#1871: README.txt (projectforge-common)

This README serves as a minimal orientation document for developers exploring the projectforge-common module. Its content is intentionally brief because this module is not a standalone application — it is a library consumed as a dependency by other ProjectForge modules.

Full Text

Please use projectforge-webapp for your development first!

This module contains some common classes of ProjectForge.

You don't need this module for developing the ProjectForge's web-app.
It's automatically available through the ProjectForge's maven repository.

Module Purpose

projectforge-common is a foundational library module containing shared utility classes, data structures, and cross-cutting concerns used across the ProjectForge ecosystem. It includes:

• Utility classes: BeanHelper, ClassHelper, DateHelper, FileHelper, NumberHelper, CollectionHelper, CanonicalFileUtils
• CSV handling: CSVParser, CSVWriter — custom CSV implementation (not Apache Commons CSV)
• Version management: Version class for semantic version representation and comparison
• Data types: DateFormatType enum, DatabaseDialect enum
• Diff/Patch: Google's diff-match-patch algorithm port
• Logging: SLF4J, Log4j2-to-SLF4J bridging, Logback
• Apache Commons dependencies: commons-lang3, commons-beanutils, commons-collections4

Dependency Model

The module is published to a Maven repository and consumed by other modules via Gradle dependency declarations. In the Gradle build files (e.g., build.gradle.kts in other modules), it is referenced as:

implementation(project(":projectforge-common"))

This means it is a project dependency in the multi-module Gradle build, and it is published as a Maven artifact for external consumption.

Key Design Decision

The instruction to "use projectforge-webapp for your development first" indicates that projectforge-webapp is the intended developer entry point — it provides the full web application stack. The projectforge-common module is a building block, not a starting point. This layered architecture separates concerns: common utilities are isolated so that tools, scripts, and plugins can depend on them without pulling in the full web application stack.

Build Configuration

The module uses the Gradle convention plugin buildlogic.pf-module-conventions and the Kotlin JVM plugin. It declares API dependencies on SLF4J, Logback, Log4j2, Apache Commons libraries, and Zip4j for ZIP archive handling.