replace file content during builidng war (maven2)

Question

How can I replace the content of a file just before maven-war-plugin uses it to build a war?

the point is:

• in tomcat started within eclipse and mvn tomcat:run i want to use development configuration. it should be on the classpath (e.g. in resource folder). so the file should be there in all phases up to test, but not during package phase
• on bamboo, uat, prod server i want this configuration to be removed. it will be provided from classpath
• but i don't want to remove the file. we use shared servers so anyone can put file with same name on classpath (by accident e.g. application.properties). so i want this file to be inside war (so spring will not look for it outside of war) but it should be empty.
• i don't want to use profiles because i want to have same package working on all environments

so the question is: how can i replace file's content during (or just before) building war

Answer 1

i found maven replacer plugin it easily allows change file content

Answer 2

I will give you a completely different answer here that will make it possible to have two different files with their own configuration that is then filtered to a single file.

.
├── pom.xml
└── src
    └── main
        ├── java
        ├── webapp
        |   └── WEB-INF
        |       └── web.xml
        ├── filters
        |   ├── dev.properties
        |   └── prod.properties
        └── resources
            ├── application.properties
            └── other.properties

pom.xml

<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.stackoverflow</groupId>
    <artifactId>Q13045684</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>war</packaging>

    <name>${project.artifactId}-${project.version}</name>

    <properties>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax</groupId>
            <artifactId>javaee-api</artifactId>
            <version>6.0</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.4.3</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>dev-resources</id>
                        <phase>process-resources</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>copy-resources</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <outputDirectory>${project.build.outputDirectory}</outputDirectory>
                            <resources>
                                <resource>
                                    <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
                                    <includes>
                                        <include>application.properties</include>
                                    </includes>
                                    <filtering>true</filtering>
                                </resource>
                            </resources>
                            <filters>
                                <filter>src/main/filters/dev.properties</filter>
                            </filters>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                    <execution>
                        <id>prod-resources</id>
                        <phase>prepare-package</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>copy-resources</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <outputDirectory>${project.build.outputDirectory}</outputDirectory>
                            <overwrite>true</overwrite>
                            <resources>
                                <resource>
                                    <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
                                    <includes>
                                        <include>application.properties</include>
                                    </includes>
                                    <filtering>true</filtering>
                                </resource>
                            </resources>
                            <filters>
                                <filter>src/main/filters/prod.properties</filter>
                            </filters>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

---

src/main/filters/dev.properties

someProperty = foo
someOtherProperty = bar

---

src/main/filters/prod.properties

someProperty =
someOtherProperty =

---

src/main/resources/application.properties

someProperty = ${someProperty}
someOtherProperty = ${someOtherProperty}

---

This will give you three files to work with. The output will only have the application.properties.

Answer 3

You can elaborate a little with the maven-resources-plugin to accomplish this.

First of all you will have to put your special file in one directory in the src/main/resources folder.

Then you place an empty file under another folder in the src/main/resources folder.

This is just an example:

.
├── pom.xml
└── src
    └── main
        ├── java
        ├── webapp
        |   └── WEB-INF
        |       └── web.xml
        └── resources
            ├── prod
            |   └── application.properties
            └── dev
                └── application.properties

pom.xml

<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.stackoverflow</groupId>
    <artifactId>Q13045684</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>war</packaging>

    <name>${project.artifactId}-${project.version}</name>

    <properties>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax</groupId>
            <artifactId>javaee-api</artifactId>
            <version>6.0</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.4.3</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>dev-resources</id>
                        <phase>process-resources</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>copy-resources</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <outputDirectory>${project.build.outputDirectory}</outputDirectory>
                            <resources>
                                <resource>
                                    <directory>src/main/resources/dev</directory>
                                </resource>
                            </resources>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                    <execution>
                        <id>prod-resources</id>
                        <phase>prepare-package</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>copy-resources</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <outputDirectory>${project.build.outputDirectory}</outputDirectory>
                            <overwrite>true</overwrite>
                            <resources>
                                <resource>
                                    <directory>src/main/resources/prod</directory>
                                </resource>
                            </resources>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
        <resources>
            <resource>
                <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
                <excludes>
                    <exclude>dev/**</exclude>
                    <exclude>prod/**</exclude>
                </excludes>
            </resource>
        </resources>
    </build>
</project>

With this configuration you will get different files in the target/classes folder depending on what goal you use.

mvn test

Will put the src/main/resources/dev/application.properties file in the target/classes.

mvn package

Will put the src/main/resources/prod/application.properties file in the target/classes.

Any other resources under src/main/resources will be copied and/or filtered as usual.

Answer 4

Try the

https://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/

But its an anti-pattern. Better you use context-params and jndi-resources from the AppServer.