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Using Ant to build J2EE Applications

Rajesh Kumar www.scmGalaxy.com
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Contents
Introduction
How does ANT work ?
Sample Build file
Built-in properties
ANT – Different flows
Writing your own task
Command-line options
IDE Integration
References

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Introduction
What Is Ant?
ü A build tool like ‘make’
ü Open source
ü – from the Apache Jakarta project

ü – http://ant.apache.org/

ü Implemented in Java
ü Used to build many open source products

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Introduction ..contd
ü Ease of use
– Ant is extended using Java classes
– The configuration files are XML-based, calling out a target
tree where various tasks get executed
– Same config file (build.xml) can be across multiple platorms

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How does ANT Work ?

ü Ant commands (or tasks) are implemented by Java classes
– many are built-in
– others come in optional JAR files
– custom commands can be created
ü Each project using Ant will have a build file
– typically called build.xml since Ant looks for this by default
ü Each build file is composed of targets
– these correspond to common activities like compiling and running code
ü Each target is composed of tasks
– Each task is run by an object that implements a particular Task interface
– executed in sequence when the target is executed
– like make, Ant targets can have dependencies
– for example, modified source files must be compiled before the application can be run

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How does ANT Work ? ..

contd
üTargets to be executed
– can be specified on the command line when invoking Ant
– if none are specified then the default target is executed
– execution stops if an error is encountered
– so all requested targets may not be executed
ü Each target is only executed once
– regardless of the number of other targets that depend on it
– for example
• the “test” and “deploy” targets both depend on “compile”
• the “all” target depends on “test” and “deploy”
but “compile” is only executed once when “all” is executed
ü Some tasks are only executed when they need to be
– for example, files that have not changed since the last time they were compiled are not
recompiled
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Sample Build file

<project name=“test" default=“hello">
<target name=“hello" depends=“setup, pre-hello1, pre-hello2“>
<echo> Hello World</echo>
</target>
<target name=“setup”>
<property name=“company.name” value=“MindTree”/>
<condition property="os.is.solaris">
<os name="SunOS" />
</condition>
</target>
<target name=“pre-hello1” if="os.is.solaris“>
<echo> You are running this script in Solaris </echo>
</target>
<target name=“pre-hello2” unless="os.is.solaris“>
<echo> You are NOT running this script in Solaris </echo>
</target>
</project>
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Sample Build file

Save the file as test.xml in some temporary folder ( Say C:\Temp)
Set ANT_HOME= C:\Jakarta-Ant-1.5
Set PATH=%PATH%;%ANT_HOME%\bin
Cd C:\Temp
ant –buildfile
Buildfile: test.xml
test.xml
setup:
pre-hello1:
pre-hello2:
[echo] You are NOT running this script in Solaris
hello:
[echo] Hello World
BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 1 second

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Built-in Properties
ü Ant provides access to all system properties
and also has some additional properties.
basedir The absolute path of the project's basedir
(as set with the basedir attribute of
<project>).
ant.file The absolute path of the buildfile.
ant.version The version of Ant
ant.project.name The name of the project that is currently
executing; it is set in the name attribute
of <project>.
ant.java.version the JVM version Ant detected;

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Ant – Different flows

Using “depends”
Using “antcall”
Using “ant”

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Ant – Different flows

Using “depends” – Last task to first task
Eg :
<target name="compile" depends="init, setup" description="compile
the source " >

<!-- Compile the java code from ${src} into ${build} -->

<javac srcdir="${src}" destdir="${build}"/>

</target>

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Ant – Different flows

Using “antcall” – Sequential & Functional oriented

Calling different targets in the same build.xml (very similar to calling functions in regular programming language)

Eg :

<antcall target="copymodule">

<param name="module.name" value="user"/>

</antcall>

<target name="copymodule" if="gws.prepared">

<echo>Module : ${module.name} </echo>

<copy todir="${gws.app}/j2ee-apps/gws/${module.name}" includeEmptyDirs="no">

<fileset dir="${gws.class.folder}">

<patternset>

<include name="**/${module.name}/**"/>

</patternset>

</fileset>

</copy>

</target>

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Ant – Different flows

Using “ant”
This is used for running scripts for sub-
projects
Eg :
<target name="ROOT">

<ant dir="${basedir}/ROOT" target="dist"/>

</target>

<target name="examples">

<ant dir="${basedir}/examples" target="dist"/>

<ant antfile="subproject/subbuild.xml" dir=“$

{basedir}/subproject" target="compile"/>

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Core & Optional tasks

http://ant.apache.org/manual/index.html

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Writing your own task

1. Create a Java class that extends org.apache.tools.ant.Task

2. For each attribute, write a setter method.

3. Implement the interface org.apache.tools.ant.TaskContainer if your task contains other

tasks as nested elements

4. Write a public void execute method, with no arguments, that throws a BuildException

5. Adding your task to the system

1. Make sure the class that implements your task is in the classpath when starting Ant.
2. Add a <taskdef> element to your project. This actually adds your task to the system.
3. Use your task in the rest of the buildfile
6. Eg:
<?xml version="1.0"?>

<project name="OwnTaskExample" default="main" basedir=".">

<taskdef name="mytask“ classname="com.mydomain.MyVeryOwnTask"/>

<target name="main">

<mytask message="Hello World! MyVeryOwnTask works!"/>

</target>

</project>

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Command line options

ant [options] [target [target2 [target3] ...]]

Options:

-help print this message

-projecthelp print project help information

-version print the version information and exit

-diagnostics print information that might be helpful to diagnose or report problems.

-quiet, -q be extra quiet

-verbose, -v be extra verbose

-debug print debugging information

-emacs produce logging information without adornments

-logfile <file> use given file for log

-l <file> ''

-logger <classname> the class which is to perform logging

-listener <classname> add an instance of class as a project listener

-buildfile <file> use given buildfile

-file <file> ''

-f <file> ''

-D<property>=<value> use value for given property

-propertyfile taking precedence

-inputhandler <class> the class which will handle input requests

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-find <file> <name> load all properties from file with -D properties search for buildfile towards the
root of the filesystem and use it
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IDE Integration
ü Ant can be integrated with the following Java
IDEs
– Jbuilder
– IntelliJ Idea
– Eclipse
ü See the Ant User Manual for more details
– in http://ant.apache.org/manual/index.html

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References
Home – http://ant.apache.org/

FAQ – http://ant.apache.org/faq.html

Mailing Lists

http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=ant-user&r=1&w=2

http://archives.apache.org/eyebrowse/SummarizeList?listId=5

Books

Java Development with Ant - http://www.manning.com/hatcher/

Ant: The Definitive Guide - http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/anttdg/

Related Projects :

Maven - http://jakarta.apache.org/turbine/maven/

Centipede - http://www.krysalis.org/centipede/

Tools built over Ant :

AntHill - http://www.urbancode.com/projects/anthill/default.jsp

CruiseControl - http://cruisecontrol.sourceforge.net/
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Thank You !
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