I want to run ant -emacs for only a certain target
can i add something like
<property name="build.compiler.emacs" value="true" />
to do this?
You can define a property like that anywhere in your build file. But once it is set, e.g. when containing target is invoked, it remains set.
Yes, either to your ant buildfile or to a build.properties file in this Java properties format, according to the these rules specified by ant.
Related
I need to retrieve all the properties' names from a properties file before loading it (using Ant)
I'll go into detail to explain the whole process:
A first properties file (let's name it as a.properties) is read and
all its properties loaded as project's properties.
#a.properties's contents
myvar1=1
myvar2=someTextHere
A second file (let's say b.properties) has to be loaded on the
project. Some already-set properties can also be contained in this
second file, so what we have to do is to update such variables with
the value found on it (by means of the ant-contrib's var target)
#b.properties's contents
myvar1=2 #updated value for a property that's is already set on the project
myvar3=1,2,3,4,5,6
So the expected subset (from a ANT project's properties perspective)
of property/value pairs would be:
myvar1=2
myvar2=someTextHere
myvar3=1,2,3,4,5,6
We cannot change the order in which those files are loaded on the project, which would be the easiest way of solving the issue (because of the behavior adopted by Ant when setting's properties)
Any feedback will be highly appreciated.
Regards
I assume that you need to read properties from different files before you build your source code
<target name=-init-const-properties description="read all properties required">
<propertyfile file="AbsolutePathToPropertyFile" comment="Write meaningfull
about the properties">
<entry value="${myvar1}" key="VAR1"/>
<entry value="${myvar2}" key="VAR2"/>
</propertyfile>
</target>
Note: you need to add proper AbsolutePathToPropertyFileand comment if required
In the target -init-const-properties you can add as many files you want to read and use this target as dependent target in which you going to use these property values. hope this will answer your question
I recommend having a standard file for build defaults called "build.properties". If you need to override any settings, then create an optional file called "build-local.properties".
My advice is to keep build logic simple. Using the ant-contrib extension to make properties act like variables is rarely needed in my experience.
Example
├── build-local.properties
├── build.properties
└── build.xml
Running the project produces the following output, where the value "two" is substituted:
$ ant
build:
[echo] Testing one, dos, three
Delete the optional file and it goes back to default values:
$ rm build-local.properties
$ ant
build:
[echo] Testing one, two, three
build.xml
The secret is the order in which the property files are loaded. If they don't exist then they don't create properties.
<project name="demo" default="build">
<property file="build-local.properties"/>
<property file="build.properties"/>
<target name="build">
<echo message="hello ${myvar1}, ${myvar2}, ${myvar3}"/>
</target>
</project>
build.properties
myvar1=one
myvar2=two
myvar3=three
build-local.properties
myvar2=dos
Finally, the approach I followed was to specify the second properties file (b.properties) from the command line:
ant <my_target> -propertyfile b.properties
So that's work fine to me...
Thanks all of you for your help.
I am trying to change the ant.project.name property after the project declaration. I know this is not advisable but it's the only way I can fix a big problem with my project.
I found some interesting posts like this one:
Ant - How to set ${ant.project.name} to project folder name?
Instead of using:
<project basedir="." default="package">
<basename property="ant.project.name"
file="${basedir}"/>
</project>
I'd like to directly set the ant.project.name using a "value" instead of a property "file".
Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Or alternative ways?
Thank you!
As others already mentioned, it's not recommended to change values of standard ant properties.
Also properties once set are immutable in ant by design and for good reasons. Overriding properties should be used wisely and rarely.
The property ant.project.name is usually set via name attribute of project =>
<project name="whatever"> but it's not mandatory, means <project> ... </project> is sufficient to make your xml a valid antscript.
In your case <echo>${ant.project.name}</echo> would echo ${ant.project.name}, as property is not set, so you may create it with property task in your script : <property name="ant.project.name" value="whatever"/>. But using a propertyname that is normally used for 'ant internals' seems not the best choice.
If property is set within project tag it's possible to overwrite the value via script task, using builtin javascript engine and ant api, f.e. :
<project name="foo">
<property name="bla" value="foobar"/>
<echo>1. $${ant.project.name} => ${ant.project.name}</echo>
<script language="javascript">
project.setUserProperty('ant.project.name', project.getProperty('bla'));
</script>
<echo>2. $${ant.project.name} => ${ant.project.name}</echo>
</project>
output :
[echo] 1. ${ant.project.name} => foo
[echo] 2. ${ant.project.name} => foobar
Notice : as ant.project.name is not a 'normal' property (those properties declared via property task within ant script), you have to use the method project.setUserProperty(String, String) instead of project.setProperty(String, String). Userproperties are properties defined via -Dkey=value commandline argument and enjoy a special protection.
Ant also provides a bunch of builtin properties
I have script that call the below target but before calling this target i want that i should be at the following location which is stored in the below variable ..
todir="${release.deployment.tool}
the target that is called is shownb below..
<target name="deploy-ion" description="Used to deploy to a given aaa.">
so finally when my target deploy-ion is being called i should make sure that I should be in
directory stored in todir , please advise how to achieve this.
I meant you can use absolute path of your property reference while performing set of tasks inside your target, as by default it uses basedir default value as cur-dir or one which is specified at project level at beginning of your build.xml file.
Also alternatively you can use ant's ant task : https://ant.apache.org/manual/Tasks/ant.html with usage like
<ant dir="${release.deployment.tool}" target="deploy-ion" />
Is it possible to change ant property location attribute with .properties file like
property value attribute?
ant.xml
<property name="images" location="some_location" />
ant.properties
name=D:\images
See ant manual propertyfile => there is no attribute called location.
The location attribute from property task is only a 'special' case of a value, that knows how to deal with absolute and relative pathes.
If you need to edit | overwrite existing property values(locations) use either :
ant script task (groovy or groovy task recommended)
or some Ant addon like Flaka or Antcontrib, providing tasks for that purpose.
Declaring a property within the build file will override the same value imported from a properties file.
The only way to do this is setting the property value on the command-line as follows:
ant -Dimages=D:\images
How do you call a specific target in all build.xml located in all subdirectories using wildcards (ie not hard coding the subdirectory names)? The below answer is hardcoded. Is there a way to do it without hardcode?
Similar to this question: Pass ant target to multiple build.xml files in subdirectories
Use the Ant subant task like this:
<subant target="sometarget">
<fileset dir="." includes="*/build.xml" />
</subant>
If you include an "inheritall" attribute (same as how it's used in but defaults the opposite), you can share all your current project's properties and everything too. This also makes it very easy to overwrite tasks defined in your main build.xml file if you need to.
Read more about it here.
I'll setup different properties within my build.properties file. I use these to dynamically build paths in my targets.
Define the location of your build.properties file:
<!-- all properties are in build.properties -->
<property file="build.properties" />
Use those properties in your targets:
Properties in the build properties are similar to setting up an .ini file:
project.rootdir=c:/Deploy
project.tempbuilddir = c:/Deploy/Temp/Inetpub
project.builddir=c:/Deploy/Inetpub
# Build prefix will be added to that tags urls (.../tags/${project.buildprefix}Build_${today.date})
project.buildprefix=ACA_
I guess you could use a dynamic file as your properties file, if necessary, as long as you define the proper path to the file. You could point it to a server-side file to dynamically write your properties file (ColdFusion, PHP, JSP, whatever).
I've used ant-contrib's foreach task to do something like this.
http://ant-contrib.sourceforge.net/tasks/tasks/foreach.html
Sounds like a perfect candidate for the <subant> task.