I would like to understand what role the target folder plays in a SOA MDS project. I am using JDeveloper and the target folder keeps getting populated with 2 .jar files. I am not sure where these jar files are coming from, but they contain old data which should be changed.
Can somebody please help me understand what is behind the making of these files?
The target folder is the default build output directory used by maven.
If working correctly, the builds should be generated there by maven using the configuration specified in the pom.xml file. In your case, the maven build might not have been run recently, which is why you see old content in the jars.
Have a look inside the pom.xml and see what build configuration has been specified there (it is likely to be no different from a SOA composite maven build file/pom file).
If it's all built correctly, you should be able to deploy that jar directly to the MDS runtime (either manually or via maven).
In the pom file, you should be able to override most things there including the name, version, bundle type, target directory etc.
You can also use maven to keep track of your MDS changes - i.e. version it like any other build artifact/SOA composite. The versioned jars can also be uploaded to an artifact repository (such as nexus), in addition to being deployed to MDS runtime, so you have good level of traceability of MDS changes
PS - This might help explain more: http://weblog.singhpora.com/2016/10/managing-shared-metadata-mds-in-ci.html
