GitHub action: Maven build

Goal

The goal of this exercise is to create a GitHub Action that builds a Maven project and runs tests.

Step 1: Setup

Use the same project from the previous exercise.

Step 2: Create the Action

Inside the .github/workflows directory, create a new file named java-test.yml.

Open the java-test.yml file and add the following content:

name: Java test

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v6

      - name: Set up JDK
        uses: actions/setup-java@v5
        with:
            java-version: '25'
            distribution: 'temurin'

      - name: Run tests
        run: mvn -B test

The on section specifies that the action will run on pushes and pull requests to the main branch.

The workflow_dispatch event allows you to manually trigger the workflow from the GitHub Actions tab in your GitHub repository.

The steps section defines the individual steps of the job:

1. The first step checks out the repository code.
2. The second step sets up the Java Development Kit (JDK) using the actions/setup-java action.
3. The third step runs the Maven command to execute the tests.

Step 3: Commit and Push

For the action to take effect, you need to commit and push the changes to your repository. You can do this using the following commands:

git add .
git commit -m "Add Maven build GitHub Action"
git push

Step 4: Verify the Action

1. Go to your GitHub repository in your web browser.
2. Click on the "Actions" tab.
3. You should see a new workflow run for the "Java test" action. Click on it to see the details.
4. Click on the job to see the logs. You should see the output of the Maven build and test execution. If the tests pass, you will see a success message; if any tests fail, you will see the failure details in the logs.