What's wrong with my pom.xml for building a desktop application into an exe?

Question

Java

I built an application with a guy on javafx. created a project using maven. here is my pom:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

<groupId>com.myapp.edi</groupId>
<artifactId>javafx</artifactId>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

<name>javafx</name>

<properties>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    <mainClass>com.myapp.edi.gui.Main</mainClass>
</properties>

<organization>
    <!-- Used as the 'Vendor' for JNLP generation -->
    <name>Your Organisation</name>
</organization>

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.5.1</version>
            <configuration>
                <source>1.6</source>
                <target>1.6</target>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.6</version>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <id>unpack-dependencies</id>
                    <phase>package</phase>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>unpack-dependencies</goal>
                    </goals>
                    <configuration>
                        <excludeScope>system</excludeScope>
                        <excludeGroupIds>junit,org.mockito,org.hamcrest</excludeGroupIds>
                        <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/classes</outputDirectory>
                    </configuration>
                </execution>
            </executions>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
            <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>1.2.1</version>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <id>unpack-dependencies</id>

                    <phase>package</phase>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>exec</goal>
                    </goals>
                    <configuration>
                        <executable>${java.home}/../bin/javafxpackager</executable>
                        <arguments>
                            <argument>-createjar</argument>
                            <argument>-nocss2bin</argument>
                            <argument>-appclass</argument>
                            <argument>${mainClass}</argument>
                            <argument>-srcdir</argument>
                            <argument>${project.build.directory}/classes</argument>
                            <argument>-outdir</argument>
                            <argument>${project.build.directory}</argument>
                            <argument>-outfile</argument>
                            <argument>${project.build.finalName}.jar</argument>
                        </arguments>
                    </configuration>
                </execution>
                <execution>
                    <id>default-cli</id>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>exec</goal>                            
                    </goals>
                    <configuration>
                        <executable>${java.home}/bin/java</executable>

                    </configuration>
                </execution>
            </executions>  
        </plugin>

        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.16</version>
            <configuration>
                <additionalClasspathElements>
                    <additionalClasspathElement>${java.home}/lib/jfxrt.jar</additionalClasspathElement>
                </additionalClasspathElements>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>1.7.1</version>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <phase>package</phase>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>shade</goal>
                    </goals>
                </execution>
            </executions>
            <configuration>
                <shadedArtifactAttached>true</shadedArtifactAttached>
                <shadedClassifierName>shaded</shadedClassifierName>
                <transformers>
                    <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ManifestResourceTransformer">
                        <mainClass>com.myapp.edi.gui.Main</mainClass>
                    </transformer>
                </transformers>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>com.akathist.maven.plugins.launch4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>launch4j-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>1.5.1</version>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <id>l4j-clui</id>
                    <phase>package</phase>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>launch4j</goal>
                    </goals>
                    <configuration>
                        <headerType>gui</headerType>
                        <jar>${project.build.directory}/${artifactId}-${version}-shaded.jar</jar>
                        <outfile>${project.build.directory}/myapp.exe</outfile>
                        <downloadUrl>http://java.com/download</downloadUrl>
                        <classPath>
                            <mainClass>com.myapp.edi.gui.Main</mainClass>
                            <preCp>anything</preCp>
                        </classPath>
                        <icon>src/main/resources/icon/application.ico</icon>
                        <jre>
                            <minVersion>1.6.0</minVersion>
                            <jdkPreference>preferJre</jdkPreference>
                        </jre>
                        <versionInfo>
                            <fileVersion>1.0.0.0</fileVersion>
                            <txtFileVersion>${project.version}</txtFileVersion>
                            <fileDescription>${project.name}</fileDescription>
                            <copyright>2012 hasCode.com</copyright>
                            <productVersion>1.0.0.0</productVersion>
                            <txtProductVersion>1.0.0.0</txtProductVersion>
                            <productName>${project.name}</productName>
                            <companyName>mike.com</companyName>
                            <internalName>myapp</internalName>
                            <originalFilename>myapp.exe</originalFilename>
                        </versionInfo>
                    </configuration>
                </execution>
            </executions>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

</project>

However, when building, I have a bunch of errors like error: illegal start of expression and error: ';' expected. Though Idea' everything is started without errors. Well, another error is thrown:

org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Failed to execute goal o
rg.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.5.1:compile (default-compile) on
 project javafx: Compilation failure
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor
.java:212)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor
.java:153)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor
.java:145)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProje
ct(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:116)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProje
ct(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:80)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThre
adedBuilder.build(SingleThreadedBuilder.java:51)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(Lifecycl
eStarter.java:120)
        at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:347)
        at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:154)
        at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute(MavenCli.java:582)
        at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain(MavenCli.java:214)
        at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:158)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.
java:57)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAcces
sorImpl.java:43)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Laun
cher.java:289)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.jav
a:229)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(La
uncher.java:415)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:
356)
Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.CompilationFailureException: Compilation fail
ure
        at org.apache.maven.plugin.AbstractCompilerMojo.execute(AbstractCompiler
Mojo.java:729)
        at org.apache.maven.plugin.CompilerMojo.execute(CompilerMojo.java:128)
        at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(Default
BuildPluginManager.java:132)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor
.java:208)
        ... 19 more

where am I wrong? what am i doing wrong?

Answer 1

the problem was related to the fact that I was using java 8, and I installed maven when java was 7th. and here the wrong path was registered in java home and maven turned to the wrong place

Answer 2

Look, maybe I'm wrong, but this plugin seems to be for LAUNCHing the application, and not for creating .exe files.
You most likely need the javafx-maven-plugin.
Here is an article on setting up the old version - devcolibri.com/3264
Here is my configuration for creating a windows application and jar for multiplatform (requires Java 8):

<build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>com.zenjava</groupId>
        <artifactId>javafx-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>8.1.2</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <goals>
              <goal>jar</goal>
              <goal>native</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
        <configuration>
          <mainClass>org.tn.gallery.control.Application</mainClass>
          <nativeOutputDir>${app.path}/win</nativeOutputDir>
          <jfxAppOutputDir>${app.path}/jfx</jfxAppOutputDir>
          <verbose>true</verbose>
          <appName>jGallery</appName>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>

Also, in order for the plugin to be able to create a native application with an .exe file, you need to install this thing on the machine: www.jrsoftware.org/isdl.php