How to create and run Apache JMeter Test Scripts from a Java program

<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/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">

 <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

 <groupId>myportal</groupId>
 <artifactId>loadtest</artifactId>
 <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
 <packaging>jar</packaging>

 <name>Zug Portal Load Test Tool</name>
 <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>

 <dependencies>
  <dependency>
   <groupId>junit</groupId>
   <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
   <version>4.12</version>
   <scope>test</scope>
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
   <groupId>org.apache.jmeter</groupId>
   <artifactId>ApacheJMeter_http</artifactId>
   <version>2.11</version>
  </dependency>

 </dependencies>
</project>

package myportal.loadtest;

import java.net.URL;

import org.apache.jmeter.control.LoopController;
import org.apache.jmeter.engine.StandardJMeterEngine;
import org.apache.jmeter.protocol.http.sampler.HTTPSampler;
import org.apache.jmeter.testelement.TestElement;
import org.apache.jmeter.testelement.TestPlan;
import org.apache.jmeter.threads.SetupThreadGroup;
import org.apache.jmeter.util.JMeterUtils;
import org.apache.jorphan.collections.HashTree;

public class SampleJmeter {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Engine
        StandardJMeterEngine jm = new StandardJMeterEngine();
        URL property = SampleJmeter.class.getClassLoader().getResource("jmeter.properties");

        // jmeter.properties
        JMeterUtils.loadJMeterProperties(property.getPath());

        HashTree hashTree = new HashTree();

        // HTTP Sampler
        HTTPSampler httpSampler = new HTTPSampler();
        httpSampler.setDomain("www.google.com");
        httpSampler.setPort(80);
        httpSampler.setPath("/");
        httpSampler.setMethod("GET");

        // Loop Controller
        TestElement loopCtrl = new LoopController();
        ((LoopController) loopCtrl).setLoops(1);
        ((LoopController) loopCtrl).addTestElement(httpSampler);
        ((LoopController) loopCtrl).setFirst(true);

        // Thread Group
        SetupThreadGroup threadGroup = new SetupThreadGroup();
        threadGroup.setNumThreads(1);
        threadGroup.setRampUp(1);
        threadGroup.setSamplerController((LoopController) loopCtrl);

        // Test plan
        TestPlan testPlan = new TestPlan("MY TEST PLAN");

        hashTree.add("testPlan", testPlan);
        hashTree.add("loopCtrl", loopCtrl);
        hashTree.add("threadGroup", threadGroup);
        hashTree.add("httpSampler", httpSampler);

        jm.configure(hashTree);

        jm.run();
    }
}

meter.properties file is from the JMeter installation /bin directory.