Change values of list in ANT - ant

Question

I need to change the values of an ANT-script list in real time.
This is the situation;
I have these properties:
x.y.6.1=something1
x.y.6.2=something2
x.y.6.3=something3
list=6.1,6.2
I want the list to become list=something1;something2
This is the gist of the code;
<target name="target1">
<foreach list="${list}" target="target2" param="var" delimiter="," />
</target>
<target name="target2">
<propertycopy name="var" from="x.y.${var}" silent="true"/>
</target>
Now, the propertycopy part works, however, it will not keep the new value.
I tried many variations, none which worked.
I am using ant-contrib.
Help would be much appreciated!
Adam

Answer 1

The target attribute of your foreach should be the name of the target called.
I guess here it should be <foreach list="${list}" target="agent_version_to_path" param="var" delimiter="," />
If I'm wrong, post your target2 and explain what you're trying to do.
Edit:
Ok for your edit, did you already try override="yes"?
And cannot you change your name of property (var) it is quite confusing!

Answer 2

I'm not a fan of the ant-contrib tasks. Have you considered embedding a scripting language instead?
<taskdef name="groovy" classname="org.codehaus.groovy.ant.Groovy" classpathref="build.path"/>
<groovy>
properties["list"].split(",").each {
println properties["x.y.${it}"]
}
</groovy>
Update
Here's a more complete example that loops and calls another target:
$ ant
Buildfile: build.xml
process:
doSomething:
[echo] something1
doSomething:
[echo] something2
BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 0 seconds
build.xml
<project name="demo" default="process">
<property file="build.properties"/>
<path id="build.path">
<pathelement location="lib/groovy-all-2.1.5.jar"/>
</path>
<target name="process" description="Process values in a list">
<taskdef name="groovy" classname="org.codehaus.groovy.ant.Groovy" classpathref="build.path"/>
<groovy>
properties["list"].split(",").each {
properties.var = properties["x.y.${it}"]
ant.ant(target:"doSomething")
}
</groovy>
</target>
<target name="doSomething">
<echo>${var}</echo>
</target>
</project>

Answer 3

I have solved the problem, in an icky way, but it works great!
<project name="Test" default="main">
<property file="agent.properties" />
<property file="temp_updates.txt" />
<taskdef name="propertycopy" classname="net.sf.antcontrib.property.PropertyCopy" />
<taskdef name="foreach" classname="net.sf.antcontrib.logic.ForEach" />
<target name="main">
<property name="Agent Updates" value="6.1,6.2" />
<antcall target="create_temp_files" />
<antcall target="agent_updates_target" />
<propertycopy name="custom.agent.release.group" from="updates" silent="true" override="true" />
</target>
<target name="agent_updates_target">
<foreach list="${Agent Updates}" target="agent_version_to_path" param="var" delimiter="," />
</target>
<target name="agent_version_to_path">
<propertycopy name="var" from="agent.installer.${var}" silent="true" override="true"/>
<echo message="${var};" file="temp_updates.txt" append="true" />
</target>
<target name="create_temp_files">
<echo message="updates=" file="temp_updates.txt" />
</target>
</project>
on another file, "agent.properties" I had that;
agent.installer.6.3=something3
agent.installer.6.2=something2
agent.installer.6.1=something1
agent.installer.6.0=...
agent.installer.5.6=...
agent.installer.5.0.12=...
agent.installer.5.0.11=...
agent.installer.5.0.9.5=...
agent.installer.3.8=...
agent.installer.3.7=...
As a result, a new file "temp_updates.txt" was created, having
updates=something1;something2;
Which I then loaded into the actual program.
May not be pretty, but it works quite well.
Thank you Skoll and Mark O'Connor for all your help, I used those ideas to come up with this one. I would rate you, but I can't :( Sorry!