Starting an H2 Database Server from Maven?

Question

Suppose I want to create and use an H2 database for my integration tests.

Maven has a command to run tests: mvn test.

Is there a way to tell maven t

Answer 1

I create a file-based H2 database before unit tests are run. The file lives in the target directory and can be removed at any time using mvn clean.

I use the maven-sql-plugin as follows:

  org.codehaus.mojo
  sql-maven-plugin
  1.5
  
    
      com.h2database
      h2 
      1.3.166
    
  
  
    org.h2.Driver
    jdbc:h2:file:target/db/testdb
    sa
    
    true
    ${maven.test.skip}
  
  
    
      create-db
      process-test-resources
      
        execute
      
      
        
          ${sql.dir}/drop_db.sql
          ${sql.dir}/tables.sql
          ${sql.dir}/constraints.sql
          ... etc ...
        
      
    
  

The database can be created by running mvn process-test-resources. When tests are run, make sure you connect to the database in target/db/testdb via hibernate properties.

You will also need to a dependency on com.h2database.h2 in maven's dependencies.