AWS SDK for Java Maven Archetype

If you’re a Maven user, there’s a brand new way to get started building Java applications that use the AWS SDK for Java.

With the new Maven archetype, you can easily create a new Java project configured with the AWS SDK for Java and some sample code to help you find your way around the SDK.

Starting a project from the new archetype is easy:

mvn archetype:generate 
     -DarchetypeGroupId=com.amazonaws 
     -DarchetypeArtifactId=aws-java-sdk-archetype

When you run the Maven archetype:generate goal, you’ll be prompted for some basic Maven values for your new project (groupId, artifactId, version).

[INFO] Generating project in Interactive mode
[INFO] Archetype [com.amazonaws:aws-java-sdk-archetype:1.0.0] 
Define value for property 'groupId': : com.foo   
Define value for property 'artifactId': : my-aws-java-project
Define value for property 'version':  1.0-SNAPSHOT: : 
Define value for property 'package':  com.foo: : 

When the archetype:generate goal completes, you’ll have a new Maven Java project, already configured with a dependency on the AWS SDK for Java and some sample code in the project to help you get started with the SDK.

The POM file in your new project will be configured with the values you just gave Maven:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

  <groupId>com.foo</groupId>
  <artifactId>my-aws-java-project</artifactId>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <packaging>jar</packaging>

  <name>AWS SDK for Java Sample</name>
  <url>http://thinkwithwp.com/sdkforjava</url>

  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.amazonaws</groupId>
      <artifactId>aws-java-sdk</artifactId>
      <version>[1.7.2,2.0.0)</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
  ...

Before you can run the sample code, you’ll need to fill in your AWS security credentials. The README.html file details where to put your credentials for this sample. Once your credentials are configured, you’re ready to compile and run your new project. The sample project’s POM file is configured so that you can easily compile, jar, and run the project by executing mvn package exec:java. The package goal compiles the code and creates a jar for it, and the exec:java goal runs the main method in the sample class.

Depending on what’s in your AWS account, you’ll see something like this:

...

[INFO] >>> exec-maven-plugin:1.2.1:java (default-cli) @ my-aws-java-project >>>
[INFO] 
[INFO] <<< exec-maven-plugin:1.2.1:java (default-cli) @ my-aws-java-project <<<
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- exec-maven-plugin:1.2.1:java (default-cli) @ my-aws-java-project ---
===========================================
Welcome to the AWS Java SDK!
===========================================
You have access to 3 availability zones:
 - us-east-1a (us-east-1)
 - us-east-1b (us-east-1)
 - us-east-1c (us-east-1)
You have 1 Amazon EC2 instance(s) running.
You have 3 Amazon S3 bucket(s).
The bucket 'aws-demos-265490781088' contains 48 objects with a total size of 376257032 bytes.
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 10.928s
[INFO] Finished at: Wed Feb 19 15:40:24 PST 2014
[INFO] Final Memory: 24M/222M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Are you already using Maven for your AWS Java projects? What are your favorite features of Maven? Let us know in the comments below.