ANT Build Tool To Manage Java Projects

Posted By : Akash Mall | 10-May-2016

              

 

              

Apache Ant is a Java based build and command-line tool from Apache Software Foundation whose mission is to drive processes described in build files as targets and extension points dependent upon each other.

    

    Apache ANT build files are written in XML and this makes ANT of open standards, easy to understand and portable. Through this blog, I will give you a short description of this Java building tool.

 

ANT stands for Another Neat Tool. Before going into the detail of this, let us understand why we need a building tool?

 

Why Use A Java-Build Tool

 

The Java-Developers spend a lot of time doing some important tasks like building and deploying an application including:

 

  • Compilation of java code.

 

  • Packaging of the binaries.

 

  • Copying the code from one location to the other.

 

  • Testing of the changes.

 

  • Deployment of application on the server

 

Apache Ant is useful to automate and simplify the above mentioned Tasks. It is designed as a system for building and deploying an application that is executed from the command line.

History of Apache Ant

  • It was created by James Duncan Davidson who happens to be the original author of Tomcat.

  • Initially, it was used to build Tomcat and was considered as a part of Tomcat distribution.

  • Ant was developed out of various problems, complexities and intrications associated with the Apache tool.

  • Ant was termed as an independent Apache project in the year 2000. The latest version of Apache Ant is 1.9.4.

Main Features of Apache Ant

  • Ant is the only complete Java build and deployment tool available in the worldwide market.

  • Ant is neutral in terms of platform and it can also handle platform specific characteristics such as file separators.

  • Ant can be used to perform platform specific tasks such as time modification of a file using 'touch' command.

  • Ant scripts are written in XML and the one who is familiar with XML can learn Ant quite easily and in no time.

  • Ant is also good at the automation of complicated and repetitive tasks.

  • Ant owns a big list of predefined tasks.

  • Ant provides an interface for the development of custom tasks.

Ant’s build file which is called Build.xml must be present in the base directory of the project. However, no restriction is imposed on the file name and location which means you can place it anywhere or you can save file name with the other name.

“build.xml” file to understand its functionality

 

Also keep in mind that there shouldn’t be any blank lines or whitespaces before the XML declaration. In case you allow them, the following error message pops up while executing the Ant build -

The processing instruction target matching "[xX][mM][lL]" is not allowed. All build files require the project element and at least one target element.

1.png

The XML element project has three attributes :

Attributes

Description

Name

The Name of the project. (Optional)

Default

The by-default target for the build script. A project may have any number of targets. This attribute specifies which target should be considered as the default.

Base Directory

The base directory or the root folder for the project. This feature is usually optional.


 

A target is basically the collection of tasks in xml file of Ant that you’re willing to run as a single unit. One target may depend on many other targets.  For instance:

2.png

 

The target element has the following attributes:

Attributes

Description

Name

The name of the target which is mandatory.

Depends

Comma separated list of all targets that this target depends on which is Optional

Description

A short description of the target and is optional.

if

Allows the execution of a target depending on the trueness of a conditional attribute. (optional)

unless

Adds the target to the dependency list of the desired Extension Point. An Extension Point is just like a target, but it does not have any tasks. (Optional)

 

So, This is one dive in ocean of Apache Ant’s- Building tool for java applications.


THANKS

About Author

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Akash Mall

With years of industry experience, Akash is an accomplished Enterprise Solutions Architect, adept in utilizing cutting-edge technologies such as Angular, Java/SpringBoot, Odoo, ERPNext, Groovy, Apache OFBiz, and Maven. Leading a team, Akash is dedicated to delivering top-notch enterprise solutions to clients worldwide. He possesses exceptional proficiency in handling the technical intricacies of ERP applications and has played a crucial role in successfully executing numerous large-scale ERP projects. Skulocity, Moov Logistics, and Captionlabs stand as prominent examples of the significant projects he has previously delivered.

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