Remove building of frontend when running backend tests

[yhtMinceraft1010X]

What feature(s) would you like to see in RepoSense?

Currently, when running gradlew test or gradlew test systemtest, the frontend is built even though running the backend tests do not appear to require frontend in any way.

I propose restructuring the dependencies in build.gradle such the frontend is not built when running test or systemtest alone. (I.e. not part of build)

[gerhean]

@dcshzj I have copied my comments over from #1631

Is it possible to just remove zipReport since it is just zipping an empty folder if buildFrontend is not run? Or is the real problem that buildFrontend needs to be run at least once, but the current script runs it multiple times which is redundant (Which means your code will cause unexpected bugs by not requiring buildFrontend)?

Actually the entire process is a little weird and should probably be overhauled. Maybe introduce a build everything command, and maybe add checks that the required components exist for each command else build them.

For example, startServerInBackground has some weird dependency issues.

[gerhean]

I propose for the gradle build to be overhauled, with the following functions:

• Build frontend only
• Build backend
• Generate json report, depend on backend being built
• Build frontend and generate json report
• Conditional build frontend and generate json report if not already exist in \reposense-report
• startServerInBackground should only depend on the task directly above

Existing to modify (?)

• Copy files from \reposense-report to frontend public folder should check that relevant files exist in \reposense-report?

To discuss

• Should --view flag be deprecated since frontend hot-reload exists now?

Explanation for weird build process

• Previously frontend only took 10s to build due to using Browserify. However now it takes a lot longer due to having migrated to using Webpack (cause it allows hot reload to work).

[dcshzj]

@yhtMinceraft1010X Are you still working on this?

[yhtMinceraft1010X]

I'm putting it on hold for now. But I hope to revisit it after finishing up #1625

[yhtMinceraft1010X]

Will wait for the following before continuing on this:

• Backend tampering with frontend build files  #1659 to be resolved since the backend currently uses templateZip.zip generated by building frontend.
• A potential upgrade to Gradle 7.3 or 7.4, as mentioned in Update User Guide Java Version #1635. (An upgrade may not be possible in the short term)