How to generate build.xml file
This example shows how to generate the build.xml file. You may say that
build.xml file is the backbone of ANT (Another Neat Tool) technology. Each
build.xml file contains only one project name and at least one target. The project
tag has only three attributes:
|
Attribute
|
Description
|
Requirement
|
|
name
|
project name
|
not necessary
|
|
default
|
target name which called by default
|
not necessary
|
|
basedir
|
the base directory having all path, it contain absolute
path
|
not necessary
|
|
<project name="My Project"
default="compile" basedir=".">
|
The project tag is used to create our project and its attributes are used to
handle further processing of the project. The name attribute is used to specify
the project name and the default attribute is used to specify which target will
be called as default when the program will run and the basedir attribute is
used to calculate the absolute path of the parent directory.
An another tag is Target tag which has following five attributes:
|
Attribute
|
Description
|
Requirement
|
|
name
|
target name
|
necessary
|
|
depends
|
depends on another target
|
not necessary
|
|
if
|
the name of the property that must be set in order for
this target to execute.
|
not necessary
|
|
unless
|
the name of the property that must not be set in order for
this target to execute.
|
not necessary
|
|
description
|
short description about target
|
not necessary
|
|
<target name="buildWar"
depends="init" description="build a war file"/>
<target name="init" if="build"/>
<target name="init" unless="build"/>
|
In the target tag, name attribute is used for target name and the depends
attribute is used to give sequence of target, i.e., which target will execute
first, one target may depend on one or more other targets. The if attribute is
used in case of condition, whether property exists or not; then this target
will be executed and unless attribute is used as like else condition whether
property does not exist, the target will not be executed and the description
attribute is used for only giving details about target.
Next tag is property tag which has following four attribute:
|
Attribute
|
Description
|
Requirement
|
|
name
|
name of the property, which is case-sensitive
|
not necessary
|
|
value
|
name of task attribute, this is done by placing the
property name between "${"name }" in the attribute value
|
necessary
|
|
location
|
it contain property name
|
not necessary
|
|
file
|
name of the property file
|
not necessary
|
|
<property name="build"
value="${build}"/>
<property name="src" location="src"/>
<property file="build.properties"/>
|
In the property tag, name attribute is used for property name; it is case
sensitive. The value tag is used to give the task which will be the name of
property in this format "${name}", and the location tag is
used to specify the location of task where it performs and the file tag is used
to import all properties of ant file. The complete build.xml file
structure is as follows:
|
<project name="My Project"
default="jar" basedir=".">
<property name="dir.src" value="src"/>
<property name="dir.build" value="build"/>
<property name="dir.dest" value="dest"/>
<target name="clean" description="Removing the all
generated files.">
<delete dir="${dir.build}"/>
<delete dir="${dir.dest}"/>
</target>
<target name="prepare" depends="clean">
<mkdir dir="${dir.build}"/>
<mkdir dir="${dir.dest}"/>
<mkdir dir="${dir.src}"/>
</target>
<target name="compile" depends="prepare"
description="Compilation of all source code.">
<javac srcdir="${dir.src}" destdir="${dir.build}"/>
</target>
<target name="jar" depends="compile" description="Generates
Roseindia.jar file in to the 'dest' directory.">
<jar jarfile="${dir.dest}/roseindia.jar"
basedir="${dir.build}"/>
</target>
</project>
|
The above build.xml file is used to create directory, compile source code, create
jar file and clean the directory if already exists. To check the program,
simply copy and paste the above code and give appropriate path;
then run with ant command on the command prompt. The output is as
follows:
The output shows that a jar file named roseindia.jar is created but
in this jar file only manifest file is created. When you make a java file in
the src folder and run with ant command, the jar file is created
completely.
|
class Hello
{
public static void main(String
args[]){
System.out.println("sandeep kumar suman");
}
}
|
To check your program, compile it with ant command on the console; then
the following output will be displayed:
Download Source Code
|
Del.icio.us
Digg
Google
Spurl
Blink
Furl
Simpy
Y! MyWeb
