Apache Maven - Co-ordinates explained

In this article, we will understand about maven co-ordinates

<groupId>:<artifactId>:<version> defines a maven co-ordinate for any maven module in local or central or remote repositories
This combination needs to be unique, to distinctly identify maven artifacts from other artifacts in any of the repositories (local/central/remote)
For example, maven co-ordinate for spring-core module is
- groupId –> org.springframework
- artifactId –> spring-core
- version –> 4.1.3.RELEASE
Above co-ordinate added as <dependency> under <dependencies> tag in pom.xml as below

<dependency>
	<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
	<artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
	<version>4.1.3.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>

Now, there won’t be any other maven module with same co-ordinates other than this

Initially users/developers who are all just started to understand and getting hold of maven will find it difficult to search maven co-ordinates for their project requirements
In fact, it takes time to understand exactly which maven co-ordinate should we use for our project requirements
But with experience, everything gets sorted out and makes developers life easy –> that’s beauty of the maven

To search Maven co-ordinate:

There are various website from where we can look upon to get the required co-ordinates for our requirements
Central repository: http://search.maven.org/
- This website is developed and maintained by ‘Apache Software Foundation‘ and it’s contributed by many Maven users
Maven repository: http://mvnrepository.com/
- This is another one to find Maven co-ordinate
And there are various third party sites to host their specific modules i.e.; Remote repositories
Still un-successful: Call the help of Google

Happy Coding !!
Happy Learning !!