[jira] [Created] (MPH-152) Enhance console output of "evaluate" goal to indicate result

["Paul Benedict (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

Paul Benedict created MPH-152:
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             Summary: Enhance console output of "evaluate" goal to indicate result
                 Key: MPH-152
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MPH-152
             Project: Maven Help Plugin
          Issue Type: Improvement
          Components: evaluate
    Affects Versions: 3.0.1
            Reporter: Paul Benedict


I have two requirements for consideration:
 # Scripts should be able to easily get the resolution status.
 # Scripts should be able to easily get the resolved expression value.

When evaluating an expression, the output does not have a good marker to help scripts identity the resolution. Current plugin behavior prints the value (practically buried among Maven's logging) or "null object or invalid expression" message.

The {{-o}} option could be used, of course, but file creation is more overhead than necessary. But what is good about the {{-o}} option is that it prints a clear marker:
{code:none}
> mvn help:evaluate -Dexpression=settings.localRepository -Doutput=out.txt
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
. . .
[INFO] Result of evaluation written to: c:\proj\out.txt{code}
Can you consider something similar for the console?

Example possible solutions:
{code:none}
> mvn help:evaluate -Dexpression=settings.localRepository
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
. . .
[INFO] Result of evaluation: /home/joeuser/.m2/repository{code}
And again:
{code:none}
> mvn help:evaluate -Dexpression=zzz
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
. . .
[INFO] Result of evaluation: null{code}
PS: If you think current behavior should be preserved, a new plugin option can be introduced. However, as [shown by this link|https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5916157/how-to-get-the-maven-local-repo-location], I think people have a difficult time clobbering together an answer to parse reliably. There are other examples on that site if you're interested. So I don't think any effort should be taken with introducing a new option. Just my 2 cents. Since the fragility already exists, just provide an "official" solution to remediate it. 

Thank you.



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