Maven: A Developer's Notebook

Using the Maven Console

If you are repeatedly running Maven from the command line, you can save yourself some time by using the Maven Console. The Maven Console provides a "shell" where you can type in the name of a goal for Maven to execute. By using the Maven Console, you can avoid waiting for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to start up every time you want to run a Maven goal.

How do I do that?

The Maven Console is a plug-in, and you can start it by entering maven console at the command prompt. This should produce the following output:

_ _  _ _
|  \/  |_ _ _Apache_ _ _ _ _
| |\/| / _` \ V / -_) ' \  ~ intelligent projects ~
|_|  |_\_ _,_|\_/\_ _ _|_||_|  v. 1.0.2
  
The following commands are available:
  
    list - list all available goals
    help - this message
    <goalname> - attain a goal
    quit - quits the console
  
test-application 1.0 >

At this point, you can execute any goal you could execute from the command line. Go ahead and try it; type java:compile. Maven will execute the java:compile goal and return you to the prompt to wait for another goal. To run two goals in sequence, you may enter them at the prompt, separated by a space—for example, clean test. This is known as "goal chaining" and it is a way for you to specify a series of goals you want Maven to obtain, in order. To exit the Maven Console, type quit, and to see a list of available goals, type list.

What just happened?

Maven executed the java:compile goal very quickly in the Maven Console, didn't it? When you use the Maven Console you are ...