Creating the Project

Getting a project ID

To deploy your app to App Engine, you'll need a Google Cloud Platform project. To create a new project:

1. Visit Google Cloud Platform Console in your web browser.

2. If this is your first project, you'll see the Getting Started page: click Create an empty project. (After you create your first project, you might not see the Getting Started page, but may instead see a landing page listing your projects along with a Create Project button, which you can click to create new projects.)

3. Supply the project name Guestbook and accept the project ID that is auto-generated for you.

4. Click Create.

Make a note of the project ID. You will use the ID when you generate the starter files in the next step.

Note: Alternatively, you can use the ID from an existing project in the Google Cloud Platform Console if you want to use it for this project.

Important: The name you use must be between 4 and 30 characters. When you type the name, the form will suggest a project ID, which you can edit. The project ID you use must be between 6 and 30 characters, with a lowercase letter as the first character. You can use a dash, lowercase letter, or digit for the remaining characters, but the last character cannot be a dash. Also, you should be aware that some resource identifiers (such as project IDs) might be retained beyond the life of your project. For this reason, avoid storing sensitive information in resource identifiers.

...see naming guidelines

Generating the starter files

Change to a directory where you want to build your project, then invoke Maven as follows, replacing your-app-id with your project ID:

The Maven archetype:generate command asks you a series of questions, then generates a set of starter files based on your answers. To match this tutorial, answer the questions as follows:

1. From the artifact list, choose 1 to select the archetype com.google.appengine.archetypes:appengine-skeleton-archetype.

2. For the archetype version, accept the default answer (press enter).

3. When prompted to Define value for property 'groupId', enter the desired namespace for your app. For this tutorial, specify: com.example.guestbook

4. When prompted to Define value for property 'artifactId', enter a name for the project. For this tutorial, specify: guestbook

5. When prompted to Define value for property 'version', accept the default value.

6. When prompted to Define value for property 'package', supply your preferred package name (or accept the default). The generated Java files will have the package name you specify here. For this tutorial, accept the default answer (com.example.guestbook).

7. Confirm your choices by pressing enter (Y).

Maven generates your starter files in a directory named after the value you entered for the artifactId, in this case guestbook. The directory structure looks like this:

• You'll add your own application Java classes to src/main/java/...

• You'll configure your application using the file src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/appengine-web.xml

• You'll configure your application deployment using the file src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml

We'll describe what to do inside these subdirectories later.

Install dependencies

Change directory to the new guestbook that you just created:

Run this command to install dependencies and do a clean build:

Wait for the project to build. When the project successfully finishes you will see a message similar to this one:

You are now ready to add application code and UI.

Adding Application Code and UI >>