ANT

Automate your build process using Java and Ant


Introducing the powerful XML-based scripting tool,

Ant
defined process is one of the most necessary but often least-used tools in software development. It is by nature an overhead task that accompanies a development effort. A defined build process ensures that the software in your development project is built in the exact same manner each time a build is executed. As the build process becomes more complex -- for example, with EJB builds or additional tasks -- it becomes more necessary to achieve such standardization. You should establish, document, and automate the exact series of steps as much as possible.


Why do I need a defined build process?
A defined build process is an essential part of any development cycle because it helps close the gap between the development, integration, test, and production environments. A build process alone will speed the migration of software from one environment to another. It also removes many issues related to compilation, classpath, or properties that cost many projects time and money.

What is Ant?
Ant is a platform-independent scripting tool that lets you construct your build scripts in much the same fashion as the "make" tool in C or C++. You can use a large number of built-in tasks in Ant without any customization. Some of the most important tasks are shown in the following table but explained in more detail in the example that follows.
Here are some useful commands that are built in the Ant distribution.








Command
Description


Ant
Used to execute another ant process from within the current one.

Copydir
Used to copy an entire directory.

Copyfile
Used to copy a single file.

Cvs
Handles packages/modules retrieved from a CVS repository.

Delete
Deletes either a single file or all files in a specified directory and its sub-directories.

Deltree
Deletes a directory with all its files and subdirectories.

Exec
Executes a system command. When the os attribute is specified, then the command is only executed when Ant is run on one of the specified operating systems.

Get
Gets a file from an URL.

Jar
Jars a set of files.

Java
Executes a Java class within the running (Ant) VM or forks another VM if specified.

Javac
Compiles a source tree within the running (Ant) VM.

Javadoc/Javadoc2
Generates code documentation using the javadoc tool.

Mkdir
Makes a directory.

Property
Sets a property (by name and value), or set of properties (from file or resource) in the project.

Rmic
Runs the rmic compiler for a certain class.

Tstamp
Sets the DSTAMP, TSTAMP, and TODAY properties in the current project.

Style
Processes a set of documents via XSLT.