Whenever a Java Generator environment in a Knowledge Base is built for the first time, the necessary libraries are downloaded from Gradle to a cache memory that is located by default at C:\Users\<user>\.gradle\caches\modules-2\files-2.1.
Then, the required set of Standard Classes is copied from this cache to the model's \web\build\libs directory.
Notes:
- As Gradle has this cache memory, where the packages are downloaded, it is not necessary to access the internet every time a Build is executed. Read Offline scenario of the Java Generator.
- From now on, each folder and file will be placed in the model directory.
- When having a Proxy configured in the environment, the Proxy's properties must be set up within the Gradle Options property to be able to download the libraries. To achieve this, the following documents must be checked: Build Environment. In case the Gradle option property is not available, the properties must be set in the file gradle.properties instead.
Java Standard Classes are published in two repositories: Maven Central and Azure Artifacts. Both repositories are configured in the file build.gradle.
The generated code (*.java files) is located in the folder src\main\java.
To compile this generated code, in addition to using the necessary libraries that were downloaded in the Gradle Cache, the *.jar files in the lib folder are taken into account. In this way, you can copy additional packages into the lib folder.
Note: At the moment, the *.jar files found in the drivers folder are also considered as additional packages to the classpath. This will be discontinued in the future, so you should place the *.jar files in the lib folder.
The compiled files remain in the folder \build\classes\java\main and from there the command line processes that are triggered from GeneXus are executed.
The libraries that are taken into account to run these processes are found in the folder \web\build\libs.
Note: If you want to add a *.jar file to be used at runtime, it is important that you add it in the lib folder and not in the \web\build\libs folder because, eventually, that folder is deleted when a Gradle clean is run.
In addition, Gradle creates the webapp in the Tomcat that you have configured in GeneXus and copies all the necessary files for its execution (*.jar, classes, static resources, etc.).
The *.jar files that it copies are those that are downloaded on demand when the compilation is done and the *.jar files that are in the lib and drivers folders.
The JavaScript files are generated in the js folder of the model. At compilation time, they are copied to Tomcat.
When you perform a Rebuild All on your KB, GeneXus calls Gradle with the clean option. This option deletes:
- The Tomcat webapp.
- The build folder, which has the compiled sources.
- The folder “src\main\java.”
For doing the Build with Gradle it uses the value defined in the property JDK Directory (JAVA HOME) of GeneXus Java properties.
If you have an External Object that is not published in any repository, you need to make sure that it is correctly added to the ClassPath. To do this, follow these steps:
- Go to the JAR file object that contains the External Object.
- Set Extract Java = .\lib.
With these steps, GeneXus will automatically copy the JAR file to the "lib" folder in the web folder, add it to the ClassPath, and bring it to Tomcat. This ensures that the external object is available and accessible for use in the KB.
If you have External Objects that are published in any repository, you must set the Java Artifact Id and Java Artifact Version properties.
When compiling any KB Object, GeneXus downloads the necessary jars and their dependencies.
GeneXus may not be able to compile if an object has been:
- renamed.
- deleted.
- moved from one module to another.
This is because Gradle tries to compile all sources found in the src\main\java folder of the model.
To fix the problem, you must delete that source manually so that Gradle does not try to compile it.