Simple usage of ant build file build.xml

Build.xml

All build files require the project element and at least one target element.

Project

This is root element.

<project name="JavaCCProject" default="compile" basedir=".">

</project>

• name: the name of the project. (Optional)
• default: the default target for the build script. A project may contain any number of targets. This attribute specifies which target should be considered as the default. (Mandatory)
• basedir: the base directory (or) the root folder for the project. (Optional)

property

Sets a property (by name and value)

target

A target is a collection of tasks that you want to run as one unit.

Targets can have dependencies on other targets.

• name The name of the target (Required)
• depends Comma separated list of all targets that this target depends on. (Optional)
• description A short description of the target. (optional)
• if Allows the execution of a target based on the trueness of a conditional attribute. (optional)
• unless Adds the target to the dependency list of the specified Extension Point. An Extension Point is similar to a target, but it does not have any tasks. (Optional)

Task reference

http://ant.apache.org/manual/

https://ant.apache.org/manual/tasksoverview.html

Command Line

ant [options] [target...]

The commonly used options are:

• -projecthelp displays the names and descriptions of targets in the build file.
• -buildfile <build filename> uses the specified build file instead of build.xml.
• -Dkey=value sets a Java property for Ant to use.
• -propertyfile <filename> sets properties for every line in the specified file.

To define a property

Use property task in build.xml

<property name="attribute" value="value"/>

Use environment variable

$ export attribute=value

Use following line in build.xml to retrieve.

<property environment="env"/>

<property name="attribute"  value="${env.attribute}"/>

Use command line definition

ant -Dattribute=value task