Java Neophyte - question on best way to manage customization

My back ground is more on the DB side and I am definitely a beginner when it comes to Java.

That being the case I am trying to get some suggestions on the best way to manage some site specific customization.

In this case we have a requirement that all constraints follow a naming convention and the addNotNullConstraint does not support this functionality.

So as part of my learning experience I have made a custom copy of the liquibase code rel 1.9.  and expanded the java class to include this additional attribute. I then added the appropriate getter, setters, and a new constructor for when a constraint name is passed as a parameter.

While this is a good learning process, it will be a mess to maintain.

So what would be the suggestions on the correct approach in the design to extend liquibase to meet my site specific needs, while at the same time leaving the Open Source Objects unmodified to support future releases of liquibase.

Thanks Bruce

Sorry for the slow response. 

You have a couple options:

1.       You can submit a patch containing the new constraintName attribute for addNotNullConstraint and I can incorporate it into the main codebase.  Then the maintenance falls on us.

2.       You could use the custom change class functionality (http://www.liquibase.org/manual/custom_refactoring_class) which will be isolated from the main liquibase code and will work without modifications for the foreseeable future.

3.       You could hold out for 1.10 which will have much better support for overriding and extending built-in functionality

Nathan

My back ground is more on the DB side and I am definitely a beginner when it comes to Java.

That being the case I am trying to get some suggestions on the best way to manage some site specific customization.

In this case we have a requirement that all constraints follow a naming convention and the addNotNullConstraint does not support this functionality.

So as part of my learning experience I have made a custom copy of the liquibase code rel 1.9.  and expanded the java class to include this additional attribute. I then added the appropriate getter, setters, and a new constructor for when a constraint name is passed as a parameter.

While this is a good learning process, it will be a mess to maintain.

So what would be the suggestions on the correct approach in the design to extend liquibase to meet my site specific needs, while at the same time leaving the Open Source Objects unmodified to support future releases of liquibase.

Thanks Bruce