Ant: What happens to properties set in antcall build files? - ant

Question

I've got a build that's a mess. In the end, targets are executed up to 15 times. Most targets are executed over a dozen times. This is because the build and targets are divided into 10 separate build files (build.xml, build-base.xml, compile.xml, etc.).
In many build files, you have at the beginning <property> tasks outside of all targets in the build file. These are usually executed first before any targets are called.
Here is my build.xml file:
<import file="build-base.xml"/>
[...]
<target name="compile-base">
<antcall target="setup-tmpj"/>
<ant antfile="compile.xml" target="compile-base"/>
[...]
</target>
Here's the compile.xml file:
<import file="build-base.xml"/>
<property name="target" value="1.5"/>
<available file="target/gensrc/com" property=gensrc.exists"/>
[...]
<target name="buildAndCompileCodeGen" unless=gensrc.exists">
<blah blah blah/>
</target>
<target name="compile-base" depends="buildAndCompileCodeGen">
<blah blah blah/>
</target>
I execute this:
$ ant -f build.xml compile-base
This calls the target compile-base in the compile.xml file. This is dependent upon the target buildAndCompileCodeGen in the compile.xml file. However, the target buildAndCompileCodeGen is only executed if the property gensrc.exists is unset.
In the compile.xml file is an <available> task that will set the gensrc.exists property, but this task is located outside of all targets in compile.xml. Is that <available> task ever called, so that gensrc.exist is set?

Answer 1

Okay I figured out what's going on...
Yes, when I call the compile-base target in the compile.xml file via the <ant> task, all tasks not under a target are executed before the target I call is executed. That means, if the code is already there, the buildAndCompileCodeGen target is called but not executed.
What I did was combine all the build files into one big file and got rid of all of the <ant> and <antcall> tasks. I had put the <available> task in the combined build.xml file.
In the original circumstance, I would first do a clean, then call compile-base in the compile.xml file. At that time, the <available> task would run. Since I did a clean, the file didn't exist, the property gencode.exists isn't set, and buildAndCompileCodeGen target would run.
When I combined everything, the <available> task would run, set the gencode.exists property. Then, when I did a clean, I would delete the generate code. However, the buildAndCompileCodeGen target still wouldn't execute because gencode.exists has already been set.
What should be done is this:
<target name="compile-base"
depends="buildAndCompileCodeGen">
<echo>Executing compile-base</echo>
</target>
<target name="buildAndCompileCodeGen"
depends="test.if.gencode.exists"
unless="gencode.exists">
<echo>Executiing buildAndCompileCodeGen</echo>
</target>
<target name="test.if.gencode.exists">
<available file="${basedir}/target/gensrc/com"
property="gencode.exists"/>
</target>
In this case, I call compile-base. That will call buildAndCompileCodeGen. That will first call test.if.gencode.exists first. This will be done even if the property gencode.exists already is set. Dependent clauses are run on targets before Ant looks at the if or unless parameters. This way, I don't set gencode.exists until I am ready to execute the buildAndCompileCodeGen target. Now, the available task will be run after I do a clean.