how to have an excludes list in ant build script? - ant

Question

I'm trying to add an excludes list to my ant build script. I have a property (lets call it build.excludes) which looks something like this:
build.excludes=MyApp,AnotherApp
in my build script I have an if statement similar to the following:
<for list="${appsList}" delimiter="" trim="true" param="currentApp" keepgoing="yes">
<sequential>
<if>
<!-- check if my current build item is in the build.excludes list -->
<then>
<!-- build of a project happens here -->
</then>
</if>
</sequential>
</for>
The only way I can think of doing it is to have a for loop to iterate over my build.excludes list and then do something (but I don't know where to put this for loop... perhaps in a macro?).
Thanks!
EDIT: Ant 1.6.5 and can't upgrade.

Answer 1

Looks like you're using the ant-contrib for task. if supports the same elements as the ant condition task, which has been around long enough to be in version 1.6.5.
Here's an example:
<property name="build.excludes" value="MyApp,AnotherApp" />
<property name="appsList" value="MyApp,ExtraApp" />
<for list="${appsList}" delimiter="," trim="true" param="currentApp" keepgoing="yes">
<sequential>
<echo message="Checking #{currentApp}" />
<if>
<not>
<contains string=",${build.excludes}," substring=",#{currentApp}," />
</not>
<then>
<echo message="Building #{currentApp}" />
</then>
<else>
<echo message="Not Building #{currentApp} - excluded" />
</else>
</if>
</sequential>
</for>
Gives:
[echo] Checking MyApp
[echo] Not Building MyApp - excluded
[echo] Checking ExtraApp
[echo] Building ExtraApp