VS Code - create Java Maven project

In this article, we want to show how to create and develop a Java Maven project in VS Code.

Prerequirements

1. installed VS Code (link),
2. installed Java 11 (JDK) or later (link),
3. installed Extension Pack for Java in VS Code (link).

Hints:

• check offcial VS Code Java configration instruction (instruction is available here),
• to have preprocessor support install Lombok plugin in VS Code (plugin is avaialble here),
• Extension Pack for Java contains the following plugins:
  • 📦 Language Support for Java™ by Red Hat
  • 📦 Debugger for Java
  • 📦 Test Runner for Java
  • 📦 Maven for Java
  • 📦 Project Manager for Java
  • 📦 Visual Studio IntelliCode

Example project

Presented project configuration provides example configuration that uses:

• Lombok preprocessor to generate automatically constructors, getters, setters, etc. in classes,
• JUnit 4 that lets to write unit tests.

Project structure

Project preparation

1. Create a directory and go there.

e.g. C:\Projects\my-project

2. Create a Maven project file inside.

e.g. pom.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<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.example</groupId>
    <artifactId>my-project</artifactId>

    <name>My project</name>
    <description>My project description.</description>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>

    <properties>
        <java.version>21</java.version>
        <maven.compiler.source>${java.version}</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>${java.version}</maven.compiler.target>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>

        <!-- #################### -->
        <!-- TESTING              -->
        <!-- #################### -->

        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/junit/junit -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>4.13.2</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.assertj/assertj-core -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.assertj</groupId>
            <artifactId>assertj-core</artifactId>
            <version>3.6.2</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- #################### -->
        <!-- PREPROCESSORS        -->
        <!-- #################### -->

        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.projectlombok/lombok -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
            <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
            <version>1.18.34</version>  <!-- use latest dependency version -->
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>

    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <finalName>${project.artifactId}</finalName>
        <sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory>
        <testSourceDirectory>test</testSourceDirectory>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.maven.plugins/maven-compiler-plugin -->
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.8.1</version>  <!-- update plugin version if needed -->
                <configuration>
                    <annotationProcessorPaths>
                        <path>
                            <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
                            <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
                            <version>1.18.34</version>  <!-- use latest dependency version -->
                        </path>
                    </annotationProcessorPaths>
                    <source>${maven.compiler.source}</source>
                    <target>${maven.compiler.target}</target>
                    <verbose>true</verbose>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.maven.plugins/maven-jar-plugin -->
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.4.2</version>  <!-- update plugin version if needed -->
                <configuration>
                    <archive>
                        <manifest>
                            <mainClass>com.example.Program</mainClass>
                        </manifest>
                    </archive>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

Where:

• junit is optional and allows writing Java tests,
• assertj-core is optional and provides nice assertions API,
• lombok provides additional Java preprocessor (generates constructors, setters, getters, etc. in classes).

3. Create a Java source code file inside.

e.g. src/com/example/Program.java file:

package com.example;

public class Program {
    
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        System.out.println("Hello world!");
    }
}

4. Create a test source code file inside.

e.g. test/com/example/ProgramTest.java file:

package com.example;

import org.assertj.core.api.Assertions;
import org.junit.Test;

public class ProgramTest {
    
    @Test
    public void test() {

        String acutal = "Some text here ...";
        String expected = "Some text here ...";

        Assertions.assertThat(acutal).isEqualTo(expected);
    }

    // put more tests here ...
}

5. Run in the command line:

mvn clean install

Hint: to skip tests use: mvn clean install -Dmaven.test.skip=true

6. Open the directory in VS Code.

See also

1. VS Code - create Python project