Create Your First Maven Project

A Maven project has a specific folder structure and a pom.xml file that defines your project and its dependencies. IntelliJ can create this automatically.

Create Project in IntelliJ

1. Open IntelliJ IDEA
2. Click New Project (or File → New → Project if IntelliJ is already open)
3. On the left panel, select New Project (not from templates)
4. Fill in: Name: java-practice | Location: choose any folder | Language: Java | Build system: Maven | JDK: 17 (temurin-17)
5. Expand Advanced Settings → GroupId: com.practice | ArtifactId: java-practice
6. Click Create

IntelliJ creates this folder structure:

java-practice/
├── pom.xml                    ← Project config + dependencies
├── src/
│   ├── main/
│   │   └── java/              ← Your main code goes here
│   └── test/
│       └── java/              ← Your test code goes here
└── target/                    ← Compiled files (auto-generated)

Understanding pom.xml

The pom.xml (Project Object Model) is the heart of every Maven project. It defines your project name, Java version, and all libraries (dependencies) your project uses.

<?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>com.practice</groupId>
    <artifactId>java-practice</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <properties>
        <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <!-- Dependencies will go here later -->
    </dependencies>
</project>

How Dependencies Work

When you add a dependency to pom.xml, Maven downloads it automatically from Maven Central Repository (https://mvnrepository.com). You will add Selenium and TestNG later in this course. For now, here is what adding a dependency looks like:

<dependencies>
    <!-- Example: This is how you will add Selenium later -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
        <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
        <version>4.25.0</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Example: This is how you will add TestNG later -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.testng</groupId>
        <artifactId>testng</artifactId>
        <version>7.10.2</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Where to Find Dependencies

Go to https://mvnrepository.com and search for any library. It shows you the exact XML to paste into your pom.xml. Example: search "selenium-java" → click the latest version → copy the Maven dependency XML.

Maven Commands

You can run these commands in IntelliJ's Terminal tab (bottom of the window) or in your system terminal:

Try It Yourself

Exercise 1: Create a new Maven project in IntelliJ following the steps above. Verify that the pom.xml file exists and contains <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>.

Exercise 2: Open IntelliJ's Terminal (bottom tab) and run mvn compile. It should show "BUILD SUCCESS". If it fails, check that JAVA_HOME is set correctly.