Creating Code with Liferay Workspace

Liferay Workspace is the developer’s tool for creating and managing Liferay development projects.

Creating Projects

Blade CLI makes it easy to create projects in Liferay Workspace by providing pre-built project templates. Alternatively, you can create projects manually.

Creating a Project Using Blade CLI

From inside your workspace, find the project template that most closely matches what you want to do, using this command:
```
blade create -l
```
Once you’ve identified the template you want to use, generate your project. For example, to create a MVC Portlet, use this command:
```
blade create -t mvc-portlet -p com.acme.z3x1.portlet -c MyPortlet myproject-web
```
This creates a project using the MVC Portlet template (-t mvc-portlet), generates the portlet class in the Java package you specify (-p com.acme.z3x1.portlet), specifies the name of the portlet class (-c MyPortlet), and names the project myproject-web.

Creating Projects Manually

You don’t need Blade CLI to create projects. You can create a project folder manually if you wish:

From inside your workspace, create a folder to house your project:
```
cd [my project name]
```
Create a build.gradle script for your project. Since you’re using Liferay Workspace, most of the time you only need one dependency:
```
dependencies {
   compileOnly group: "com.liferay.portal", name: "release.portal.api"
}
```
Create the folder structure for your project.

To write code to run on Liferay DXP, you must have a Liferay runtime on which to deploy it. Your first task, therefore, after installing Liferay Workspace should be to add a Liferay bundle to your workspace.

Using Liferay Workspace with the Liferay CLI Tool

The Liferay CLI tool can be used together with Liferay Workspace. See the Liferay CLI article to learn how to install the tool and generate a project.

note

Liferay workspace downloads its own node version (i.e. not necessarily your system’s version). If a different node version is needed, declare it in your build.gradle file.

node {
	nodeVersion = "16.18.1"
	npmVersion = "8.19.2"
    ...
}

Make sure to run gw clean to clean out the build cache.

Using the Themes Generator with Liferay Workspace

The Liferay Themes Generator is a node.js-based tool for creating themes to change the look and feel of your site. These projects can also be managed by Liferay Workspace. You can create theme projects with Blade or manually.

To create a Theme Generator project with Blade, use this command:

blade create -t js-theme [project-name]

This downloads Node.JS and yo for you, and then executes yo liferay-theme to get you started.

You can also create a themes project in Workspace the same way you create it outside of Workspace:

Assuming you’ve installed the themes generator, navigate to your Liferay Workspace. Like other projects, you can place your theme projects anywhere. Run the following command to create a theme project:
```
yo liferay-theme
```
Navigate into your new theme folder and run
```
../gradlew build
```
The above command assumes you’re one folder down from the Workspace root; if you’ve nested your project (perhaps in a themes folder), adjust the call to gradlew accordingly. This command builds the frontend theme using Liferay’s Node Gradle Plugin.

To verify Workspace recognizes your project, use this command to display all the projects:

./gradlew projects

Adding a Liferay Bundle to Workspace

Workspace automates the download and setup of a runtime for your code. When you’re ready to run your code on a server, it takes only a few steps to download one:

Find the Liferay release you’re targeting.

DXP: Browse releases-cdn.liferay.com/dxp, find the bundle you need, and copy its URL to your clipboard.

CE: Browse releases-cdn.liferay.com/portal, find the bundle you need, and copy its URL to your clipboard.

Open gradle.properties from the root folder of your workspace and set the bundle URL property:

liferay.workspace.bundle.url=[paste the URL from your clipboard]

If using Liferay DXP, also set these properties:

liferay.workspace.bundle.token.download=true
liferay.workspace.bundle.token.email.address=[enter the email address registered on liferay.com]
liferay.workspace.bundle.token.password=[enter your liferay.com password]

Save and close the file.