How to access gradle parameter in Java code

Question

I have some experience with java and I am new to gradle and I joined a project in which I have to modify the gradle file.

Here is my build.gradle file

apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'idea'

sourceCompatibility = 1.5
version = '1.0'
dependencies {
    testCompile 'org.testng:testng:6.9.10',
                'org.seleniumhq.selenium:selenium-java:2.53.0'
}

test {
    useTestNG()
    testLogging.showStandardStreams = true
}

I then run my test suite using the following command from the mac terminal ./build test

I want to pass a parameter named environment Based on this value of this parameter, I need to configure my urls and run tests for that environment. Something like ./build test environment=dev or ./build test environment=qa

And in my java code I would do something like this

if(env == 'dev') {
    url = "my dev url";
    user = "my dev user name"
} else if(env == 'qa') {
    url = "my qa url";
    user = "my qa user name"
}

How can I pass this parameter in the terminal ? A small snippet of how I can use this parameter in my code would be of great help (my java code does not have a main method).

Note: I have already used a property file and achieved this behaviour, but my team does not want to make changes in code to set the environment. So I had to discard those changes.

Answer 1

From command line to gradle you can use system properties or project properties. It will be either:

./gradlew test -Denv=dev

or

./gradle test -Penv=dev

The properties above can be now read in a build.gradle, you need to pass them to tests as well, it must be done with system properties so:

test {
    systemProperty 'env', System.properties['env'] ?: 'dev'
}

for system properties from command line or:

test {
    systemProperty 'env', project.hasProperty('env') ? project.env : 'dev'
}

In test classes use just:

System.getProperty("env")

to get the value you need.