How to configure Eclipse build path to use Maven dependencies?

Question

I would like to take advantage of the features that Maven provides for managing dependencies in a project. My brief understanding of how Maven works is that it will aquire the JARs needed and then build the project with these libraries.

Currently I have a simple POM file set up as a test:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" 
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd"&gt;
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.jamesgoodwin.test</groupId>
  <artifactId>com.jamesgoodwin.test</artifactId>
  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <build>
  </build>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.0.RELEASE</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

Usually when managing dependencies for a project I would simply add the project or JAR to the project build path and then I would be able to build my project. However when using M2Eclipse the dependencies do not seem to be added to the build path automatically, thus I can't build the project.

Is there somewhere I need to configure this to allow Eclipse to know that Maven is managing my dependencies?

Answer 1

if you execute

mvn eclipse:clean

followed by

mvn eclipse:eclipse

if will prepare the eclipse .classpath file for you. That is, these commands are run against maven from the command line i.e. outside of eclipse.

Answer 2

Maybe you could look into maven-eclipse-plugin instead of M2Eclipse.

There you basically add maven-eclipse-plugin configuration to your pom.xml and then execute mvn eclipse:eclipse which will generate the required .project and .classpath files for Eclipse. Then you'll have the correct build path in Eclipse.

Answer 3

When m2eclipse is installed properly, it should add dependencies automatically. However, you should generate the eclipse project files by entering:

mvn eclipse:m2eclipse

or, alternatively if you don't use m2eclipse:

mvn eclipse:eclipse

Answer 4

If you right-click on your project, there should be an option under "maven" to "enable dependency management". That's it.

Answer 5

I'm assuming you are using m2eclipse as you mentioned it. However it is not clear whether you created your project under Eclipse or not so I'll try to cover all cases.

1. If you created a "Java" project under Eclipse (Ctrl+N > Java Project), then right-click the project in the Package Explorer view and go to Maven > Enable Dependency Management (depending on the initial project structure, you may have modify it to match the maven's one, for example by adding src/java to the source folders on the build path).

2. If you created a "Maven Project" under Eclipse (Ctrl+N > Maven Project), then it should be already "Maven ready".

3. If you created a Maven project outside Eclipse (manually or with an archetype), then simply import it in Eclipse (right-click the Package Explorer view and select Import... > Maven Projects) and it will be "Maven ready".

Now, to add a dependency, either right-click the project and select Maven > Add Dependency) or edit the pom manually.

PS: avoid using the maven-eclipse-plugin if you are using m2eclipse. There is absolutely no need for it, it will be confusing, it will generate some mess. No, really, don't use it unless you really know what you are doing.

Answer 6

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