IntelliJ IDEA and Gradle: Why there are 3 modules per sub-module?

Question

I am rather confused by IntelliJ IDEA's gradle integration and the mapping of gradle subprojects to IDEA's modules.

Why are there 3 modules for every gradle subproject (client, client_main and client_test)?
Is there a way to get rid of the "parent" module? Every time I delete it my build breaks in confusing ways.

UPDATE

The content root of the third module ("server") is always set to the entire folder like seen below. This means I can't mark directories in build as generated sources, since the are excluded by default.

I'd like to know the solution to stop this too. My project handles tests in a separate submodule and [this](https://i.imgur.com/90iOV1i.png) is not intended. — Sri Harsha Chilakapati, Apr 02 '16 at 11:26
Relevant discussion: https://discuss.gradle.org/t/support-for-intellij-2016/15294 — Fabian Zeindl, Apr 02 '16 at 13:20

Sri Harsha Chilakapati · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-16T06:23:39.940

22

It is now possible to deselect that option when importing the gradle project in IDEA, checked in 2016.1.2 Ultimate IDE. First go to the import gradle option and select your gradle file.

Then in the dialog that appears, make sure you deselect the option that says create separate module per source set. This is selected by default. Now continue with importing the project as you normally would.

And that's it, you can enjoy your project, just one module will be created for each sub project in the multi project gradle build.

This option is only useful if you are having a separate sub project in gradle for the tests like me. Otherwise, the default way works pretty much good, as I found it more easy to launch unit tests.

Hope this helps.

edited May 16 '16 at 06:23

answered Apr 02 '16 at 11:57

Sri Harsha Chilakapati

11,744
6
50
91

1

This doesn't change anything in my existing project. (Intellij IDEA 2016) – Fabian Zeindl Apr 02 '16 at 13:13
I'm using 2016 as well. You have to delete the .ipr and .iml files from the project directory manually, before proceeding. And choose not to import or sync with Gradle in the IDE. – Sri Harsha Chilakapati Apr 02 '16 at 13:29
@FabianZeindl I have updated the answer, please have a look. – Sri Harsha Chilakapati May 16 '16 at 06:24
1

Seems to work, great. Even when syncing with Gradle. – Fabian Zeindl May 18 '16 at 07:55
Ok, I have a caveat: It fails to compile because generated sources are not found. Interestingly the IDE finds it, gradle compile works, just in the output it tells me "cannot find symbol". Any clues? – Fabian Zeindl May 19 '16 at 10:00
(My folder ist build/generated/source/widgetreference/main/java/...) – Fabian Zeindl May 19 '16 at 10:00
(added like this `sourceSets.main.java.srcDir 'build/generated/source/widgetreference/main/java/'`) – Fabian Zeindl May 19 '16 at 10:07
I had never dealt with generating sources, but it seems that you need to mark them as generated sources in IDEA. – Sri Harsha Chilakapati May 19 '16 at 11:42
@FabianZeindl Did you try using `srcDirs += 'path'` instead of overriding the default value? – Sri Harsha Chilakapati May 19 '16 at 11:44
@FabianZeindl: have you created a intellij bug for this? – dzwicker May 25 '16 at 17:20
No, maybe i will, but no time for it yet :/ – Fabian Zeindl May 26 '16 at 08:56
This also helped in Run Configuration. When I have multiple of these sub modules I could not run the project in IntelliJ for my Dropwizard project. Once I reimported with the checkbox for "Create separate module for source set" it all worked like a charm. – Bala Anirudh Jul 21 '17 at 06:59
7

Grrrr ... this setting seems to have disappeared in 2019.2. Any idea how to work around this ? – Mouhcine Aug 01 '19 at 18:19

score 15 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 15 '19 at 06:36

If you want to just disable this option for a previously imported project you can do so by editing idea gradle configuration file located in .idea/gradle.xml.

Add this line that sets resolveModulePerSourceSet to false:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project version="4">
  ...
  <component name="GradleSettings">
    <option name="linkedExternalProjectsSettings">
      <GradleProjectSettings>
        ...
        <option name="resolveModulePerSourceSet" value="false" />
      </GradleProjectSettings>
    </option>
  </component>
</project>

And then refresh the gradle project.

IntelliJ IDEA and Gradle: Why there are 3 modules per sub-module?

2 Answers2

Linked