Read pom dependency version from properties file

Question

Trying to read version from properties file but getting below exception

1. Plugin execution not covered by lifecycle configuration: org.codehaus.mojo:properties-maven-plugin:1.0-alpha-2:read-project-properties (execution: default, phase: initialize)
2. Missing artifact org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-starter-zipkin:jar:${zipkin-version}

Below is the pom.xml and properties file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>2.3.0.RELEASE</version>
        <relativePath /> 
    </parent>
    <groupId>com.wtw</groupId>
    <artifactId>Demo Project</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>AlertNotification</name>
    <description>Demo</description>

    <properties>
        <java.version>1.8</java.version>
    </properties>
    
    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
                <artifactId>properties-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>1.0-alpha-2</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <phase>initialize</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>read-project-properties</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
                <configuration>
                    <files>
                        <file>C:\Workspace\version.properties</file>
                    </files>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>           
        </plugins>
    </build>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
            <optional>true</optional>
        </dependency>
    
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-zipkin</artifactId>
            <version>${zipkin-version}</version>
        </dependency>
        
    </dependencies> 

</project>




version.properties file
zipkin-version=2.2.2.RELEASE

Answer 1

You are using an old version of the plugin (1.0-alpha-2), update it to the latest 1.0.0.

Then make sure that the file version.properties is in the folder C:\Workspace. Anyway, with the latest version of the plugin you should get a proper error message if it can't find the file.

One more suggestion: spring-cloud-starter-zipkin belongs to the org.springframework.cloud group which follows another version. The suggested way to declare that dependency is like the following:

<properties>
    <java.version>1.8</java.version>
    <spring-cloud.version>Hoxton.SR6</spring-cloud.version>
</properties>

<dependencyManagement>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-cloud-dependencies</artifactId>
            <version>${spring-cloud.version}</version>
            <type>pom</type>
            <scope>import</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
</dependencyManagement>

<dependencies>
    <!-- ... -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-zipkin</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <!-- ... -->
</dependencies>

Answer 2

Dependencies are resolved before plugins are executed.

So the properties you read with the properties-maven-plugin are not available in the <dependencies> section.

If you want to set a dependency version by property, this property must be set inside the POM, on the command line or in the settings.xml.