailsDev/ && grails create-plugin my-app-plugin
Add the new plugin to the app by editing "~/GrailsDev/my-app/grails-app/conf/BuildConfig.groovy" and appending the line: grails.plugin.location.'my-app-plugin' = "../my-app-plugin"
You can now run the my-app Grails application and the plugin will be included. When your plugin is fully developed, you can do grails package-plugin from within the "~/GrailsDev/my-app-plugin" directory to package your plugin.
use gradle. you can specify the order and package your plugin alone.
e.g. include the required plugins as git modules (for easy versioning) and gradle modules (for building your plugin) in your plugin project.
this setup will serve your requirements well I suppose.
https://github.com/grails/grails-gradle-plugin
IntelliJ does have a template for gradle-backed grails applications and plugins.

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