Command line version of IntelliJ IDEA run configuration

Question

I have a working IntelliJ IDEA run configuration. It uses Spring Boot.

I'd like to execute the same run from the MacOS command line. How can I get IntelliJ IDEA to show the command (or commands) that I need execute the run configuration.

This is the gradle build.gradle file:

plugins {
    id 'org.springframework.boot' version '2.6.4'
    id 'io.spring.dependency-management' version '1.0.11.RELEASE'
    id 'java'
}

group = 'org.mountsinai'
version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT'
sourceCompatibility = "15"

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jdbc'
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf'
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web'
    testImplementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test'
    testImplementation 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-api:5.8.2'
    runtimeOnly 'com.microsoft.sqlserver:mssql-jdbc'
    implementation group: 'org.springframework', name: 'spring-aspects', version: '5.3.15'
    implementation group: 'nz.net.ultraq.thymeleaf', name: 'thymeleaf-layout-dialect', version: '3.0.0'
    implementation group: 'com.jayway.jsonpath', name: 'json-path', version: '2.7.0'
    implementation group: 'com.github.pcj', name: 'google-options', version: '1.0.0'
    implementation 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.9.0'
}

tasks.named('test') {
    useJUnitPlatform()
    minHeapSize = "1024m" // initial heap size
    maxHeapSize = "2048m" // maximum heap size
}
targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_15

And this is the configuration element in the ./.idea/workspace.xml corresponding to the run I'd like to automate on the command line:

    <configuration name="IrwMetadataIntegrationApplication" type="SpringBootApplicationConfigurationType" factoryName="Spring Boot">
      <module name="org.mountsinai.IRWMetadataIntegration.main" />
      <option name="SPRING_BOOT_MAIN_CLASS" value="org.mountsinai.IRWMetadataIntegration.IrwMetadataIntegrationApplication" />
      <option name="PROGRAM_PARAMETERS" value="--algorithm=batch --numOfStudiesToRetrieve=600" />
      <option name="ALTERNATIVE_JRE_PATH_ENABLED" value="true" />
      <option name="ALTERNATIVE_JRE_PATH" value="15" />
      <method v="2">
        <option name="Make" enabled="true" />
      </method>
    </configuration>

My original question can now be asked more concretely How can one convert an IDEA configuration and workspace.xml file into a command (or script) that can be executed outside IntelliJ IDEA?

Using

IntelliJ IDEA 2021.3.2 (Ultimate Edition) Build #IU-213.6777.52, built on January 27, 2022

Thanks, Arthur

Answer 1

At the top of your console Notice there's a command something something... java, normally it collapses into such short form, but if you click on that:

Notice it will expand and show you the full command:

In this case, for example, ultimately, the command is something like this :

/Users/hoaphan/.sdkman/candidates/java/17.0.4-amzn/bin/java -XX:TieredStopAtLevel=1 
-Dspring.output.ansi.enabled=always 
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote 
-Dspring.jmx.enabled=true 
-Dspring.liveBeansView.mbeanDomain 
-Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true 
...blahblahblahblahblah...
com.example.bootgradlej17.Bootgradlej17Application

So you can mimic intelliJ by running such long command. But I would suggest if this is springboot, and build by gradle, what you actually want to do is at project root, in the dir where your build.gradle is do:

./gradlew bootRun

Now if you want to mimic the JVM option IntelliJ did, you can just capture such info from an IntelliJ run using tool like VisualVM:

Then you can configure your bootRun to start with such config for JVM like:

bootRun {
   jvmArgs = "-Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true", "-Dnannana=nenenene" (etc)....
}

Answer 2

Execute your program through the run configuration and check the first line of the output. It should contain the call that is executed by the IDE, often something like java -jar … .

eg when running a Scratch file, I get the following in the output window as first line:

/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.11.0-openjdk-amd64/bin/java -javaagent:/home/user/bin/idea-IU-222.3345.47/lib/idea_rt.jar=37117:/home/user/bin/idea-IU-222.3345.47/bin -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -classpath /home/user/.cache/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2022.3/compile-server/backend_dd2372d5/scratches/out:... Scratch

Answer 3

Continuing my comment above...

2. On my computer (running macOS Big Sur 11.6) VisualVM cannot find the JVM arguments:

Instead, they can be found in the java command that you explain how to reveal. Eg, mine are:

-Dspring.output.ansi.enabled=always
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
-Dspring.jmx.enabled=true
-Dspring.liveBeansView.mbeanDomain
-Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true
...

Please explain your

bootRun {
   jvmArgs = "-Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true", "-Dnannana=nenenene" (etc)....
}

example. Where and how should this text be used?

3. One also needs to provide any command-line arguments that are in the IDEA configuration. These can be passed via the gradlew --args option , like this:

   --args='--algorithm=batch --numOfStudiesToRetrieve=600'

Overall, however, this approach is more ad hoc than I'd like. It requires that one hack a) IDEA's java command to obtain the JVM arguments, b) the command-line arguments in via gradlew 's --args . But I assume that the silence of IntelliJ IDEA's developers indicates that they do not support this important functionality.

Answer 4

Another comment in an answer because the formatting limitations of comments are so limiting:

Thanks, @HoaPhan. However, when I insert a bootRun section like this in build.gradle ,

bootRun {
  jvmArgs = "-Dspring.output.ansi.enabled=always"
}

IntelliJ IDEA raises

Could not compile build file '<path>/build.gradle'.
> startup failed:
  build file '<path>/build.gradle': 1: Unexpected input: '{' @ line 1, column 9.
     bootRun {
             ^

This appears to occur wherever the section is placed in the file.

However, this does work:

bootRun {
    jvmArgs = [ "-Dspring.output.ansi.enabled=always",
                "-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote",
                "-Dspring.jmx.enabled=true",
                "-Dspring.liveBeansView.mbeanDomain",
                "-Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true",
                "-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8"
    ]
}

It's unclear why the first bootRun { appears to generate a syntax error and this does not.