 ------
 Introduction
 ------
 Raphaël Piéroni
 Hervé Boutemy
 ------
 2011-09-30
 ------

~~ Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
~~ or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
~~ distributed with this work for additional information
~~ regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
~~ to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
~~ "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
~~ with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
~~
~~     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
~~
~~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
~~ software distributed under the License is distributed on an
~~ "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
~~ KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
~~ specific language governing permissions and limitations
~~ under the License.

~~ NOTE: For help with the syntax of this file, see:
~~ http://maven.apache.org/doxia/references/apt-format.html


Maven Archetype Plugin

 The Archetype Plugin allows the user to create a Maven project
 from an existing template called an archetype.

 It also allows the user to create an archetype from an existing project.

 This plugin requires Java ${javaVersion}.

[images/archetype-overview.png] Maven Archetype Plugin Overview

* Usage

  {{{./usage.html}Instructions on how to use the Archetype Plugin to create a project}}
  can be found on the usage page.

  The Archetype Plugin is embedded in IDEs (Eclipse, NetBeans, IDEA).

  {{{./advanced-usage.html}Instructions on how to use the Archetype Plugin to create an archetype from an existing project}}
  can be found on the advanced usage page.


* Goals Overview

  The archetype plugin has four goals for direct use:

  * {{{./generate-mojo.html}archetype:generate}} creates a Maven project from an
    archetype: asks the user to choose an archetype from the archetype catalog, and retrieves it from the remote repository.
    Once retrieved, it is processed to create a working Maven project.

  * {{{./create-from-project-mojo.html}archetype:create-from-project}} creates
    an archetype from an existing project.

  * {{{./crawl-mojo.html}archetype:crawl}} search a repository
    for archetypes and updates a catalog.

  []

  and three goals bound to default lifecycle by {{{../archetype-packaging/}'maven-archetype' packaging}}:

  * {{{./jar-mojo.html}archetype:jar}} (bound to the <<<package>>> phase) is used to build the archetype jar artifact.

  * {{{./integration-test-mojo.html}archetype:integration-test}} (bound to the <<<integration-test>>> phase) is used to execute
    archetype integration tests by generating sample projects from the just built archetype.

  * {{{./update-local-catalog-mojo.html}archetype:update-local-catalog}} (bound to the <<<install>>> phase) is used to update
    the local catalog.

  []


* Examples

   The following examples show how to use the Archetype Plugin in more advanced
   usecases:

   * {{{./examples/generate-batch.html}Generate projects in batch mode}}

   * {{{./examples/generate-alternative-catalog.html}Generate project using an alternative catalog}}

   * {{{./examples/create-multi-module-project.html}Create an archetype from a multi-module project}}

   * {{{./examples/create-with-property-file.html}Create an archetype with a property file}}

~~   * Handcrafting an archetype or features available to an archetype when not created by <<<create-from-project>>> - TBD

~~   * Generate a sub module from an archetype - TBD

~~   * Create an archetype in interactive mode - TBD

  []


* Specification

    The specification page contains
    {{{./specification/specification.html}the specification of the main parts of the Archetype Plugin}}.