Ant Nested Loop - ant

I have two txt files: File1.txt – contains list of src dir; and File2.txt – contains list of dest dir. I need to do the copy using a loop from src dir to dest dir.
File1.txt (SVN dire structure)
abcBIN
abcBIN/fdPro
...so on
File2.txt (LINUX structure)
apps/xxx/yyy/bin/abc
apps/xxx/yyy/bin/abc/fdpro
...so on
I need to copy the abcBIN files dir to apps/xxx/yyy/bin/abc and so on. One to one mapping.
<project xmlns:ac="antlib:net.sf.antcontrib">
<taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antcontrib.properties">
<classpath>
<pathelement location="path-to-ant-contrib.jar"/>
</classpath>
</taskdef>
<loadfile property="file1" srcfile="File1.txt"/>
<loadfile property="file2" srcfile="File2.txt"/>
<ac:for param="i" list="${file1}">
<ac:for param="j" list="${file2}">
<sequential>
<echo>#{i}#{j}</echo>
<echo>copying....</echo>
<property name="src.dir" value="/home/name/svn_repo/dir" />
<property name="dest.dir" value="/home/name/mapp" />
<copy todir="${dest.dir}/#{j}">
<fileset dir="${src.dir}/#{i}">
</fileset>
</copy>
</sequential>
</ac:for>
</ac:for>
</project>
It is not working though.
I am getting an error:
ac:for doesn't support the nested "for" element
I can’t use UNIX shell or Perl. It has to be done in Ant.
Please let me know if you have any better idea about the nested loop in Ant.

#PulakAgrawal: I combined two text files into one using colon as a line separator and the magic began :)
e.g. src path:dest path
<loadfile property="allfiles" srcFile="mapping"/>
<ac:for list="${allfiles}" param="line" delimiter="${line.separator}">
<ac:sequential>
<ac:propertyregex property="from" input="#{line}" regexp="(.*):(.*)" select="\1" override="true"/>
<ac:propertyregex property="to" input="#{line}" regexp="(.*):(.*)" select="\2" override="true"/>
<echo>Copying dir ${from} to ${to} ...</echo>
<property name="src.dir" value="." /> <property name="dest.dir" value="." />
<copy todir="${dest.dir}/${to}"> <fileset dir="${src.dir}/${from}"> </fileset> </copy>
</ac:sequential>
</ac:for>

Related

How to develope a method to substitute repetitive code block

I am new in ant, so I wasn't able to find an approach to make my buld file a bit more elegant. I believe there is an approach to substitute repetitive block of code into my build. So here is build file:
<project basedir="../../../" name="do-report" default="zip-all">
<xmlproperty keeproot="false" file="implementation/xml/ant/properties.xml"/>
<!-- -->
<taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antcontrib.properties">
<classpath>
<pathelement location="${infrastructure-base-dir}/apache-ant-1.9.6/lib/ant-contrib-0.3.jar"/>
</classpath>
</taskdef>
<!-- -->
<target name="clean">
<delete dir="${dita-odt.path.odt-unzipped-base-dir}" includeemptydirs="true" failonerror="no"/>
<delete dir="examples/intermediate/odt-files" includeemptydirs="true" failonerror="no"/>
</target>
<!-- -->
<target name="unzip-writing-odt-file" depends="clean">
<unzip src="${dita-odt.path.writing-odt}" dest="${dita-odt.path.writing-odt-unzipped}"/>
</target>
<!-- -->
<target name="extract-common-paths" depends="unzip-writing-odt-file">
<foreach target="copy-text-path" param="file">
<path>
<fileset dir="${dita-odt.path.text-xml-base-dir}">
<include name="**/content.xml"/>
</fileset>
</path>
</foreach>
</target>
<!-- -->
<target name="copy-text-path" description="copy text-xml path relative to text-xml-base-dir">
<dirname property="text-absolute-dir-path" file="${file}"/>
<property name="absolute-path-text-base-dir" location="${dita-odt.path.text-xml-base-dir}"/>
<pathconvert property="common-path" dirsep="/">
<path location="${text-absolute-dir-path}"/>
<map from="${absolute-path-text-base-dir}/" to=""/>
</pathconvert>
<antcall target="copy-writing-unzipped">
<param name="common-path" value="${common-path}"/>
</antcall>
</target>
<!-- -->
<target name="copy-writing-unzipped">
<echo>${common-path}</echo>
<copy todir="${dita-odt.path.odt-unzipped-base-dir}/${common-path}">
<fileset dir="${dita-odt.path.writing-odt-unzipped}">
<include name="**/*"/>
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
<!-- -->
<target name="transform-all" depends="extract-common-paths">
<foreach target="transform" param="file">
<path>
<fileset dir="${dita-odt.path.text-xml-base-dir}">
<include name="**/content.xml"/>
</fileset>
</path>
</foreach>
</target>
<!-- -->
<target name="transform">
<basename property="file-base-name" file="${file}"/>
<dirname property="file-dir-absolute-path" file="${file}"/>
<property name="text-xml-base-dir-absolute-path" location="${dita-odt.path.text-xml-base-dir}"/>
<pathconvert property="common-path" dirsep="/">
<path location="${file-dir-absolute-path}"/>
<map from="${text-xml-base-dir-absolute-path}/" to=""/>
</pathconvert>
<!--Substitutes backslashes with forword slashes. Basedir is a reserved property that returns absolute path with separator symbols of the current OS.-->
<pathconvert dirsep="/" property="base-dir-unix">
<path location="${basedir}"/>
</pathconvert>
<echo>TRANSFORM TO: ${dita-odt.path.odt-unzipped-base-dir}/${common-path}/${file-base-name}</echo>
<xslt in="${file}" out="${dita-odt.path.odt-unzipped-base-dir}/${common-path}/${file-base-name}" style="${dita-odt.path.text-odt-xsl}" extension=".xml" force="true">
<param name="dir-path-styles-xml" expression="${dita-odt.path.odt-unzipped-base-dir}/${common-path}"/>
<param name="project-base-dir-absolute-path" expression="${base-dir-unix}"/>
<classpath location="${infrastructure-base-dir}/${dita-odt.text-odt-xsl.processor}"/>
</xslt>
</target>
<!-- -->
<target name="zip-all" depends="transform-all" description="Turns all unzipped text folders into ODT files">
<foreach target="zip-odt" param="file">
<path>
<fileset dir="${dita-odt.path.odt-unzipped-base-dir}" includes="**/content.xml" excludes="writing/**"/>
</path>
</foreach>
</target>
<!-- -->
<target name="zip-odt">
<basename property="file-base-name" file="${file}"/>
<dirname property="file-dir-absolute-path" file="${file}"/>
<!--This property will be used to provided name for the produced ODT file. The document will have the same name as the folder that contains it.-->
<basename property="odt-doc-name" file="${file-dir-absolute-path}.odt"/>
<property name="odt-unzipped-base-dir-absolute-path" location="${dita-odt.path.odt-unzipped-base-dir}"/>
<pathconvert property="common-path" dirsep="/">
<path location="${file-dir-absolute-path}"/>
<map from="${odt-unzipped-base-dir-absolute-path}/" to=""/>
</pathconvert>
<echo>COMMON PATH: ${common-path}</echo>
<zip destfile="examples/intermediate/odt-files/${common-path}/${odt-doc-name}" basedir="${dita-odt.path.odt-unzipped-base-dir}/${common-path}" update="true"/>
</target>
<!-- -->
</project>
So this part of the script does pretty much the same, but shared among almost all the target in the project:
<dirname property="file-dir-absolute-path" file="${file}"/>
<property name="text-xml-base-dir-absolute-path" location="${dita-odt.path.text-xml-base-dir}"/>
<pathconvert property="common-path" dirsep="/">
<path location="${file-dir-absolute-path}"/>
<map from="${text-xml-base-dir-absolute-path}/" to=""/>
</pathconvert>
This part does nothing but to obtain part of a path. For example if ${file} stands for /folder/subfolder1/subfolder2 then take the path after /folder namely subfolder1/subfolder2 and assign it to a property. I this case that property is named common-path that holds same path for all the target. I examined MacroDef Task, but as far as I understand it doesn't return, only accepts some parameters in form of attributes. Anyway, any help would be much appreciated.
You are on the right track in considering <macrodef> to reduce repetitive code.
While it's true that <macrodef> doesn't return anything, <macrodef> can be given the name of a property to set. For example...
<macrodef name="my-hello">
<attribute name="person"/>
<attribute name="output-property"/>
<sequential>
<property name="#{output-property}" value="Hello, #{person}!"/>
</sequential>
</macrodef>
<my-hello person="Riko" output-property="say-hi-to-riko"/>
<echo>my-hello said: ${say-hi-to-riko}</echo>
...outputs...
[echo] my-hello said: Hello, Riko!
In this example, the caller of <my-hello> tells the macrodef to "return" its results in the say-hi-to-riko property.
Knowing this, several of the <target>s in your script can be converted to <macrodef>s that set properties...
<project name="ant-macrodef-pathconvert" default="extract-common-paths">
<taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antlib.xml" />
<property name="dita-odt.path.text-xml-base-dir" value="C:\temp\dita-odt"/>
<macrodef name="my-pathconvert">
<attribute name="file"/>
<attribute name="common-path-property"/>
<sequential>
<!-- <local> allows multiple calls to a macrodef. -->
<local name="file-dir-absolute-path"/>
<echo>In my-pathconvert for #{file}</echo>
<dirname property="file-dir-absolute-path" file="#{file}"/>
<property name="text-xml-base-dir-absolute-path"
location="${dita-odt.path.text-xml-base-dir}"/>
<pathconvert property="#{common-path-property}" dirsep="/">
<path location="${file-dir-absolute-path}"/>
<map from="${file-dir-absolute-path}/" to=""/>
</pathconvert>
</sequential>
</macrodef>
<macrodef name="copy-text-path"
description="copy text-xml path relative to text-xml-base-dir">
<attribute name="file"/>
<sequential>
<local name="common-path"/>
<echo>In copy-text-path for #{file}</echo>
<my-pathconvert file="#{file}" common-path-property="common-path"/>
<copy-writing-unzipped common-path="${common-path}"/>
</sequential>
</macrodef>
<macrodef name="copy-writing-unzipped">
<attribute name="common-path"/>
<sequential>
<echo>In copy-writing-unzipped for #{common-path}</echo>
<echo>copy task goes here.</echo>
</sequential>
</macrodef>
<target name="extract-common-paths">
<for param="file">
<path>
<fileset dir="${dita-odt.path.text-xml-base-dir}">
<include name="**/content.xml"/>
</fileset>
</path>
<sequential>
<copy-text-path file="#{file}"/>
</sequential>
</for>
</target>
</project>
In general, it's better to prefer calling <macrodef>s over calling <target>s directly. In the above example, <foreach> is replaced with <for> because <for> lets us call <macrodef>s.
Output
[echo] In copy-text-path for C:\temp\dita-odt\dir1\content.xml
[echo] In my-pathconvert for C:\temp\dita-odt\dir1\content.xml
[echo] In copy-writing-unzipped for C:/temp/dita-odt/dir1
[echo] copy task goes here.
[echo] In copy-text-path for C:\temp\dita-odt\dir2\content.xml
[echo] In my-pathconvert for C:\temp\dita-odt\dir2\content.xml
[echo] In copy-writing-unzipped for C:/temp/dita-odt/dir2
[echo] copy task goes here.

how to excludes and include task in ant script

I want to copy only specific jar file using ant script. It is very easy task but i am not able to do this. I have written the below ant script for this task. I want to excludes all jar file except aopalliance-.jar file. But when i run this script it excludes all the jar file. can someone correct this script .
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project default="mvcexample" name="MVCExample" basedir=".">
<property name="web.dir" value="WebContent" />
<property name="webinf.dir" value="WebContent/WEB-INF" />
<property name="lib.dir" value="WebContent/WEB-INF/lib" />
<property name="lib2.dir" value="WebContent/WEB-INF/lib2" />
<target name="copyjar">
<copy todir="${lib2.dir}">
<fileset dir="${lib.dir}" excludes="**/*.jar">
<include name="${lib.dir}/aopalliance-.jar"></include>
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
</project>
Here's what you need to do:
<target name="copyjar">
<copy todir="${lib2.dir}">
<fileset dir="${lib.dir}">
<!-- <include name="${lib.dir}/aopalliance-.jar"/> -->
<include name="aopalliance-.jar"/> <!-- Don't put the dir name! -->
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
When you specify a directory, you merely specify the name pattern under that directory. What you were asking for was the jar ${lib.dir}/${lib.dir}/aopalliance-.jar. By the way, is there suppose to be a version number in there somewhere? Like aopalliance-3.4.jar? If so, you need <include name="aopalliance-*.jar"/>.
Also notice that if I used <include .../> instead of <include...></include>.

Iterating over all filenames in a directory in Ant

I need to iterate over all files in a directory. But I need just the name of each file, not absolute paths. Here's my attempt using ant-contrib:
<target name="store">
<for param="file">
<path>
<fileset dir="." includes="*.xqm"/>
</path>
<sequential>
<basename file="#{file}" property="name" />
<echo message="#{file}, ${name}"/>
</sequential>
</for>
</target>
The problem is that ${name} expression gets evaluated only once. Is there another approach to this problem?
From ant manual basename : "When this task executes, it will set the specified property to the value of the last path element of the specified file"
Properties once set are immutable in vanilla ant, so when using basename task within for loop, the property 'name' holds the value of the first file.
Therefore antcontrib var task with unset="true" has to be used :
<target name="store">
<for param="file">
<path>
<fileset dir="." includes="*.xqm"/>
</path>
<sequential>
<var name="name" unset="true"/>
<basename file="#{file}" property="name" />
<echo message="#{file}, ${name}"/>
</sequential>
</for>
</target>
Alternatively use local task, when using Ant 1.8.x or later :
<target name="store">
<for param="file">
<path>
<fileset dir="." includes="*.xqm"/>
</path>
<sequential>
<local name="name"/>
<basename file="#{file}" property="name" />
<echo message="#{file}, ${name}"/>
</sequential>
</for>
</target>
Finally you may use Ant Flaka instead of antcontrib :
<project xmlns:fl="antlib:it.haefelinger.flaka">
<fl:install-property-handler />
<fileset dir="." includes="*.xqm" id="foobar"/>
<!-- create real file objects and access their properties -->
<fl:for var="f" in="split('${toString:foobar}', ';')">
<echo>
#{ format('filename %s, last modified %tD, size %s bytes', f.tofile.toabs,f.tofile.mtime,f.tofile.size) }
</echo>
</fl:for>
<!-- simple echoing the basename -->
<fl:for var="f" in="split('${toString:foobar}', ';')">
<echo>#{f}</echo>
</fl:for>
</project>
If you're averse to using the var task due to Ant's standard of property immutability, there's a way to do this by taking advantage of the fact that normal property references ("${}")and iterated property references ("#{}") can be nested within one another:
<target name="store">
<for param="file">
<path>
<fileset dir="." includes="*.xqm"/>
</path>
<sequential>
<basename file="#{file}" property="#{file}" />
<echo message="#{file}, ${#{file}}"/>
</sequential>
</for>
</target>
This way, you'll be creating a new property named after each file name.

ANT script to compile all (css) LESS files in a dir and subdirs with RHINO

I want do compile all *.less scripts in a specific folder and it subdirs with less-rhino-1.1.3.js.
There is an example on github for doing this for a specific file, which works perfect. But I want to do the same for a complete folder. I tried a lot, here is my last try.
It doesn't work, propertyregex seems not to be standard ANT, I don't want to use such things. I am not even sure if this code would work.
<project name="test" default="main" basedir="../../">
<property name="css.dir" location="public/css"/>
<property name="tool.less" location="bin/less/less-rhino-1.1.3.js"/>
<property name="tool.rhino" location="bin/tools/rhino/js.jar"/>
<macrodef name="lessjs">
<attribute name="input" />
<attribute name="output" />
<sequential>
<java jar="${tool.rhino}" fork="true" output="#{output}">
<arg path="${tool.less}"/>
<arg path="#{input}"/>
</java>
<echo>Lessjs: generated #{output}</echo>
</sequential>
</macrodef>
<target name="main">
<echo>compiling less css</echo>
<fileset dir="${css.dir}" id="myfile">
<filename name="**/*.less" />
</fileset>
<property name="lessfilename" refid="myfile"/>
<propertyregex property="cssfilename"
input="${lessfile}"
regexp="^(.*)\.less$"
replace="^\1\.css$"
casesensitive="true" />
<lessjs input="lessfile" output="cssfilename"/>
</target>
</project>
You could use the <fileset> to include all the less files need to be compiled. Later, you could use<mapper> to mark the corresponding detination css file.
<project name="test" default="main" basedir="../../">
<property name="css.dir" location="public/css"/>
<property name="tool.less" location="bin/less/less-rhino-1.1.3.js"/>
<property name="tool.rhino" location="bin/tools/rhino/js.jar"/>
<target name="less" description="Convert LESS to CSS then concatenate and Minify any stylesheets">
<echo message="Converting LESS to CSS..."/>
<!-- Clear the former compiled css files -->
<delete includeemptydirs="true">
<fileset dir="${css.dir}" includes="*.css, **/*.css" defaultexcludes="false"/>
</delete>
<apply dir="${css.dir}" executable="java" parallel="false" failonerror="true">
<!-- Give the input bundle of less files-->
<fileset dir="${css.dir}">
<include name="*.less"/>
</fileset>
<arg value="-jar" />
<arg path="${tool.rhino}" />
<arg path="${tool.less}" />
<srcfile/>
<!-- Output the compiled css file with corresponding name -->
<mapper type="glob" from="*.less" to="${css.dir}/*.css"/>
<targetfile/>
</apply>
</target>
</project>
I was able to piece together a working solution with the help of a couple of SO answers:
ANT script to compile all (css) LESS files in a dir and subdirs with RHINO
How to correctly execute lessc-rhino-1.6.3.js from command line
I had to download LESS 1.7.5 from GitHub and modify the Ant target to look like this. The -f argument and LESS JavaScript was key:
<property name="css.dir" value="WebContent/css"/>
<property name="less.dir" value="less"/>
<property name="tool.rhino.jar" value="test-lib/rhino-1.7R4.jar"/>
<property name="tool.rhino.lessc" value="test-lib/lessc-rhino-1.7.5.js"/>
<property name="tool.rhino.less" value="test-lib/less-rhino-1.7.5.js"/>
<target name="compile-less" description="compile css using LESS">
<apply dir="${css.dir}" executable="java" parallel="false" failonerror="true">
<fileset dir="${less.dir}">
<include name="styles.less"/>
</fileset>
<arg value="-jar"/>
<arg path="${tool.rhino.jar}"/>
<arg value="-f"/>
<arg path="${tool.rhino.less}"/>
<arg path="${tool.rhino.lessc}"/>
<srcfile/>
<mapper type="glob" from="*.less" to="${css.dir}/*.css"/>
<targetfile/>
</apply>
</target>
If anyone else is coming to this question recently, as I did, they may find that the less-rhino-1.1.3.js file given in the other answers does not work with the latest version of Rhino (which for me, as of now, is 1.7R4 from MDN). But the 1.4.0 version does, which can be obtained from Github here. So the relevant snippet from my build.xml, using these later versions, is shown. Note that I'm only compiling a single .less file to a single .css file, so no iteration or mappers are used (but obviously you can get those from the other answers). Other tweaks I made were to provide the output file as the final arg to less instead of capturing output from the Ant forked process, and to remove the dependency on ant-contrib stuff (not needed for the simple one-file case).
<property name="tool.rhino" value="build/lesscss/rhino1_7R4/js.jar" />
<property name="tool.less" value="build/lesscss/less-rhino-1.4.0.js" />
<property name="single-input-lesscss-file" value="/path/to/my/style.less" />
<property name="single-output-css-file" value="/output/my/style.css" />
<target name="compileLessCss" description="Compile the single less file to css">
<sequential>
<java jar="${tool.rhino}" fork="true">
<arg path="${tool.less}" />
<arg path="${single-input-lesscss-file}" />
<arg path="${single-output-css-file}" />
</java>
</sequential>
</target>
If maven is an option for you, you could try wro4j-maven-plugin or wro4j-runner (which is a command line utility).
Using one of these, all you have do is to create an resource model descriptor (wro.xml):
<groups xmlns="http://www.isdc.ro/wro">
<group name="g1">
<css>/path/to/*.less</css>
</group>
</groups>
The rest will be handled by the wro4j library. No need to carry about how rhino works or other details.
Disclaimer: I'm working on wro4j project
I had the same issue. I developed a solution using ant-contrib. It expects all of your .less files to be in one flat directory and to be moved to another flat directory. It will change the file extension to .css in the process.
<property name="tool.rhino" value="/rhino/js.jar" />
<property name="tool.less" value="src/js/less-rhino-1.1.3.js" />
<property name="tool.ant-contrib" value="/ant-contrib/ant-contrib-1.0b3-1.0b3.jar" />
<property name="less-files-dir" value="src/css/" />
<property name="css-files-dir" value="build/css/" />
<target name="compilecss" depends="setup-ant-contrib-taskdef, get-less-files-in-dir" description="DO THIS THING">
<for list="${less-files-to-convert}" param="file-name" trim="true" delimiter=",">
<sequential>
<propertyregex property="file-name-without-extension"
input="#{file-name}"
regexp="(.*)\..*"
select="\1"
override="yes" />
<java jar="${tool.rhino}" fork="true" output="${css-files-dir}${file-name-without-extension}.css">
<arg path="${tool.less}" />
<arg path="${less-files-dir}#{file-name}" />
</java>
<echo>Lessjs: generated ${css-files-dir}${file-name-without-extension}.css</echo>
</sequential>
</for>
</target>
<target name="check-for-ant-contrib">
<condition property="ant-contrib-available">
<and>
<available file="${tool.ant-contrib}"/>
</and>
</condition>
<fail unless="ant-contrib-available" message="Ant-Contrib is not available."/>
</target>
<target name="setup-ant-contrib-taskdef" depends="check-for-ant-contrib">
<taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antlib.xml">
<classpath>
<path location="${tool.ant-contrib}" />
</classpath>
</taskdef>
</target>
<target name="get-less-files-in-dir">
<var name="files-list" value="" />
<for param="file">
<path>
<fileset dir="${less-files-dir}" includes="**/*.less" />
</path>
<sequential>
<propertyregex property="file-name-and-relative-path"
input="#{file}"
regexp=".*\\(.*)"
select="\1"
override="yes" />
<echo>file name: ${file-name-and-relative-path}</echo>
<if>
<equals arg1="${files-list}" arg2="" />
<then>
<var name="files-list" value="${file-name-and-relative-path}" />
</then>
<else>
<var name="files-list" value="${files-list},${file-name-and-relative-path}" />
</else>
</if>
</sequential>
</for>
<property name="less-files-to-convert" value="${files-list}" />
<echo>files to convert: ${less-files-to-convert}</echo>
</target>
I was unable to get this to run using a JDK 1.6 since the javascript stuff has been incorporated to the JDK. The JDK does have a jrunscript executable in the distribution but when I try to run the less-rhino.js file it fails to recognize any readFile() function. Has anyone looked into that. Otherwise I may be giving the lesscss-engine a shot and enhancing it to understand filesets.

How do I "expand" an ant path (accessed with refId=..) to all files in the path except some?

I am trying to get ant4eclipse to work and I have used ant a bit, but not much above a simple scripting language. We have multiple source folders in our Eclipse projects so the example in the ant4eclipse documentation needs adapting:
Currently I have the following:
<target name="build">
<!-- resolve the eclipse output location -->
<getOutputpath property="classes.dir" workspace="${workspace}" projectName="${project.name}" />
<!-- init output location -->
<delete dir="${classes.dir}" />
<mkdir dir="${classes.dir}" />
<!-- resolve the eclipse source location -->
<getSourcepath pathId="source.path" project="." allowMultipleFolders='true'/>
<!-- read the eclipse classpath -->
<getEclipseClasspath pathId="build.classpath"
workspace="${workspace}" projectName="${project.name}" />
<!-- compile -->
<javac destdir="${classes.dir}" classpathref="build.classpath" verbose="false" encoding="iso-8859-1">
<src refid="source.path" />
</javac>
<!-- copy resources from src to bin -->
<copy todir="${classes.dir}" preservelastmodified="true">
<fileset refid="source.path">
<include name="**/*"/>
<!--
patternset refid="not.java.files"/>
-->
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
The task runs successfully, but I cannot get the to work - it is supposed to copy all non-java files over too to emulate the behaviour of eclipse.
So, I have a pathId named source.path which contains multiple directories, which I somehow needs to massage into something the copy-task like. I have tried nesting which is not valid, and some other wild guesses.
How can I do this - thanks in advance.
You might consider using pathconvert to build a pattern that fileset includes can work with.
<pathconvert pathsep="/**/*," refid="source.path" property="my_fileset_pattern">
<filtermapper>
<replacestring from="${basedir}/" to="" />
</filtermapper>
</pathconvert>
That will populate ${my_fileset_pattern} with a string like:
1/**/*,2/**/*,3
if source.path consisted of the three directories 1, 2, and 3 under the basedir. We're using the pathsep to insert wildcards that will expand to the full set of files later.
The property can now be used to generate a fileset of all the files. Note that an extra trailing /**/* is needed to expand out the last directory in the set. Exclusion can be applied at this point.
<fileset dir="." id="my_fileset" includes="${my_fileset_pattern}/**/*">
<exclude name="**/*.java" />
</fileset>
The copy of all the non-java files then becomes:
<copy todir="${classes.dir}" preservelastmodified="true">
<fileset refid="my_fileset" />
</copy>
That will copy the source files over retaining the source directory structure under todir. If needed, the flatten attribute of the copy task can be set to instead make all the source files copy directly to todir.
Note that the pathconvert example here is for a unix fileseystem, rather than windows. If something portable is needed, then the file.separator property should be used to build up the pattern:
<property name="wildcard" value="${file.separator}**${file.separator}*" />
<pathconvert pathsep="${wildcard}," refid="source.path" property="my_fileset">
...
You could use the foreach task from the ant-contrib library:
<target name="build">
...
<!-- copy resources from src to bin -->
<foreach target="copy.resources" param="resource.dir">
<path refid="source.path"/>
</foreach>
</target>
<target name="copy.resources">
<copy todir="${classes.dir}" preservelastmodified="true">
<fileset dir="${resource.dir}" exclude="**/*.java">
</copy>
</target>
If your source.path contains file paths as well then you could the if task (also from ant-contrib) to prevent attempting to copy files for a file path, e.g.
<target name="copy.resources">
<if>
<available file="${classes.dir}" type="dir"/>
<then>
<copy todir="${classes.dir}" preservelastmodified="true">
<fileset dir="${resource.dir}" exclude="**/*.java">
</copy>
</then>
</if>
</target>

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