How to configure Checkstyle in Eclipse for an maven project automatically

Question

I have a maven-multi project, when I create a new eclipse project from it (by M2E 1.0 "Checkout Maven Project from SCM) I want that the eclipse checkstyle plugin is configured for that project automatically.

So I added the maven-eclipse-plugin in parent pom's <pluginManagement> section and configured it to generate .checkstyle file as well as the additional project nature CheckstyleNature. In the modul poms I added the name of the maven-eclipse-plugin in the build section. But when I checkout the project nothing happend, the file is not generated and the nature is not added.

So I think I am doing something completely wrong, but how is it done correct?

Parent pom - plugin management section:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.8</version>
    <configuration>
        <downloadSources>true</downloadSources>
        <downloadJavadocs>false</downloadJavadocs>
        <wtpversion>2.0</wtpversion>
        <additionalBuildcommands>
            <buildCommand>
                <name>org.eclipse.ajdt.core.ajbuilder</name>
                <arguments>
                    <aspectPath>org.springframework.aspects</aspectPath>
                </arguments>
            </buildCommand>
            <buildCommand>
                <name>org.springframework.ide.eclipse.core.springbuilder</name>
            </buildCommand>
        </additionalBuildcommands>
        <additionalProjectnatures>
            <projectnature>org.eclipse.ajdt.ui.ajnature</projectnature>
            <projectnature>org.springframework.ide.eclipse.core.springnature</projectnature>
            <projectnature>com.atlassw.tools.eclipse.checkstyle.CheckstyleNature</projectnature>
        </additionalProjectnatures>
        <additionalConfig>
            <file>
                <name>.checkstyle</name>
                <content>
<![CDATA[
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<fileset-config file-format-version="1.2.0" simple-config="true" sync-formatter="false">
  <fileset name="all" enabled="true" check-config-name="My Checkstyle rules" local="false">
    <file-match-pattern match-pattern="." include-pattern="true"/>
  </fileset>
  <filter name="FilesFromPackage" enabled="true">
    <filter-data value="target" />
    <filter-data value="src/main/resources"/>
    <filter-data value="src/test/java"/>
    <filter-data value="src/test/resources"/>
    <filter-data value="src/main/webapp" />
  </filter>
</fileset-config>
]]>
                </content>
            </file>
        </additionalConfig>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

Module pom - plugins section:

<plugin>
     <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
     <artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
</plugin>

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

5

There are detailed answers to this topic in Can I Configure m2eclipse through pom.xml?:

Completely automatic configuration of the Eclipse Checkstyle Plugin can only be achieved with a ProjectConfigurator, e.g. m2e-code-quality or m2e-extensions.

For m2e as of version 1.0, you can install them via the m2e marketplace under Preferences->Maven->Discovery->"Open Catalog". For details see the bug tracking for integration of m2e-code-quality into the m2e marketplace.

There is a also solution based on AntRun and XMLTask even for FindBugs and Sonar. It needs manual triggering only once after checkout.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

Community

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answered Dec 19 '11 at 20:52

Martin Ackermann

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sounds very good, I have not tested it yet, but fron the projekt description it is what I needed – Ralph Dec 20 '11 at 09:16
Unfortunately, the [m2e-code-quality connector is not in the catalogue of m2e 1.4 (Kepler)](https://github.com/m2e-code-quality/m2e-code-quality/issues/25). – oberlies Jul 25 '13 at 16:36
the m2e-code-quality home page (http://m2e-code-quality.github.io/m2e-code-quality/) seams to be quite old, but its market place page https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/m2e-code-quality shows that the project is still alive – Ralph Sep 13 '16 at 17:32

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 02 '11 at 17:57

4

The maven eclipse plugin is not the same thing as the m2e plugin for eclipse, which I'm assuming you are trying to use. Basically you shouldn't use both at the same time.

You can use mvn eclipse:eclipse from the command line to generate project files and then you can import the projects into eclipse. M2e works very differently and instead uses the pom files when you import projects as maven plugins. Probably what you want is to configure the checkstyle plugin and hopefully eclipse would pick up the settings. Same for findbugs and other maven plugins.

However, I actually prefer using mvn eclipse:eclipse and haven't actually verified the above works as expected. M2e is just too much of a time waster for me and seems to go off and do the wrong things frequently. I particularly hate how it has a habit of basically rebuilding everything after command line interaction with maven. But lots of people seem to like m2e.

answered Dec 02 '11 at 17:57

Jilles van Gurp

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You are right, the plugins are different. But I will use M2e instead of the eclipse-plugin. – Ralph Dec 02 '11 at 18:23
Unless this answer is relevant explaning difference between the Eclipse plugin (m2e) and the Maven plugin (maven-eclipse-plugin), it seems that integration between the build system and the IDE was really improved from latest version (from 2013 to 2015 especially). I would actually recommend M2E. – Jean-Rémy Revy Dec 14 '15 at 15:44
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It was relevant because the original question is about m2e but the sample xml configures the maven eclipse plugin, which clearly won't work; as I pointed out. My last paragraph was relevant when I provided this answer since m2e was rather unstable and tricky to deal with at the time. Since then things have improved substantially and I now use m2e as well. – Jilles van Gurp Dec 16 '15 at 10:21
You're right, and you answer still focuses on giving answer to the original question. I would just add some actual feedback, for one reading this good question few years later, like me indeed. To be clear, I wouldn't harm you in anyway :) – Jean-Rémy Revy Jan 04 '16 at 11:24

Ralph · Answer 3 · 2011-12-02T19:08:17.333

1

One must install the "Checkstyle m2e" connector

applies configuration form the maven-checkstyle-plugin to the eclipse checkstyle Plugin

Under window\preferences\Maven\Discover\Open Catalog

And of course one has to change the pom, so that the check style plugin is configured, instead of the eclipse plugin.

Unfortunately it does not working for me! (I will not delete the answer because it may work for somebody else.)

edited Dec 02 '11 at 19:08

answered Dec 02 '11 at 18:27

Ralph

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Is there any way of having this discovery trigger automatically? – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen Nov 09 '12 at 13:37
@Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen: I don't know. But it sounds like a good question. – Ralph Nov 09 '12 at 16:39

How to configure Checkstyle in Eclipse for an maven project automatically

3 Answers3