Setting up a Camunda Development Environment with Java

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up a Camunda development environment with Java. By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have a fully functional setup ready for Camunda BPMN development.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure you have the following installed on your system:

• Java Development Kit (JDK) 11 or later

• An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such as IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, or Visual Studio Code

• Maven (for dependency management)

Step 1: Install Java Development Kit (JDK)

1. Visit the official Oracle website or adopt OpenJDK site to download the latest JDK.

2. Follow the installation instructions for your operating system.

3. Verify the installation by opening a terminal/command prompt and typing:java -version You should see the Java version information.

Step 2: Set up an IDE

We’ll use IntelliJ IDEA for this guide, but you can use any Java IDE of your choice.

1. Download and install IntelliJ IDEA from the JetBrains website.

2. Launch IntelliJ IDEA and go through the initial setup wizard.

Step 3: Install Maven

1. Download Maven from the official Apache Maven website.

2. Extract the downloaded archive to a directory of your choice.

3. Add the Maven bin directory to your system’s PATH.

4. Verify the installation by opening a terminal/command prompt and typing:mvn -version You should see the Maven version information.

Step 4: Create a New Camunda Project

1. Open IntelliJ IDEA.

2. Click on “Create New Project”.

3. Select “Maven” from the left sidebar.

4. Choose your project SDK (make sure it’s Java 11 or later).

5. Click “Next”.

6. Group ID: org.example

   
   

   Artifact ID: camunda-getting-started

   
   

   Version: 1.0-SNAPSHOT

7. Click “Finish”.

Step 5: Configure pom.xml for Camunda

1. Open the pom.xml file in your project.

2. Replace its contents with the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>org.example</groupId>
    <artifactId>camunda-getting-started</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <properties>
        <camunda.version>7.18.0</camunda.version>
        <maven.compiler.source>11</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>11</maven.compiler.target>
    </properties>

    <dependencyManagement>
        <dependencies>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.camunda.bpm</groupId>
                <artifactId>camunda-bom</artifactId>
                <version>${camunda.version}</version>
                <scope>import</scope>
                <type>pom</type>
            </dependency>
        </dependencies>
    </dependencyManagement>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.camunda.bpm</groupId>
            <artifactId>camunda-engine</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.camunda.bpm</groupId>
            <artifactId>camunda-engine-plugin-spin</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.camunda.spin</groupId>
            <artifactId>camunda-spin-dataformat-all</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>slf4j-jdk14</artifactId>
            <version>1.7.26</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

</project>

1. Save the file.

2. IntelliJ IDEA should automatically download the dependencies. If not, right-click on the pom.xml file and select “Maven” > “Reload project”.

Step 6: Create a Camunda Configuration File

1. In your project’s src/main/resources folder, create a new file named camunda.cfg.xml.

2. Add the following content to the file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" 
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">

  <bean id="processEngineConfiguration" class="org.camunda.bpm.engine.impl.cfg.StandaloneProcessEngineConfiguration">
    <property name="jdbcUrl" value="jdbc:h2:mem:camunda;DB_CLOSE_DELAY=-1;DB_CLOSE_ON_EXIT=FALSE" />
    <property name="jdbcDriver" value="org.h2.Driver" />
    <property name="jdbcUsername" value="sa" />
    <property name="jdbcPassword" value="" />

    <property name="databaseSchemaUpdate" value="true" />

    <property name="jobExecutorActivate" value="false" />

    <property name="history" value="full" />
  </bean>

</beans>

Step 7: Verify the Setup

1. Create a new Java class in src/main/java named CamundaApplication.java.

2. Add the following code:

import org.camunda.bpm.engine.ProcessEngine;
import org.camunda.bpm.engine.ProcessEngineConfiguration;

public class CamundaApplication {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ProcessEngine processEngine = ProcessEngineConfiguration
            .createProcessEngineConfigurationFromResourceDefault()
            .buildProcessEngine();

        System.out.println("Process Engine Created: " + processEngine.getName());
    }
}

1. Run this class. If you see output indicating that the Process Engine was created successfully, your setup is complete!

Conclusion

You now have a fully functional Camunda development environment set up with Java. This environment includes:

• Java Development Kit

• IntelliJ IDEA as the IDE

• Maven for dependency management

• Camunda Engine and necessary dependencies

• A basic configuration for Camunda

You’re now ready to start developing BPMN processes with Camunda and Java. In the next tutorials, we’ll dive into creating and deploying actual BPMN processes.