Other useful Maven plugins, Reporting and Site (Part III)

FindBugs Maven Plugin

FindBugs looks for bugs in Java programs. It is based on the concept of bug patterns. A bug pattern is a code idiom that is often an error. Bug patterns arise for a variety of reasons:
Difficult language features
Misunderstood API methods
Misunderstood invariants when code is modified during maintenance
Garden variety mistakes: typos, use of the wrong boolean operator

FindBugs uses static analysis to inspect Java bytecode for occurrences of bug patterns. We have found that FindBugs finds real errors in most Java software. Because its analysis is sometimes imprecise, FindBugs can report false warnings, which are warnings that do not indicate real errors. In practice, the rate of false warnings reported by FindBugs is generally less than 50%.

Usage:
[<reporting>]
<plugins>
    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
        <artifactId>findbugs-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.3.1</version>
        <configuration>
            <excludeFilterFile>${findBugs.excludeFilterFile}</excludeFilterFile>
        </configuration>
    </plugin>
</plugins>
[</reporting>]

Notice that you can make ignore some classes in its analysis, by putting some value on excludeFilterFile property.

Source: http://mojo.codehaus.org/findbugs-maven-plugin/index.html


Maven CheckStyle Plugin

The Checkstyle Plugin generates a report regarding the code style used by the developers. For more information about Checkstyle, see http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/. This version of the plugin uses Checkstyle 5.0.

The plugin can be configured in the project's POM. Predefined rulesets are included with the plugin, these are: sun_checks.xml, turbine_checks.xml, avalon_checks.xml and maven_checks.xml. You can also use a custom ruleset by specifying it in the plugin configuration.

Usage:
[<reporting>]
<plugins>
    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>

        <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>

        <version>2.6</version>

        <configuration>

            <configLocation>PUT HERE YOUR CONFIGURATION</configLocation>

            <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>

        </configuration>

    </plugin>
</plugins>
[</reporting>]

Related: http://looking4q.blogspot.com/2011/01/checkstyle-configuration-distribution.html
Source: http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-checkstyle-plugin/index.html


Maven PMD Plugin

The PMD plugin allows you to automatically run the PMD code analysis tool on your project's source code and generate a site report with its results. It also supports the separate Copy/Paste Detector tool (or CPD) distributed with PMD.

The plugin accepts configuration parameters that can be used to customize the execution of the PMD tool.

Usage:
[<reporting>]
<plugins>
    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>

        <artifactId>maven-pmd-plugin</artifactId>

        <version>2.5</version>

        <configuration>

            <targetJdk>${java-version}</targetJdk>

            <excludes>

                <exclude>${pmd.excludes}</exclude>

            </excludes>

        </configuration>

    </plugin>
</plugins>
[</reporting>]

Notice you can make PMD plugin to ignore some classes.

Source: http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-pmd-plugin/

Maven Javadoc Plugin

The Javadoc Plugin uses the Javadoc tool to generate javadocs for the specified project. For more information about the standard Javadoc tool, please refer to Reference Guide.

Usage:
[<reporting>]
<plugins>
    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>

        <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>

        <version>2.7</version>

    </plugin>
</plugins>
[</reporting>]

Source: http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/

JMR Maven Plugin

The JXR Plugin produces a cross-reference of the project's sources. The generated reports make it easier for the user to reference or find specific lines of code. It is also handy when used with the PMD Plugin for referencing errors found in the code.

Usage:
[<reporting>]
<plugins>
    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>

        <artifactId>jxr-maven-plugin</artifactId>

        <version>2.0-beta-1</version>

    </plugin>
</plugins>
[</reporting>]

Source: http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-jxr-plugin/

Taglist Maven Plugin

The Taglist Maven Plugin generates a report on various tags found in the code, like @todo or //TODO tags.

Usage:
[<reporting>]
<plugins>
    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>

        <artifactId>taglist-maven-plugin</artifactId>

        <version>2.4</version>

    </plugin>
</plugins>
[</reporting>]

Source: http://mojo.codehaus.org/taglist-maven-plugin/

Maven Site Plugin

All the previous plugins are meant to provide data to three possible targets. Humans, Hudson/Jenkins or Maven Site

The Site Plugin is used to generate a site for the project. The generated site also includes the project's reports that were configured in the <reporting> section of the POM.

Once you execute "mvn site", a html site is created in your target/site directory, where all or most of previous reports are presented, together with project information like developers, scm or issues.

Usage:
[<reporting>]
<plugins>
    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>

        <artifactId>maven-site-plugin</artifactId>

        <version>2.0-beta-6</version>

        <configuration>

            <locales>en</locales>

            <outputEncoding>${project.reporting.outputEncoding}</outputEncoding>

        </configuration>

    </plugin>
</plugins>
[</reporting>]

Source: http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-site-plugin/