Unable to get <systemPropertyVariables> variable values from pom

Question

Hi I am working on a java maven project in which I have to define some variables in the pom.xml file.

I have defined a variable as follows in my pom.xml file.

    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.16</version>
        <configuration>
            <includes>
                <include>**/*Test*.java</include>
                <include>**/*Tests*.java</include>
                <include>**/Test*.java</include>
            </includes>
            <systemPropertyVariables>
                <my.value>NOTNULL</my.value>
            </systemPropertyVariables>
        </configuration>
    </plugin>

To try accessing the my.value variable, I am using the following piece of Java code.

    String testdata = System.getProperty("my.value");
    System.out.println(testdata);

But the console output always shows me null even when I set the value of the variable.

Can anyone point out what is wrong here?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT : I have also tried declaring the systemPropertyVariables under the maven-failsafe-plugin but with no change.

NOTE: When I try to convert the testdata line of code as follows,

   String testdata = System.getProperty("my.value").toString();

I get a NullPointer Exception at the above line.

Edit: Sorry for posting this as an answer earlier..

I am running it as JUnit test using the plugin ... /plugin code you provided but here is my console output..

21 Oct 2014 12:36:56,973 main                                     INFO  s.MyClass                  - Default Implicit timeout set in Driver to: 100  
21 Oct 2014 12:36:56,973 main                                     INFO  s.MyClass                  - Default URL for server is set to: http://localhost:8080
 ---- null

The URL is what i am trying to retrieve from the pom.xml file and the condition i have written is that

if the value in the variable is empty of starts with ${ then return localhost:8080 else return the url.

So if you could point me to something wrong here

Answer 1

Works for me with maven-3.2.3 on Windows with JDK 1.6.0_67

Created a project with maven-archetype-quickstart...

Added relevant pom lines... combining surefire example with specific lines in the question above.

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.16</version>
    <configuration>
      <systemPropertyVariables>
        <my.value>NOTNULL</my.value>
        <buildDirectory>${project.build.directory}</buildDirectory>
      </systemPropertyVariables>
    </configuration>
  </plugin>

Relevant lines in AppTest.java

/**
 * Rigourous Test :-)
 */
public void testApp()
{
    System.out.println(System.getProperty("my.value"));
    System.out.println(System.getProperty("buildDirectory"));
    assertTrue( true );
}

Relevant output from mvn test

-------------------------------------------------------
 T E S T S
-------------------------------------------------------
Running com.mycompany.app.AppTest
NOTNULL
C:\Users\raghu\Documents\GitHub\mvn-examples\test-properties\target
Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.003 sec - in c
om.mycompany.app.AppTest

Here is the project in github.