Issue
I am used to specifying project dependencies in ant/Netbeans, where a project recompiles if its dependency (another, otherwise separate project) changes, "clean and build" cleans and rebuilds dependencies etc. There is also source code navigation, where Netbeans switches seamlessly between projects.
Now I want to learn Gradle, but I was told that I should use a repository for accessing dependencies, like Maven Central. Project dependency configuration in Netbeans UI, in case of a Gradle project, is gone. Thus the question: is the aforementioned possibility of a deep integration between a project and its dependencies possible in a Gradle project?
Solution
For your project's source, meaning the stuff under the typical src/main/java, Gradle will "cache" this out of the box for most built-in tasks.
In Gradle, this is known as Up-to-date checks (AKA Incremental Build):
Once your source files have been compiled, there should be no need to recompile them unless something has changed that affects the output, such as the modification of a source file or the removal of an output file.
If you have a custom build task defined or a task that requires to be incremental (cached), then you'll need to follow this to make your custom task incremental.
And for the following:
"clean and build" cleans and rebuilds dependencies etc.
Gradle does not "build" dependencies. It will retrieve dependencies from the configured repositories in the project and then cache them.
You can configure the build cache if needed to suite your needs: https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/build_cache.html#sec:build_cache_configure
Answered By - Cisco
Answer Checked By - Senaida (JavaFixing Volunteer)
