A Maven 2 plugin that wraps the Cargo Java API

Functional tests The usage of Cargo for executing functional tests on a container do not need this m2 plugin. You should directly use the Cargo Java API from your Java unit test classes (JUnit, TestNG, etc), as described on http://tinyurl.com/btmwa.

Table of Contents

This page documents the following:

• Installation: explains how to install the plugin
• Features: explains how to use the plugin on several use cases
• Configuration: provide reference documentation for all configuration options
• Tips: tips for using the plugin

Installation

There is no installation necessary. The Cargo artifacts are hosted on ibiblio.

Note that the Cargo project has a snapshot repository on Codehaus. If you want use snapshot versions of the Cargo m2 plugin you'll need to add this definition in your POM or settings file:

Features

As usual the best way to learn to use a tool is through examples. We have several sample projects that we use as our internal functional tests suite. We'd really recommend that you check them out. In addition here are the typical uses cases covered by the plugin:

• Starting and stopping a container
• Deploy to a running container
• Generate container configuration deployment structure

The configuration elements are described in the configuration section.

Deploy to a running container

Cargo supports deploying to an already running container. This feature is called hot deployment). You call it by using the (cargo:deploy) goal (e.g. mvn cargo:deploy).

Note that you can also do static deployment by simply defining the deployables to deploy in the <configuration> element as shown above. In that case the deployables will be deployed before the container starts.

Not all containers have a Deployer implemented We haven't finished implementing Deployers for all containers yet. Please check if your favorite container has it implemented. If not you'll need to deploy your deployables by defining them in a standalone local configuration as shown in the start/stop a container use case above.

Using a local deployer

A local deployer is a deployer that deploys deployables on a local container (i.e. a container installed on the same machine where the deployer is executing). Thus you'll need to use a local container id in <containerId>. You can check that by reviewing the supported container list and selecting the container you wish to use.

Example of doing a local deploy to an existing configuration:

As for the <code>cargo:start</code> goal if your project is a J2EE project then the generated artifact will be automatically added to the list of deployables to deploy.

Using a remote deployer

A remote deployer is a deployer that deploys deployables on a remote container (i.e. a container that is running and that has been started externally from Cargo). Thus you'll need to use an id for a remote container in <containerId> and a runtime configuration.

Example of doing a remote deploy using a runtime configuration:

As you can see the information to connect and do the deployment to the remote container is specified in the runtime configuration (cargo.tomcat.manager.context, cargo.tomcat.manager.username and cargo.tomcat.manager.password). The properties to define are deployer-dependent. (TODO: Add link to reference documentation for specific remote deployers once it exists...)

Generate container configuration deployment structure

Ability to create a fully working custom configuration and possibly package some deployables in it. Then deliver this configuration as an artifact (cargo:package).

TODO

Configuration

Work in progress... This section is not finished and does not represent the full list of configuration options. In the meantime please check the samples on this page for examples of configurations.

Tips

• Starting mutiple containers conditionally

Starting mutiple containers conditionally

Maven 2 supports the notion of profiles which can be used with Cargo to decide for example when to run tests on a specific container. Here's how you could use the Cargo m2 plugin to that effect:

Then to start the tomcat 5.x container you would type mvn -P tomcat5x integration-test. if you want to start both containers you would type mvn -P tomcat5x,orion2x integration-test.

If you want to define a profile as the default you can use the <activation> element with an activation strategy. For example if you want a profile to be always on, use:

TODO: Show how to share configuration data between profiles (this should work by defining the default config data in the <build> element).