Tweaking Spring Roo code generation?

[brikis98]

I've been playing around with Spring Roo and I'd love to use it for a project at work. However, it would be much easier if I could get Roo to play nice with the existing infrastructure here. To do so, I need the ability to configure/modify/add to the code that Roo generates.

For example, when creating a new Roo project, it would be nice if I could get it to generate a few extra files in the root directory. When creating a new entity, I need a certain XML file to be modified. I know I can do this all by manually, but it's a tedious and error-prone process that would be best to automate.

What's the best way to accomplish this?

* Check out the Roo source code and make changes? If so, where in the source tree do I look? Is there any documentation on the source code architecture?

* Some sort of plugin & configuration? I've seen some add-ons for Roo, so maybe I can create one that does this extra code generation at the right time?

[Andrew Swan]

An add-on is definitely the way to go.

Modifying the Roo source isn't a viable long-term option, as you will have version control issues down the track (merging, etc) when the Roo team creates a new release.

[brikis98]

Thanks for the reply. Is there a guide to making Spring Roo add-ons somewhere?

[Andrew Swan]

I knew you were going to ask that!

Here's a link to the reference docs, although that chapter is largely stubbed at the moment (vote for ROO-631 if you want it completed). There is some information about the shell commands that create add-ons.

If you speak Spanish, you could go here.

In the meantime, have a look at Ben's deep dive presentation.

There might be other resources of which I'm not aware; maybe others could suggest some.

[brikis98]

Here's a link to the reference docs, although that chapter is largely stubbed at the moment

Heh, you aren't kidding. The whole chapter is a large TODO.

If you speak Spanish, you could go here.

My Spanish is a bit rusty, but it looks like the only content of the docs here is the phrase "En breve".

In the meantime, have a look at Ben's deep dive presentation.

Ah, this looks very helpful. Going through it now, thanks!