How do I automatically embed version information into my Java application?

Question

I'm developing a JavaFX 8 application using IntelliJ, Maven and Git. I have an "about" window which shows the version number and build date. At the moment, I have to manually change these each time I update the code.

Is there any way I can have my build process automatically generate version and date information and embed this into my code so it shows up in the about window?

Answer 1

You can use maven resource filtering.

Prepare file eg. src/main/resources/version.properties with content:

version=${project.version}

and add in your pom:

<build>
    <resources>
        <resource>
            <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
            <filtering>true</filtering>
        </resource>
...
<build>

After build maven replace ${project.version} for current project version.

In your project you can read this file and use in your abut window.

Read more about build timestamp property: How to access maven.build.timestamp for resource filtering