grails-app/utils dir

Question

I've just noticed the existence of the grails-app/utils dir. I've never seen it referred to in any documentation (or used in a project). It's created by default when you run create-app, any idea what you're supposed to put in there?

"Utility" code is an obvious guess, but it seems like that should go under the src dir.

Thanks, Don

Answer 1

the grails-app/utils/ directory is where items like Codecs go.

I'm not sure what else goes there, but you can include other classes there and they will be included within the Application

EDIT: The grails-app/utils/ directory is meant for "Grails specific utilities" (Artefacts, GrailsClasses, etc.)

Jeff Brown(Core member of the Grails development team) responded to a question on the mailing list that confirms this. He said:

You can put just about anything you like in the utils directory but it is really for Grails specific utilities. At the moment I think the only thing really targeted at this directory are custom codecs. Your application classes that are not Grails artifacts should go under src/groovy/

You can find an example of a new Grails Artefact in the Constriants plugin. The Author of this plugin recommends that users put their Constraint classes in the grails-app/utils/ directory.