groovy.lang

Annotation Type Grab

@Retention(value=SOURCE)
@Target(value={CONSTRUCTOR,FIELD,LOCAL_VARIABLE,METHOD,PARAMETER,TYPE})
public @interface Grab

Used to grab the referenced artifact and its dependencies and make it available on the Classpath.

Some examples:

 @Grab(group='commons-lang', module='commons-lang', version='2.4')
 import org.apache.commons.lang.WordUtils
 println "Hello ${WordUtils.capitalize('world')}"
 

Or using the compact Gradle-inspired syntax:

 @Grab('commons-lang:commons-lang:2.4')
 import org.apache.commons.lang.WordUtils
 println "Hello ${WordUtils.capitalize('world')}"
 

or the same thing again using the Ivy-inspired syntax variant:

 @Grab('commons-lang#commons-lang;2.4')
 import org.apache.commons.lang.WordUtils
 println "Hello ${WordUtils.capitalize('world')}"
 

Further information such as where artifacts are downloaded to, how to add additional resolvers, how to customise artifact resolution etc., can be found on the Grape documentation page: http://groovy.codehaus.org/Grape.

Required Element Summary

Required Elements

Modifier and Type	Required Element and Description
String	module The module or artifact, e.g.: "ant-junit"
String	version The revision or version, e.g.: "1.7.1"

Optional Element Summary

Optional Elements

Modifier and Type	Optional Element and Description
boolean	changing Defaults to false but set to true if the dependency artifacts may change without a corresponding revision change.
String	classifier The classifier if in use, e.g.: "jdk14"
String	conf The configuration if in use (normally only used by internal ivy repositories).
String	ext The extension of the artifact (normally safe to leave at default value of "jar" but other values like "zip" are sometimes useful).
boolean	force Defaults to false but set to true to indicate to the underlying Ivy conflict manager that this dependency should be forced to the given revision.
String	group The organisation or group, e.g.: "org.apache.ant"
boolean	initClass By default, when a @Grab annotation is used, the grab() call is added to the static initializers of the class the annotatable node appears in.
boolean	transitive Defaults to true but set to false if you don't want transitive dependencies also to be downloaded.
String	type The type of the artifact (normally safe to leave at default value of "jar" but other values like "sources" and "javadoc" are sometimes useful).
String	value Allows a more compact convenience form in one of two formats with optional appended attributes.

Element Detail

module

public abstract String module

The module or artifact, e.g.: "ant-junit"

version

public abstract String version

The revision or version, e.g.: "1.7.1"

group

public abstract String group

The organisation or group, e.g.: "org.apache.ant"

Default:

""

classifier

public abstract String classifier

The classifier if in use, e.g.: "jdk14"

Default:

""

transitive

public abstract boolean transitive

Defaults to true but set to false if you don't want transitive dependencies also to be downloaded. You may then need additional @Grab statements for any required dependencies.

Default:

true

force

public abstract boolean force

Defaults to false but set to true to indicate to the underlying Ivy conflict manager that this dependency should be forced to the given revision. Otherwise, depending on the conflict manager in play, a later compatible version might be used instead.

Default:

false

changing

public abstract boolean changing

Defaults to false but set to true if the dependency artifacts may change without a corresponding revision change. Not normally recommended but may be useful for certain kinds of snapshot artifacts. May reduce the amount of underlying Ivy caching. Proper behavior may be dependent on the resolver in use.

Default:

false

conf

public abstract String conf

The configuration if in use (normally only used by internal ivy repositories). One or more comma separated values with or without square brackets, e.g. for hibernate you might have "default,proxool,oscache" or "[default,dbcp,swarmcache]". This last hibernate example assumes you have set up such configurations in your local Ivy repo and have changed your grape config (using grapeConfig.xml) or the @GrabConfig annotation to point to that repo.

Default:

""

ext

public abstract String ext

The extension of the artifact (normally safe to leave at default value of "jar" but other values like "zip" are sometimes useful).

Default:

""

type

public abstract String type

The type of the artifact (normally safe to leave at default value of "jar" but other values like "sources" and "javadoc" are sometimes useful). But see also the "classifier" attribute which is also sometimes used for "sources" and "javadoc".

Default:

""

value

public abstract String value

Allows a more compact convenience form in one of two formats with optional appended attributes.

You can choose either format but not mix-n-match:
group:module:version:classifier@ext (where only group and module are required)
group#module;version[confs] (where only group and module are required and confs, if used, is one or more comma separated configuration names)
In addition, you can add any valid Ivy attributes at the end of your string value using semi-colon separated name = value pairs, e.g.:
@Grab('junit:junit:*;transitive=false')
@Grab('group=junit;module=junit;version=4.8.2;classifier=javadoc')

Default:

""

initClass

public abstract boolean initClass

By default, when a @Grab annotation is used, the grab() call is added to the static initializers of the class the annotatable node appears in. If you wish to disable this, add initClass=false to the annotation.

Default:

true