Question

I’m in the process of looking at taking some examples that are currently in one format (NOT Mavenized – actually in ANT form) and trying to find an automated way to munge them into something that Eclipse can comprehend. Though I have several years of Java and other odd languages, doing this in Java sounds like using a sledgehammer to drive a nail.

I’ve been looking into scripting languages such as Ruby, Python, Perl, and so on. I have no experience with any of them, but would be happy to learn.

How can I take an example in one format (directory or directory with files) and restructure it into something approximating an Eclipse project? For example, I’d like to take a tree with the following structure

dir my_example
  - build.xml
  - deployment.xml
  - jboss-esb-unfiltered.xml
  - log4j.xml
  - readme.txt

and convert it to

dir1 my_example_eclipse
  - dir src
    - [empty]
  - dir esbcontent
    - dir META-INF
      - deployment.xml
      - jboss-esb-unfiltered.xml
    - log4j.xml
  - readme.txt

In addition, I need the ability to create certain hidden files that Eclipse needs. One of these is the .project file like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<projectDescription>
<name>helloworld</name>
<comment></comment>
<projects>
</projects>
<buildSpec>
    <buildCommand>
        <name>org.eclipse.jdt.core.javabuilder</name>
        <arguments>
        </arguments>
    </buildCommand>
    <buildCommand>
        <name>org.eclipse.wst.common.project.facet.core.builder</name>
        <arguments>
        </arguments>
    </buildCommand>
    <buildCommand>
        <name>org.eclipse.wst.validation.validationbuilder</name>
        <arguments>
        </arguments>
    </buildCommand>
</buildSpec>
<natures>
    <nature>org.eclipse.wst.common.project.facet.core.nature</nature>
    <nature>org.eclipse.jdt.core.javanature</nature>
    <nature>org.eclipse.wst.common.modulecore.ModuleCoreNature</nature>
    <nature>org.eclipse.jem.workbench.JavaEMFNature</nature>
</natures>
</projectDescription>

How would I create a text file with one of these scripting languages?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

This should do what you need (in Python):

import os
import shutil

def maven_to_eclipse(maven_dir, eclipse_dir):
    # assumes mode of maven_dir will be the same as eclipse_dir
    new_mode = os.stat(maven_dir).st_mode
    if os.path.exists(eclipse_dir):
        # if new_dir doesn't exist
        # create it with same permissions as old_dir
        os.mkdirs(eclipse_dir, new_mode)

    # create directories under new_dir: src, ebscontent, ebscontent/META-INF
    # use os.path.join to work on multiple os 
    os.mkdir(os.path.join(eclipse_dir, 'src'), new_mode)
    os.mkdir(os.path.join(eclipse_dir, 'ebscontent'), new_mode)
    os.mkdir(os.path.join(eclipse_dir, 'ebscontent', 'META-INF'), new_mode)

    # cp old/deployment.xml new/ebsconent/META-INF/deployment.xml
    shutil.copy2(os.path.join(maven_dir, 'deployment.xml'),
        os.path.join(eclipse_dir, 'ebscontent', 'META-INF', 'deployment.xml'))

    # cp old/jboss-esb-unfiltered.xml new/ebsconent/META-INF/jboss-esb-unfiltered.xml
    shutil.copy2(os.path.join(maven_dir, 'jboss-esb-unfiltered.xml'),
        os.path.join(eclipse_dir, 'ebscontent', 'META-INF', 'jboss-esb-unfiltered.xml'))

    # cp old/log4j.xml new/ebsconent/log4j.xml
    shutil.copy2(os.path.join(maven_dir, 'log4j.xml'),
        os.path.join(eclipse_dir, 'ebscontent', 'log4j.xml'))

    # cp old/readme.txt new/readme.txt
    shutil.copy2(os.path.join(maven_dir, 'readme.txt'),
        os.path.join(eclipse_dir, 'readme.txt'))

if __name__ == '__main__':
    base_path = 'C:\\Path\\To\\Maven Dirs'
    maven_dirs = ('my_example', 'another_example', 'third_example')
    for maven_dir in maven_dirs:
        maven_to_eclipse(os.path.join(base_path, maven_dir), 
            os.path.join(base_bath, maven_dir + '_eclipse'))

This should work on multiple OSes. This could have been written shorter, but would be more confusing to a newbie. No attempt is made to catch exceptions. For example, os.mkdirs might fail if the new directory already exists.

Change base_path and maven_dirs before running.