Create a directory to hold the project

vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu16:~/src$mkdir smoke

Switch to that directory

vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu16:~/src$cd smoke

Initialize the project using gradle

vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu16:~/src/smoke$gradle init --type java-application

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 0s
2 actionable tasks: 1 executed, 1 up-to-date

Gradle created several files, have a look

vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu16:~/src/smoke$ls
build.gradle  gradle  gradlew  gradlew.bat  settings.gradle  src

Try running tests

The first run of your freshly-created application may take longer due to the need to download Java library files

vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu16:~/src/smoke$gradle test

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 4s
3 actionable tasks: 3 executed

Re-run the tests

If they failed before, e.g., you needed to configure a proxy, then they will run this time. If they passed last time, then they will not re-run.

vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu16:~/src/smoke$gradle test

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 1s
3 actionable tasks: 3 up-to-date

Force re-execution

After a task (tests in this case) has passed, it will not re-run if there are no relevant changes. You can force re-execution with the --retun-tasks parameter to Gradle.

Notice “executed” below versus “up-to-date” above:

vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu16:~/src/smoke$gradle test --rerun-tasks

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 3s
3 actionable tasks: 3 executed

Create the application jar

The use of --rerun-tasks is not necessary here but doing this should provide more consistent results between this example and what you see on your screen.

vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu16:~/src/smoke$gradle build --rerun-tasks

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 4s
7 actionable tasks: 7 executed

Finally, run the application from the command line

vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu16:~/src/smoke$java -cp build/libs/smoke.jar App
Hello world.