How to compile NSIS script using ant? - ant

I have created NSIS script for my java project.I have installed nsis plugin in my eclipse.using plugin I have created nsi file.Now i want to compile the nsi file.I have try to using Ant in eclipse.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="test" default="nsis" basedir=".">
<property name="build.path" value="build"/>
<property name="deploy.dir" value="/opt/test"></property>
<path id="library.classpath">
<fileset dir="lib">
<include name="nsisant-1.2.jar"/>
</fileset>
</path>
<target name="nsis" description="compile nsis script">
<mkdir dir="${build.path}/nsis"/>
<nsis script="setup.nsi">
<classpath refid="library.classpath"/>
</nsis>
</target>
</project>
But it throws following error.
BUILD FAILED
build.xml:12: Problem: failed to create task or type nsis
Cause: The name is undefined.
Action: Check the spelling.
Action: Check that any custom tasks/types have been declared.
Action: Check that any <presetdef>/<macrodef> declarations have taken place.
I dont know why this happen?? How to compile nsi file using ant? or Is there any other way there to compile without using ant?

Using a dedicated nsis task seems to be the best way, but maybe not the simplest. I just execute makensis.exe using such syntax:
<exec executable="C:\Program_Files\NSIS\makensis.exe" failonerror="true" >
<!-- providing some nsis definitions -->
<arg value="/DPROJECT_NAME=${ant.project.name}"/>
<!-- passing the script -->
<arg value="${basedir}\raport.nsi"/>
</exec>
As for your second question: yes, you can compile nsis script without ant. For example:
C:\Program_Files\NSIS\makensis.exe /DPROJECT_NAME=this-project my-script.nsi
Being on Linux you also should have makensis somewhere.
The PROJECT_NAME stuff is my customization. In simplest case you don't supply any definitions, omitting that part.

Do you use the NSIS Ant Task from the Nsis Ant Sourceforge project? Once installed, you can use it as
<taskdef name="nsis" classname="net.sf.nsisant.Task">
<classpath location="nsisant-{version}.jar">
</taskdef>

Related

is there a way to make a jar with the Eclipse generated ant script?

To my surprise the build.xml file generated by Eclipse (Neon) for Java has no element containing an invocation of a jar task. As often is the case with code generation I think you have to use it and make no edits so that you can regenerate - or - avoid code generation completely. A comment in the generated file suggests it might be possible to avoid edits by extending the capabilities by importing.
<!-- WARNING: Eclipse auto-generated file.
Any modifications will be overwritten.
To include a user specific buildfile here, simply create one in the same
directory with the processing instruction <?eclipse.ant.import?>
as the first entry and export the buildfile again. -->
I thought I would be able to use the <?eclipse.ant.import?> element in an second file called export.xml. In ant scripting there is supposed to be one project per buildfile so now there is a second project with a dependency on a target in the first project.
Regenerating build.xml reveals that it contains an "import" as expected.
<import file="export.xml"/>
Unfortunately this does not work. Running ant, which I do from the command line, just seems to result in the export/jar project being ignored.
The generated script with the import element (nested on the 7th line)...
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<project basedir="." default="build" name="ohana1">
<property environment="env"/>
<property name="debuglevel" value="source,lines,vars"/>
<property name="target" value="1.8"/>
<property name="source" value="1.8"/>
<import file="export.xml"/>
<path id="ohana1.classpath">
<pathelement location="bin"/>
<pathelement location="../export/ohana1/commons-collections-3.2.1.jar"/>
</path>
<target name="init">
<mkdir dir="bin"/>
<copy includeemptydirs="false" todir="bin">
<fileset dir="src">
<exclude name="**/*.launch"/>
<exclude name="**/*.java"/>
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
<target name="clean">
<delete dir="bin"/>
</target>
<target depends="clean" name="cleanall"/>
<target depends="build-subprojects,build-project" name="build"/>
<target name="build-subprojects"/>
<target depends="init" name="build-project">
<echo message="${ant.project.name}: ${ant.file}"/>
<javac debug="true" debuglevel="${debuglevel}" destdir="bin" includeantruntime="false" source="${source}" target="${target}">
<src path="src"/>
<classpath refid="ohana1.classpath"/>
</javac>
</target>
<target description="Build all projects which reference this project. Useful to propagate changes." name="build-refprojects"/>
<target description="copy Eclipse compiler jars to ant lib directory" name="init-eclipse-compiler">
<copy todir="${ant.library.dir}">
<fileset dir="${ECLIPSE_HOME}/plugins" includes="org.eclipse.jdt.core_*.jar"/>
</copy>
<unzip dest="${ant.library.dir}">
<patternset includes="jdtCompilerAdapter.jar"/>
<fileset dir="${ECLIPSE_HOME}/plugins" includes="org.eclipse.jdt.core_*.jar"/>
</unzip>
</target>
<target description="compile project with Eclipse compiler" name="build-eclipse-compiler">
<property name="build.compiler" value="org.eclipse.jdt.core.JDTCompilerAdapter"/>
<antcall target="build"/>
</target>
</project>
The export.xml file meant to make a jar...
<?eclipse.ant.import?>
<project basedir="." default="export" name="ohana1Export">
<target depends="build,make-jar" name="export"/>
<target name="make-jar">
<jar destfile="../export/ohana1/${ant.project.name}.jar" basedir="bin"/>
</target>
</project>
Note that the Eclipse Ant editor complains about this export.xml file because the target named build, which is a dependency, does not exist in this project/buildfile. The build target is in the generated build.xml. That error might be coming from a "dumb" editor so I went ahead to do a run of ant. Invoking ant from the command line I find that there is no jar file made.
Should I conclude that Eclipse's ant script generator is useless if you need to export a .jar file and that a human should maintain the ant script that meets all the requirements?
Yes, in my opinion the exported build.xml is useless, as of Eclipse Neon, if the intention is to make a .jar.
Specifically do the following.
Manually write the trivial ant script that exports a .jar. The link at the bottom of this post has verbatim text on what the script might look like. You can use the built-in Xml Editor via New > Other > XML > XML File to create this new file which might be called makeJar.xml and save it. If the icon shown in the Package Explorer is still a plain XML file icon refreshing the project may change the icon to an Ant file icon. In the future, you can use Open With to get the Ant Editor instead of the XML Editor. This script will replace the manual exporting of a .jar that the user would otherwise perform via Eclipse.
This script can be added to Project > Properties > Builders. It would be placed second in the list of Builders. First in the list of Builders is the Java Builder which should already exist. When an Eclipse build is invoked the entire list of Builders will be processed in the order shown in the list of Builders. Thus not only will .class files be generated but also the .jar.
What is achieved is greater automation since the .class generation and .jar generation are now integrated, which arguably was the point of using the exported build.xml in a failed attempt to generate the .jar.
Here is the dialog at Project > Properties > Builders that you can use to create a new Builder. Select New then select Ant Builder. I gave the name makeJar to the new Builder.
Here is the dialog for the new Ant Builder that will allow you to browse to your buildfile which is your manually written Ant script that creates a .jar file. In this example the script is makeJar.xml. It also allows you to browse to the base directory to be used when the script is run.
After setting up the new Builder, a project "clean" or project "build" will create .class files and also the .jar.
Eclipse's documentation on this subject is at the link. Note that it seems impossible to link the exact page that contains the instructions so you have to browse down the documentation tree to the section about "Ant buildfiles as project builders".
Link to Eclipse and Ant

How to specify lib directory for ant task?

I'm currently running an exec task in my build like this:
<target name="bar">
<exec executable="ant">
<arg value="-f"/>
<arg value="/path/to/my/build.xml"/>
<arg value="-lib"/>
<arg value="/path/to/my/libs"/>
</exec>
</target>
I don't really like it and want to replace the exec task with an ant task:
<target name="bar">
<ant antfile="/path/to/my/build.xml"/>
</target>
However, I don't know how to specify the lib directory in this case. Is this possible somehow?
What are you trying to achieve, by launching ANT from within ANT in this manner?
For example if you need custom ANT extensions, the path to these jars can be specified at runtime within the code as follows:
<taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antcontrib.properties">
<classpath>
<pathelement location="${lib.dir}/ant-contrib-0.3.jar"/>
</classpath>
</taskdef>
Better again, you could integrate a dependency management system like Apache ivy to manage 3rd party jar dependencies.
You can call ant script inside an ant script like below.
If you use the attribute inheritrefs="true" any Ids that are set in the parent build script will be passed to child build script as well.
Eg:
<ant antfile="subbuild.xml" inheritrefs="true"/>

How to show Assembled Ant Classpath

I'm developing a Java project using Eclipse, and Ant as a build tool. When I run "ant all" from the command line, my project builds without any errors, but on Eclipse I get many compilation errors.
So I thought I'd copy Ant's Classpath onto my Eclipse Project's Build Path.
Is there an Ant task/command to show that? Like "ant just show me your assembled classpath" or something?
If you run Ant with the -verbose and -debug flags, you'll see all gory details of what javac is doing, including the classpath.
I would introduce a task for printing the classpath, and call that task with antcall. The classpath would be given as a parameter to that task.
You can do something like this in your target, so for example
lets say you've defined your classpath as
<path id="project.classpath">
<fileset dir="${SERVER_DEV}/classes">
<include name="*.zip"/>
<include name="*.jar"/>
</fileset>
<pathelement location="${SERVER_DEV}/3rdParty/jre/NT/1.5.0/lib/jsse.jar"/>
</path>
then you can do something like
<target name="compile" depends="init" description="Compiles All Java Sources">
<property name="myclasspath" refid="project.classpath"/>
<echo message="Classpath = ${myclasspath}"/>
<javac ...>
....
</javac>
</target>
It will print out the classpath used to run the specific target

Compiling a build.xml file using Ant

I recently installed Ant 1.8.4 and JasperReports 4.6.0 on my Ubuntu machine.
The following environmental variables were set on my account:
PATH=$PATH:/opt/ant/bin
export PATH
export ANT_HOME=/opt/ant
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64
When I try to run a demo build file in the JasperReports demo samples directory using the command ant I get the following error:
Buildfile: build.xml
BUILD FAILED
/opt/jasperreports-4.6.0/demo/samples/antcompile/build.xml:3: The following
error occurred while executing this line:
jar:file:/opt/ant/lib/ant.jar!/org/apache/tools/ant/antlib.xml:37: Problem: failed to create task or type componentdef
Cause: The name is undefined.
Action: Check the spelling.
Action: Check that any custom tasks/types have been declared.
Action: Check that any <presetdef>/<macrodef> declarations have taken place.
Any help in solving this problem will be super helpful.
The snippet of build.xml file:
<project name="antcompile" default="test" basedir=".">
<description>Shows how multiple JRXML files can be compiled in batch mode using ANT.</description>
<path id="classpath">
<pathelement location="../../../build/classes"/>
<fileset dir="../../../lib">
<include name="**/*.jar"/>
</fileset>
</path>
<path id="runClasspath">
<path refid="classpath"/>
<pathelement location="../../fonts"/>
<pathelement location="./build/classes"/>
</path>
<taskdef name="jrc" classname="net.sf.jasperreports.ant.JRAntCompileTask">
<classpath refid="classpath"/>
</taskdef>
<target name="javac" description="Compiles the Java source files used in the report designs.">
<mkdir dir="./build/classes"/>
<javac srcdir="./src" destdir="./build/classes" debug="true" optimize="false" deprecation="false"/>
</target>
<target name="compile1" description="Compiles report designs specified using the "srcdir" in the <jrc> tag."> <!-- 27 row # -->
<mkdir dir="./build/reports"/>
<jrc
srcdir="./reports"
destdir="./build/reports"
tempdir="./build/reports"
keepjava="true"
xmlvalidation="true">
<classpath refid="runClasspath"/>
<include name="**/*.jrxml"/>
</jrc>
</target>
This Ant script is using custom task jrc.
As you can see from the snippet below (this is build.xml file from the jasperreports-4.6.0/demo/samples/antcompile folder), this task's definition refers the classpath from the same build file.
<path id="classpath">
<pathelement location="../../../build/classes"/>
<fileset dir="../../../lib">
<include name="**/*.jar"/>
</fileset>
</path>
...
<taskdef name="jrc" classname="net.sf.jasperreports.ant.JRAntCompileTask">
<classpath refid="classpath"/>
</taskdef>
You should check the ../../../build/classes folder (in JasperReports package's folder structure which contains samples) - the net.sf.jasperreports.ant.JRAntCompileTask class must be there.
In other words you should put this class (or jasperreports-4.6.0.jar) to the classpath (path id="classpath").
Another probable source of your problem is the version of Ant package.
You can read about Project#createTask complains it wouldn't find task componentdef issue on Ant's bugtracker and project.createTask() not working with ant-1.8.2 post.
I made it work by changing the following element in my CLASSPATH, /opt/jasperreports-4.6.0/lib/ant-1.7.1.jar to /opt/ant/lib/ant.jar.
Thanks to Alex for posting the helpful links!
Anjan
You're going have to help us out a bit here...
Are you building JasperReports-4.6.0? Or, are you using JasperReports as part of your build.xml? Is this a test build.xml demoing JasperReports?
The error says Check that any custom tasks/types have been declared, so what is the Ant task in line #37? Is there a in the build.xml? Does it have a classpath defined? If you have a taskdef, please let us see what it is, and what the custom task is.
I'm downloading iReport to see if I can figure out what you're doing, but it's taking 15 minutes. I bet you're supposed to put some jar into $ANT_HOME/lib. Maybe that JasperReports or iReport jarfile.
As soon as I can download iReport and see what you're talking about, I'll update my answer.
Meanwhile, include the relevant code around line #35 in your build.xml and the taskdef task in your build.xml.
Finished downloading iReport and there is no build.xml file in it. You're going to have to post your code, so we can look at it.
Again, my assumption is that there's some jar file that they assumed you'd stick in /opt/ant/lib and didn't.

How do I pass an argument to an Ant task?

I'm not very good with Ant, but we're using it as a build tool. Right now, we can run "ant test" and it'll run through all the unit tests.
However, I'd love to be able to do something like ant test some_module and have it accept some_module as a parameter, and only test that.
I haven't been able to find how to pass command line args to Ant - any ideas?
One solution might be as follows. (I have a project that does this.)
Have a separate target similar to test with a fileset that restricts the test to one class only. Then pass the name of that class using -D at the ant command line:
ant -Dtest.module=MyClassUnderTest single_test
In the build.xml (highly reduced):
<target name="single_test" depends="compile" description="Run one unit test">
<junit>
<batchtest>
<fileset dir="${test.dir}" includes="**/${test.module}.class" />
</batchtest>
</junit>
</target>
You can also define a property with an optional default value that can be replaced via command line, e.g.
<target name="test">
<property name="moduleName" value="default-module" />
<echo message="Testing Module: ${moduleName}"/>
....
</target>
and run it as:
ant test -DmoduleName=ModuleX
What about using some conditional in your test target and the specifying -Dcondition=true?
<target name="test" depends="_test, _test_if_true>
...
</target>
<target name="_test_if_true" if="condition">
...
</target>
<target name="_test" unless="condition">
...
</target>
Adapted a bit from the ant faq.
You can define a property on commandline when invoking ant:
ant -Dtest.module=mymodulename
Then you can use it as any other ant property:
...
<fileset dir="${test.dir}" includes="**/${test.module}.class" />
...
Have a look at Ant's manual.
I tried the solutions posted here for the very same original question. Yes just use ant -D<arg_name>. THe -D is a "keyword" I guess. I'm no ant expert and have not read the manuals in detail. Then inside the ant XML files can be accessed like: ${arg_name}
For instance you can have an argument name like: arg.myarg, so in XML ${arg.myarg}.
Ant really doesn't have parameters_ for the build file. I can think of a few ways to do this:
Use a special target to specify the tests. You can use the <for/> task from AntContrib to allow you to specify multiple tests. You'll need to download the Ant-Contrib jar file. I recommend placing it inside your project under the `${basedir}/antlib/antcontrib" directory. That way, when others checkout your project, they get the needed Ant-Contrib jar file.
<property name="antlib.dir" value="${basedir}/antlib"/>
<property name="antcontrib.dir" value="${antlib}/antcontrib"/>
<!-- Set up the ant contrib tasks for your use -->
<taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antlib.xml">
<classpath>
<fileset dir="${antcontrib.dir}"/>
</classpath>
</taskdef>
<target name="select-test"
description="Select the tests to run"
depends="test-compile"
if="junit-tests">
<for parameter="module"
list="${junit-tests}"
delimiter=" ">
<sequential>
<junit
fork="true"
...>
<batchtest todir="$target/unit-tests">
<fileset dir="${test.destdir}">
<include name="**/#{module}.class"/>
</fileset>
</junit>
</sequential>
</for>
</target>
You cab now run multiple tests like this:
$ ant -D"test-one test-two test-three" select-test
You could try this to access one target at a time. Add these lines to your build.xml file :
<project name="whatever" default="default">
<input message="Please select module:" addproperty="mod" />
<target name="default" depends="${mod}/>
...
</project>
This allows you to enter the module you want to execute and execute that itself instead of running the whole build.xml
You might need to make a few more changes to your build.xml for this to work perfectly.
For the arguments , there is Facility called property. You need to set the property. As in ANT plain arguments is taken as target name.
Lest say you have two modules in your project ModuleX and ModuleY where ModuleX has 2 testcases to run and ModuleY with 10 testcases.
You could do something like this :
ant runTestsOnModule -Dtestmodule="ModuleX"
OR to test all modules by calling
ant tests
<target name="runTestsOnModule">
<antCall target="testcase${testmodule}"/>
</target>'
<! -- run single module -->
<target name="runTestsOnModule">
<antCall target="testcase${testmodule}"/>
</target>
<!--run all tests-->
<target name="tests">
<antcall target="testcaseModuleX">
<antcall target="testCaseModuleY">
</target>
<target name="testcaseModuleX">
..run junit task to call 2 testcase
</target>
<target name="testcaseModuleY">
....run junit task to call 10 testcase
</target>

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