Creating new application (Java With Maven, Java Application) has main class built ignoring templates

Apache NetBeans version

Apache NetBeans 13 release candidate

What happened

Creating a new Java with Maven, Java Application generates a Java file with a main. The file is generated ignoring the available template for Java Main Class.

Somewhat unrelated to this issue, clicking on the nbfs: links did not cause any noticeable activity.

How to reproduce

1. File | New Project
2. In popup, choose Java with Maven then Java Application
3. Hit finish on next pop up
4. Generated project has a MavenProject1.java file with a main

It has

/*
 * Click nbfs://nbhost/SystemFileSystem/Templates/Licenses/license-default.txt to change this license
 * Click nbfs://nbhost/SystemFileSystem/Templates/Project/Maven2/JavaApp/src/main/java/${packagePath}/${mainClassName}.java to edit this template
 */

package edu.uab.mavenproject1;

/**
 *
 * @author name <email>
 */
public class Mavenproject1 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello World!");
    }
}

There is an existing template viewable using Tools | Templates , select Java, then Java Main Class, open in editor

/*
 * Author: ${user}
 * Assignment:  ${project.displayName} - ${course}
 *
 * Credits:  (if any for sections of code)
 */

<#if package?? && package != "">
package ${package};

</#if>
<#if superclass?? && superclass != "" && !superclass?starts_with("java.lang") && !superclass?matches(package + "\\.\\w+")>
import ${superclass};

</#if>
<#if interfaces?? && interfaces != "">
    <#list "${interfaces}"?split("\n") as interface>
        <#if interface?? && interface != "" && !interface?starts_with("java.lang") && !interface?matches(package + "\\.\\w+")>
import ${interface};
        </#if>
    </#list>

</#if>
/**
 *
 */
<#if superclass?? && superclass != "">
    <#assign extension = "${superclass}"[("${superclass}"?last_index_of(".") + 1)..]>
</#if>
<#if interfaces?? && interfaces != "">
    <#assign implementation = "">
    <#list "${interfaces}"?split("\n") as interface>
        <#assign implementation += "${interface}"[("${interface}"?last_index_of(".") + 1)..] + ", ">
    </#list>
    <#assign implementation = "${implementation}"?remove_ending(", ")>
</#if>
public class ${name}<#if extension?? && extension != ""> extends ${extension}</#if><#if implementation?? && implementation != ""> implements ${implementation}</#if> {

    /**
     * @param args the command line arguments
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // TODO code application logic here
    }

}

Did this work correctly in an earlier version?

Apache NetBeans 12.6

Operating System

MacOS 12.2.1 (Monterey) M1 Pro

JDK

JDK 17

Apache NetBeans packaging

Apache NetBeans provided installer

Anything else

Note: the previous 12.6 did not add a starting file as part of project completion.

Are you willing to submit a pull request?

No response

Code of Conduct

Yes

[neilcsmith-net]

Thanks @mbien - immediate issue with links fixed. Bumping this to NB17 for discussion on whether project templates should ignore file templates or not.

[sdedic]

OK; the second link is supposed to lead to the template the file was created from. An the file exists (on the nbfs) in fact:

                <folder name="JavaApp">
                    <folder name="src">
                        <folder name="main">
                            <folder name="java">
                                <folder name="${packagePath}">
                                    <file name="${mainClassName}.java" url="nbresloc:/org/netbeans/modules/maven/resources/App.java.template">
                                        <attr name="javax.script.ScriptEngine" stringvalue="freemarker"/>
                                        <attr name="template.openFile" boolvalue="true"/>
                                    </file>
                                </folder>
                            </folder>
                        </folder>
                    </folder>
                </folder>

So the templating engine (or the template) should be enhanced to properly URLencode special chars (which it does not do at the moment). The replaceable tokens are intentionally in the path to allow substitution from API call parameters.

The other issue is that the entire Java Project structure is not shown in Templates - this should be (somehow) fixed. “Somehow” means that the template UI (Tools | Templates dialog) isn’t actually prepared for structured templates, where the user could eventually add conent etc - so some tweak will be needed to present the Maven-main-class template.

The reason why the Wizard does not use the “main” template is because the template instantiation call would invoke another New From Template wizard – this is how those templates are registered at the moment, and that Wizard does not support being parametrized from outside and run headless. That might be fixed as well - but will be probably more tough.

I can take as a Friday project the first two items (URL encoding / link fix + Templates UI appearance). I cannot promise the last at the moment - although it would be cool to be able to reuse other templates in project structure template.

---

The reason behind this all was to allow to create Maven projects in a non-interactive manner, througj an API (File Templates API) and from a LSP client (that uses the programmatic access).