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Module Projects

Liferay applications and customizations are OSGi modules: .jar files containing Java code and some extra configuration for publishing and consuming APIs.

A module project comprises three things:

Code: Java classes and resources, such as images, templates, and additional descriptors. Java packages are private by default but can be exported for other modules to use.
Build Scripts: Gradle files for building and deploying the module.
Metadata: A Bnd file defines the module artifact and specifies packages and capabilities the module provides and requires.

Here’s the module project structure:

[project root]
 └── [module 1]
 │    ├── bnd.bnd // Defines the module artifact, provided/required capabilities, and more
 │    ├── build.gradle // Declares dependencies
 │    └── src
 │        └── main
 │            ├── java
 │            │   └── [Java packages]
 │            └── resources
 │                └── [Images, templates, descriptors, etc.]
 │
 └── [module 2]
 │
 └── [module n]
 │
 ├── gradle
 │   └── [Gradle wrapper files]
 ├── gradlew // Invokes the Gradle wrapper to execute tasks
 ├── gradlew.bat
 ├── gradle.properties // Specifies the Liferay product version
 └── settings.gradle // Applies Gradle plugins

Liferay commonly uses three kinds of modules:

API modules define interfaces.
Implementation modules provide concrete classes that implement interfaces.
Client modules consume the APIs.

You’ll learn how to create each one by developing a simple command in Gogo Shell to greet users when they enter their names.

Gogo shell command that greets users.

Here you’ll create the API, learn the parts of a module project, deploy the module, and inspect the module at runtime. You’ll create the implementation module and client module in the next two tutorials.

Start with deploying the example API module project.

Deploy a Simple Module

The example module defines an API for generating a greeting.

Start a new Liferay instance by running

docker run -it -m 8g -p 8080:8080 liferay/portal:7.4.3.120-ga120

Sign in to Liferay at http://localhost:8080. Use the email address test@liferay.com and the password test. When prompted, change the password to learn.

Then, follow these steps:

Download and unzip the example.

curl https://resources.learn.liferay.com/dxp/latest/en/liferay-development/liferay-internals/fundamentals/liferay-k8s2.zip -O

unzip liferay-k8s2.zip

Build the module JAR.

cd liferay-k8s2

./gradlew jar

The JAR file is generated to the module’s build/libs folder.

k8s2-api/build/libs/com.acme.k8s2.api-1.0.0.jar

Deploy the module JAR.

./gradlew deploy -Ddeploy.docker.container.id=$(docker ps -lq)

Log messages show Liferay processing the JAR and starting the module.

Processing com.acme.k8s2.api-1.0.0.jar
STARTED com.acme.k8s2.api_1.0.0 [1152]

The STARTED message includes module’s ID: 1152

Open the Gogo Shell.
In the Gogo Shell command field, use lb to show the module’s information, including its ID. The most recently added module appears last. If you know a keyword in the module name, you can grep for it.
```
lb | grep -i "k8s2"
```
Output:
```
1152|Active     |   15|Acme K8S2 API (1.0.0)|1.0.0
```
This module’s ID is 1152.

Use the b command and the module ID to show more information about the module.

b 1152

Output:

com.acme.k8s2.api_1.0.0 [1152]
Id=1152, Status=ACTIVE      Data Root=[Liferay Home]/osgi/state/org.eclipse.osgi/1152/data
  "No registered services."
  No services in use.
  Exported packages
    com.acme.k8s2; version="1.0.0"[exported]
  No imported packages
  No fragment bundles
  No required bundles

The module is active and exports a package called com.acme.k8s2.

Now that you have installed and activated the module, you can learn how it works.

Set Up the Build Infrastructure

Liferay modules are developed in a Gradle build infrastructure. The following Gradle files are in the project’s root folder.

File	Description
`gradle/`	Contains a Gradle wrapper
`gradlew[.bat]`	Invokes the Gradle wrapper to execute tasks
`gradle.properties`	Specifies the Liferay product version
`settings.gradle`	Applies Gradle plugins, including the Liferay Workspace plugin.

You can add more modules in new subfolders, like the example project’s k8s2-api folder, or create them in a new Liferay Workspace.

Here’s the k8s2-api module structure in the context of the project root.

[project root]
 └── k8s2-api
 │   ├── bnd.bnd
 │   ├── build.gradle
 │   └── src
 │       └── main
 │           └── java
 │               └── com/acme/k8s2
 │                   └── Greeter.java
 │
 └── [Gradle files]

The k8s2-api module folder contains a bnd.bnd metadata file, a build.gradle script, and Java code.

Write Code

The example module has only one Java class: an interface called Greeter.

@ProviderType
public interface Greeter {

	public void greet(String name);

}

The @ProviderType annotation tells the service registry that anything implementing the interface provides it (i.e., a Greeter). The interface’s one method called greet asks for a String and doesn’t return anything.

Add your own Java code and resources in your module’s src/main/java folder and src/main/resources folder, respectively.

Specify Dependencies

The build.gradle file specifies the module’s dependencies.

dependencies {
	compileOnly group: "com.liferay.portal", name: "release.portal.api"
}

It depends on one artifact: the Liferay release API JAR. It is a large JAR packed with Liferay, Bnd, and OSGi artifacts associated with the Liferay product release.

In the [project root]/gradle.properties file, the liferay.workspace.product property specifies the product release:

liferay.workspace.product=portal-7.4-ga120

Lastly, there’s no dependency version. That’s because Workspace applies the Liferay product API version associated with the release.

Note

Please see Configuring Dependencies for more information.

Specify Metadata

The module JAR’s META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file describes the module. The manifest contains properties called manifest headers that specify packages the module exports/imports and capabilities the module provides/requires. Since the build infrastructure provides Bnd, you need only specify a few initial headers in your module’s bnd.bnd file. Bnd generates most other values based on its inspection of your module.

Initial Metadata

The bnd.bnd file describes and configures the module.

Bundle-Name: Acme K8S2 API
Bundle-SymbolicName: com.acme.k8s2.api
Bundle-Version: 1.0.0
Export-Package: com.acme.k8s2

The module’s name is Acme K8S2 API. Its symbolic name—a name that ensures uniqueness—is com.acme.k8s2.api. Its semantic version is declared next. Lastly, the module exports the Java package com.acme.k8s2, making the package available to other modules. You confirmed the package export above when you executed the b [bundle ID] Gogo Shell command.

Generated Metadata

At build time, Bnd propagates metadata from the bnd.bnd file to the JAR file’s META-INF/MANIFEST.MF and adds metadata based on its inspection.

Here’s a META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file generated for the example module:

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Bnd-LastModified: 1598968383025
Bundle-ManifestVersion: 2
Bundle-Name: Acme K8S2 API
Bundle-SymbolicName: com.acme.k8s2.api
Bundle-Version: 1.0.0
Created-By: 1.8.0_252 (Oracle Corporation)
Export-Package: com.acme.k8s2;version="1.0.0"
Javac-Debug: on
Javac-Deprecation: off
Javac-Encoding: UTF-8
Require-Capability: osgi.ee;filter:="(&(osgi.ee=JavaSE)(version=1.8))"
Tool: Bnd-4.3.0.201909301554

Bnd propagated all the headers from the bnd.bnd file and added more headers and details. For example, the exported com.acme.k8s2 package has the default package version 1.0.0.

Conclusion

That’s it! As you can see, module projects are the same as other Java projects, with some added configuration.

Now you know what module projects look like, how to build and deploy them, and how to inspect modules at runtime.

Modules leverage each other’s capabilities via APIs like the Greeter API. Liferay uses OSGi Services to define, implement, and consume APIS. Next, APIs as OSGi Services demonstrates implementing the Greeter API using OSGi services.

Note

For details about the module lifecycle, see Module Lifecycle.