Using Alfred to Switch Maven Settings with One Click

Posted on Edited on Word count in article: 1.8k Reading time ≈ 3 mins.
This article explains how Alfred can switch Maven settings with one click, including use cases and implementation details, to improve efficiency.

Since company projects require using internal Maven resources, which aren’t needed at home, switching settings back and forth is time-consuming. Inspired by automation, I considered creating a script to switch sources.

Script-Based Initial Solution

I came across an article by a fellow developer about script-based switching, which gave me an idea. Here’s the script:

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#!/bin/bash

base_dir=~/.m2
setting_home=settings_home.xml
setting_work=settings_work.xml

PS3='Please enter the number of your choice: '
options=("home" "work")
select opt in "${options[@]}"
do
    case $opt in
        "home")
        ln -sfn ${base_dir}/${setting_home} ${base_dir}/settings.xml
            echo "Switched setting.xml to home!"
            break
            ;;
        "work")
        ln -sfn ${base_dir}/${setting_work} ${base_dir}/settings.xml
            echo "Switched setting.xml to work!"
            break
            ;;
  
    esac
done

The script allows interactive execution to switch settings. However, this method still requires running the script each time. Is there a way to achieve one-click switching? Yes! Alfred can do it.

How can we achieve this?

Adding an Input Keyword

Adding a List Filter

Adding Script Execution

The above script was slightly modified as follows:

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base_dir=~/.m2
setting_home=settings_home.xml
setting_work=setting_work.xml

if [ "{query}" == "home" ];
then
        ln -sfn ${base_dir}/${setting_home} ${base_dir}/settings.xml
else
        ln -sfn ${base_dir}/${setting_work} ${base_dir}/settings.xml
fi

Default Maven Settings Configuration

Here’s a link to the default settings.xml configuration:
Click here

Adding Notifications

To enhance the experience, add a notification after each successful switch.

Screenshots

With this setup, you can switch Maven settings with one click. Perfect.

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