Table of Contents

Installing the LivingDoc Maven Plugin

In order to install the Maven Plugin, it is necessary to add a plugin entry to your project's pom.xml.

<plugin>
	<groupId>info.novatec.testit.livingdoc</groupId>
	<artifactId>livingdoc-maven-plugin</artifactId>
	<version>1.0.0</version>
	...
	<!-- further configuration here -->
</plugin>

Configuring the LivingDoc Maven Plugin

Within the default Maven Build Lifecycle, there are three phases using the  Maven Plugin.
 

• During the Pre-Integration Test, the plugin is used to compile and copy the fixture classes of an application. By default, the compiled classes are copied to:
  ${project.build.directory}/fixture-test-classes/

• During the next phase, the Integration Test, the plugin is used to execute the specifications of an application. As the result of an execution, it generates reports in plain HTML or XML file format which are by default stored in:
  ${basedir}/target/livingdoc-reports/

• Finally, during the Post-Integration Test, the plugin creates the fixture jars of an application. These are typically generated in:
  ${basedir}/target/

In step one ("Installing the  Maven Plugin") we had a look on a short block of code where it said "further configuration here". Below you find an example of how said configuration could look like.

<plugin>
	<groupId>info.novatec.testit.livingdoc</groupId>
	<artifactId>livingdoc-maven-plugin</artifactId>
	<version><!-- your version of the LivingDoc Maven Plugin --></version>
	<configuration>
	    <source><!-- your source version --></source>
	    <target><!-- your target version --></target>
	    <fixtureSourceDirectory><!-- source directory of your fixtures, for example: src/fixture/java --></fixtureSourceDirectory>
	    <fixtureOutputDirectory><!-- output directory of the compiled fixture classes, for example: target/fixture-test-classes --></fixtureOutputDirectory>
	    <specsDirectory><!-- destination for downloaded specification files, for example: src/sprecs--></specsDirectory>
		<reportsDirectory><!-- destination for generated HTML reports, for example: target/livingdoc-reports</reportsDirectory>
		<reportsType><!-- the file format of your reports (XML or HTML, default is HTML) --></reportsType>
	    <resources>
	        <resource>
	            <directory><! -- directory for a specific resource. Example: src/fixture/resources--></directory>
	            <excludes>
	                <exclude>**/*.java</exclude>
	            </excludes>
	        </resource>
	    </resources>
	    <repositories>
	        <repository>
		        <type><!-- fully qualified name of your suit resolver class, for instance: info.novatec.testit.livingdoc.repository.FileSystemRepository --></type>
				<root><!-- root directory of the current repository. Example: ${basedir}/src/fixture/specs --></root>
		        <suites>
		        	<suite><!-- the suit's URI --></suite>
		        </suites>
	        </repository>
	        <repository>
	            <type><!-- fully qualified name of your test resolver. --></type>
	            <tests>
	            	<test><!-- the test's URI --></test>
	            </tests>
	        </repository>
	    </repositories>
		<goalPrefix><!-- the prefix that will be associated with the plugin (optional, see below "Using the LivingDoc Maven Plugin"), eg: livingdoc --></goalPrefix>
	</configuration>
</plugin>

Using the LivingDoc Maven Plugin

Executing specification fixtures

Generally, the goals of the  Maven Plugin correspond to the phases of the default Maven Build Lifecycle (with exception of the Freeze goal). Therefore, in order to interact with our fixture sources, we only have to tell Maven until which goal it should run.
NOTE: In order to use a prefix as we do below, it might be necessary to define the goal Prefix tag within the plugin configuration (see the code box above).
 

• Compile fixture sources

  mvn livingdoc:compile

• Copy resources to the destination directory

  mvn livingdoc:resources

• Execute specifications

  mvn livingdoc:run

• Create fixture jars

  mvn livingdoc:fixture-jar

• Download specification files

  mvn livingdoc:freeze

Goals

Now that we know which goals exist for the  Maven Plugin, let's have a closer look at each of them.

livingdoc:compile 

Compiles the fixtures of an application.

Mojo attributes:

• Requires a Maven 2.0 project (or higher) to execute
• Dependency resolution of artifacts in scope required: test
• Automatically executed within the Pre-Integration Test phase

Required parameters 

Optional parameters

The optional parameters are exactly the same as in the Maven Compiler Plugin.
 

Parameter details

Note that the values of the expressions given below are merely default values, so their use is not mandatory. 

• fixtureSourceDirectory: Source directory containing the fixture classes to be compiled

  • Type: java.io.File

  • Expression (example): src/fixture/java

• fixtureOutputDirectory: Output directory in which the compiled sources are placed.

  • Type: java.io.File
  • Expression: ${project.build.directory}/fixture-test-classes
    
    

livingdoc:resources 

Copies resources for the main source code to the main output directory.

Mojo attributes:

• Requires a Maven 2.0 project (or higher) to execute
• Automatically executed within the Pre-Integration Test phase

Required parameters 

Optional parameters

The optional parameters resemble those for the Maven 2 resources plugin.
 

Parameter details

Note that the values of the expressions given below are merely default values, so their use is not mandatory. 

• resources: List of resources to be copied to the output directory.

  • Type: java.util.List
  • Expression: none
     

• fixtureOutputDirectory: Output directory the resources are copied to.

  • Type: java.io.File
  • Expression: ${project.build.directory}/fixture-test-classes

livingdoc:run 

Executes  specifications.

Mojo attributes:

• Requires a Maven 2.0 project (or higher) to execute
• Dependency resolution of artifacts in scope required: test
• Automatically executed within the Integration Test phase

Required parameters 

Optional parameters

None.
 

Parameter details

Note that the values of the expressions given below are merely default values, so their use is not mandatory. 

• basedir: Base directory of the project under test.

  • Type: java.io.File
  • Expression: ${basedir}

• classesDirectory: Contains the generated classes of the project under test.

  • Type: java.io.File

  • Expression: ${project.build.outputDirectory}
    
    

• fixtureOutputDirectory: Contains generated fixture classes of the project under test.
  
  • Type: java.io.File
  • Expression: ${project.build.directory}/fixture-test-classes
  
  
• reportsDirectory: Output directory for generated reports.
  • Type: java.io.File
  • Expression: ${project.build.directory}/livingdoc-reports

livingdoc:fixture-jar

Builds the fixture jars.

Mojo attributes:

• Requires a Maven 2.0 project (or higher) to execute
• Dependency resolution of artifacts in scope required: test
• Automatically executed within the Post-Integration Test phase

Required parameters 

Optional parameters

None.
 

Parameter details

Note that the values of the expressions given below are merely default values, so their use is not mandatory. 
 

• fixtureOutputDirectory: Directory containing the compiled fixture classes.

  • Type: java.io.File
  • Expression: ${project.build.directory}/fixture-test-classes

livingdoc:freeze

Downloads specification files from a remote repository and stores them locally.

Mojo attributes:

• Requires a Maven 2.0 project (or higher) to execute
• Dependency resolution of artifacts in scope required: test
• Not bound to any phase of the default Maven Build Lifecycle

Required parameters 

Optional parameters

None.
 

Parameter details

Note that the values of the expressions given below are merely default values, therefore their use is not mandatory. 
 

• specsDirectory: Destination directory for specifications to be downloaded. Specifications are stored in a subdirectory named after the given repository and optionally in a subdirectory named after the suite.

  • Type: java.io.File
  • Expression: ${basedir}/src/specs

Examples
 

LivingDoc Core pom.xml

The following code block shows an example of how your LivingDoc Core's pom.xml could look like.

 <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/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 
	<artifactId>livingdoc-core</artifactId>
	<packaging>jar</packaging>
	<name>${project.subproject.title}</name>

	<parent>
		<groupId>info.novatec.testit.livingdoc</groupId>
		<artifactId>livingdoc</artifactId>
		<version>1.0.1</version>
	</parent>

	<build>
		<resources>
			<resource>
				<directory>src/main/filter</directory>
				<filtering>true</filtering>
				<targetPath>../filtered-sources</targetPath>
				<includes>
					<include>**/*.java</include>
				</includes>
			</resource>
			<resource>
				<directory>src/main/resources</directory>
				<filtering>false</filtering>
			</resource>
		</resources>
		<plugins>
			<plugin>
				<groupId>info.novatec.testit.livingdoc</groupId>
				<artifactId>livingdoc-maven-plugin</artifactId>
				<version>${livingdoc.maven.plugin.version}</version>
				<configuration>
					<source>1.7</source>
					<target>1.7</target>
					<fixtureSourceDirectory>src/fixture/java</fixtureSourceDirectory>
					<fixtureOutputDirectory>target/fixture-test-classes</fixtureOutputDirectory>
					<specsDirectory>src/specs</specsDirectory>
					<reportsDirectory>target/livingdoc-reports</reportsDirectory>
					<reportsType>xml</reportsType>
					<systemUnderDevelopment>info.novatec.testit.livingdoc.systemunderdevelopment.LivingDocSystemUnderDevelopment</systemUnderDevelopment>
					<resources>
						<resource>
							<directory>src/fixture/resources</directory>
						</resource>
					</resources>
					<repositories>
						<repository>
							<name>Seeds</name>
							<type>info.novatec.testit.livingdoc.repository.FileSystemRepository</type>
							<root>${basedir}/src/fixture/specs</root>
							<suites>
								<suite>Seeds</suite>
							</suites>
						</repository>
					</repositories>
					<goalPrefix>livingdoc</goalPrefix>			
				</configuration>
				<executions>
					<execution>
						<id>livingdoc</id>
						<goals>
							<goal>compile</goal>
							<goal>resources</goal>
							<goal>fixture-jar</goal>
							<goal>run</goal>
						</goals>
					</execution>
				</executions>
			</plugin>
		</plugins>
	</build>
</project>

File System Repository

In the following example, the specifications will be saved in ${basedir}/src/fixture/specs, as specified in the root element. The first repository will save its specifications in a subdirectory called Demo, the second one in a subdirectory called DemoPhoneBook.

	<repositories>	
		<repository>
    		<name>Demo</name>
        	<type>info.novatec.testit.livingdoc.repository.FileSystemRepository</type>
            <root>${basedir}/src/fixture/specs</root>
           	<suites>
            	<suite>Demo</suite>
           	</suites>
       	</repository>
        <repository>
        	<name>DemoPhoneBook</name>
           	<type>info.novatec.testit.livingdoc.repository.FileSystemRepository</type>
           	<root>${basedir}/src/fixture/specs</root>
            <suites>
            	<suite>DemoPhoneBook</suite>
           	</suites>
       	</repository>
	</repositories>

Command line options

• Skip execution of the LivingDoc tests

  -Dmaven.livingdoc.test.skip=true

• Change the report type (default is HTML)

  -Dmaven.livingdoc.reports.type=xml	

• Stop execution on first failed test

  -Dmaven.livingdoc.test.stop=true

• Activate debug mode

  -Dmaven.livingdoc.debug=true

• Ignore failed tests during execution (won't cause Maven to stop execution with an error message)

  -Dmaven.livingdoc.test.failure.ignore=true