Package PMD-Java after adding rules

[Karthik Shantaraman]

Hi,

I have added 2 Java rules to the existing PMD-Rules. I need to know how to package them.
When I specify the following in the pom.xml and build the projects its throwing an error

<parent>
        <groupId>net.sourceforge.pmd</groupId>
        <artifactId>pmd</artifactId>
        <version>5.2.3</version>
</parent>

<groupId>com.mycompany.pmd</groupId>
<artifactId>pmd-java</artifactId>
<packaging>jar</packaging>
<name>PMD Java</name>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

Error that I am getting

Missing artifact net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-core:jar:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT
Missing artifact net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-test:jar:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT

Can anyone help me with this?

Thanks

[Andreas Dangel]

It seems, you actually want to create an own module, with your custom rules.
I didn't write up a documentation for this yet, but I would do a similar approach as checkstyle does for multi-module builds.

1. Create a own project, separate from pmd. You'll add pmd-dependencies, but won't change pmd:

   Let's say, you create it in the folder c:\temp\my-custom-pmd-rules

   Create a pom.xml file:

   <project>
       <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
       <groupId>com.mycompany.pmd</groupId>
       <artifactId>pmd-java-custom-rules</artifactId>
       <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
   
       <dependencies>
           <dependency>
               <groupId>net.sourceforge.pmd</groupId>
               <artifactId>pmd-java</artifactId>
               <version>5.2.3</version>
           </dependency>
       </dependencies>
   </project>
   

2. Now, place your ruleset xml in the subdirectory src/main/resources/rulesets/java/ and name the file e.g. custom-rules.xml. See How to make a ruleset.

   You can place (in case you are writing Java based rules) your rules in src/main/java.

3. Build this new project: mvn clean install

4. Now - in your main project, where you want to use the custom rules, configure the maven pmd plugin as follows:

   <plugin>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-pmd-plugin</artifactId>
       <version>3.4</version>
       <configuration>
          <rulesets>
              <ruleset>rulesets/java/custom-rules.xml</ruleset>
           </rulesets>
       </configuration>
       <dependencies>
           <dependency>
               <groupId>com.mycompany.pmd</groupId>
               <artifactId>pmd-java-custom-rules</groupId>
               <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
           </dependency>
       </dependencies>
   </plugin>
   

   See also maven-pmd-plugin for more information on how to configure the maven plugin.

5. Alternatively, you can copy the jar file from step 3 into a pmd installation's lib folder. You can zip the complete pmd installation again and can create so a custom binary distribution file with your rules includes.

Hope that helps,
Andreas

[Karthik Shantaraman]

Hi Andreas,

Thank you for the inputs. Created a new project and it works!

When I use this against my code will the other PMD java Rules, included in PMD-5.2.3, also be applied for my code in addition to these two rules

In other simpler words

Will the rules that I added get appended to the Java ruleset or will it override the java ruleset?

[Andreas Dangel]

It is a separate ruleset.
You need to configure, which ruleset(s) to execute.
If you are using maven-pmd-plugin, you can define multiple rulesets:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-pmd-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>3.4</version>
    <configuration>
       <rulesets>
           <ruleset>java-basic</ruleset>      <!-- default ruleset -->
           <ruleset>java-imports</ruleset>    <!-- default ruleset -->
           <ruleset>java-unusedcode</ruleset> <!-- default ruleset -->
           <ruleset>rulesets/java/custom-rules.xml</ruleset>
        </rulesets>
    </configuration>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.mycompany.pmd</groupId>
            <artifactId>pmd-java-custom-rules</groupId>
            <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
</plugin>