Couple of gradle questions for the experts :slight...

# kotest-contributors

[sam]

Couple of gradle questions for the experts 🙂
1. How do I configure a task as I register it, since we can't pass constructor args? If I make an internal field, gradle wants to treat it as an @Input.

project.tasks.register(JVM_TASK_NAME, KotestJvmTask::class.java) {
            setme = "hello" // how to do this?
         }

2. I want to make a task that just executes other tasks. Eg I want to register say "uberkotest" which runs "kotestA" and "kotestB". All three tasks are created in the same plugin.

[LeoColman]

For the second point, could you just chain 'dependsOn'?

[sam]

Adam said dependsOn is bad, so trying to avoid that

[sam]

Ok for 1, looks like

@Input
    val inputProperty = project.objects.property(String::class.java)

is the way

[LeoColman]

you need it as a var probably

[LeoColman]

if you want to do that change

[sam]

the inputProperty is an instance of Provider so you call set on it

[sam]

so it can stay as a val

[Adam S]

> Adam said dependsOn is bad, so trying to avoid that
for 'lifecycle tasks' that do no work themselves but only depend on other tasks, dependsOn is okay :)

https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/organizing_tasks.html#sec:lifecycle_tasks

[Adam S]

'dependsOn' is best avoided when one task depends on files from another task, because if everything is configured correctly, then dependsOn should be unnecessary

[Adam S]

@Input
    val inputProperty = project.objects.property(String::class.java)

nitpick: make KotestJvmTask abstract and simplify it to:

@get:Input
    abstract val inputProperty: Property<String>

Then the task is a 'managed type' https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/properties_providers.html#managed_types

[sam]

The docs aren't clear on the benefits of a managed type