In this tutorial, a sample project is set up. The Ant build file, for the sample project, is explored along with a discussion of how it is used to build the project. The tutorial ends with a link to download the entire project including source code, data file, and Ant build file.<\/p>\n
Table Of Contents<\/h3>\n\n- 1. Apache Ant Tutorial – Introduction<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 2. Overview<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 3. Installation<\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
\n- 3.1. Ubuntu<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 3.2. Windows<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 3.3. Testing the Installation<\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
4. Anatomy of an Ant Project<\/a><\/p>\n\n- 4.1. XML Declaration<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 4.2. Project Tag<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 4.3. Tasks<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 4.4. Properties<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 4.5. Targets<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 4.6. Extension-Points<\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
- 5. Sample Project<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 5.1 Using Ant with Eclipse<\/a><\/dt>\n
6. For More Information<\/a><\/p>\n7. Project Download<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\nTip<\/strong>
You may skip the introductory part and jump directly to the Tutorial<\/strong><\/a> below.<\/div>\n<\/a>2. Overview<\/h2>\nJava Ant (\u201cAnother Neat Tool\u201d) is a popular build tool developed in Java and is included with most modern IDEs such as IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, and NetBeans. It was originally part of the Apache Tomcat code base and was released as a standalone product in July 2000. <\/p>\n
The principal use for Ant is for automation on building packages and artifacts for Java projects. Another big advantage of Ant is his portability. Just as it was built in Java, it is easily usable in several OS’s unlike other build tools such as make, gnumake, and jam are shell based tools. <\/p>\n
Once the dependencies are determined, each task is completed by issuing shell commands, which are limited to the particular OS where the project is being built. Ant avoids this limitation by using Java objects to execute tasks. However, if you need or want to use a shell command, Ant has an task to allow the execution of OS shell commands.<\/p>\n
Since many applications use a polyglot (many languages) model it comes with tasks for compiling C, C++, C#, and other languages. This is open source, users can extend the product by creating their own \u201cantlibs\u201d. (See the documentation on the Ant website<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/a>3. Installation<\/h2>\n<\/a>3.1. Ubuntu<\/h3>\nUse the apt-get install ant command to install it on Ubuntu. For other distributions, please check the documentation of your vendor.<\/p>\n
<\/a>3.2. Windows<\/h3>\na. Download the binary from ant.apache.org
NOTE: Use the 1.10.x version if you are running Java 8 (recommended). For minor versions (Java 5) use the 1.9.x version.<\/p>\n
b. Unzip the binary into a directory of your choice. For this tutorial, the Ant binary was unzipped into C:\\Ant<\/p>\n
c. Set the ANT_HOME environment variable to the directory where Ant was unzipped. For this tutorial: ANT_HOME=C:\\Ant<\/p>\n
\n![\"Apache](\"http:\/\/examples.javacodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Final_EnvVarAntHome.jpg\")
<\/a>Set ANT_HOME System variable<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nd. Edit the PATH system variable. Append “;%ANT_HOME%\\bin” (without the quotes).<\/p>\n
\n![\"Apache](\"http:\/\/examples.javacodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Final_EnvVarPath.jpg\")
<\/a>Append to the PATH User variable<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>3.3. Testing the Installation<\/h3>\nTo test your Ant installation:
a. Open a command window and navigate to any directory which DOES NOT contain a build.xml file.<\/p>\n
b. Issue the command: ant<\/p>\n
You should receive the error message:
Buildfile: build.xml does not exist!
Build failed<\/p>\n
\n![\"Apache](\"http:\/\/examples.javacodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Final_TestAntInstall.jpg\")
<\/a>Error message appear if installed properly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>4. Anatomy of an Ant Project<\/h2>\nAs mentioned above it receives its instructions on how to build a particular project from an XML file. The default Ant project file is build.xml<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The build.xml <\/em>has the following basic structure:<\/p>\n\n- Project – is the main tag of a build.xml Ant file. <\/li>\n
- Task – are the processes that Ant can execute. It is provided and named by Ant (or plug-ins).<\/li>\n
- Properties – the tags with the path and other configurations for Ant (e.g. source dir, output dir, etc…).<\/li>\n
- Target – It is like a task but it is a user defined name.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Note that we can have tasks and targets in the same Ant build file, but a target is defined by the user.<\/p>\n
Now, we’ll see each build.xml<\/em> tag in detail.<\/p>\n<\/a>4.1. XML Declaration<\/h3>\nSince the Ant build file is an XML file it begins with the typical declaration of an XML file with its version:<\/p>\n
\n\n
- \n
- 3.1. Ubuntu<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 3.2. Windows<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 3.3. Testing the Installation<\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
4. Anatomy of an Ant Project<\/a><\/p>\n
- \n
- 4.1. XML Declaration<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 4.2. Project Tag<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 4.3. Tasks<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 4.4. Properties<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 4.5. Targets<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 4.6. Extension-Points<\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
- 5. Sample Project<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 5.1 Using Ant with Eclipse<\/a><\/dt>\n
6. For More Information<\/a><\/p>\n
7. Project Download<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Tip<\/strong>
You may skip the introductory part and jump directly to the Tutorial<\/strong><\/a> below.<\/div>\n<\/a>2. Overview<\/h2>\n
Java Ant (\u201cAnother Neat Tool\u201d) is a popular build tool developed in Java and is included with most modern IDEs such as IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, and NetBeans. It was originally part of the Apache Tomcat code base and was released as a standalone product in July 2000. <\/p>\n
The principal use for Ant is for automation on building packages and artifacts for Java projects. Another big advantage of Ant is his portability. Just as it was built in Java, it is easily usable in several OS’s unlike other build tools such as make, gnumake, and jam are shell based tools. <\/p>\n
Once the dependencies are determined, each task is completed by issuing shell commands, which are limited to the particular OS where the project is being built. Ant avoids this limitation by using Java objects to execute tasks. However, if you need or want to use a shell command, Ant has an task to allow the execution of OS shell commands.<\/p>\n
Since many applications use a polyglot (many languages) model it comes with tasks for compiling C, C++, C#, and other languages. This is open source, users can extend the product by creating their own \u201cantlibs\u201d. (See the documentation on the Ant website<\/a>).<\/p>\n
<\/a>3. Installation<\/h2>\n
<\/a>3.1. Ubuntu<\/h3>\n
Use the apt-get install ant command to install it on Ubuntu. For other distributions, please check the documentation of your vendor.<\/p>\n
<\/a>3.2. Windows<\/h3>\n
a. Download the binary from ant.apache.org
NOTE: Use the 1.10.x version if you are running Java 8 (recommended). For minor versions (Java 5) use the 1.9.x version.<\/p>\nb. Unzip the binary into a directory of your choice. For this tutorial, the Ant binary was unzipped into C:\\Ant<\/p>\n
c. Set the ANT_HOME environment variable to the directory where Ant was unzipped. For this tutorial: ANT_HOME=C:\\Ant<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>Set ANT_HOME System variable<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n d. Edit the PATH system variable. Append “;%ANT_HOME%\\bin” (without the quotes).<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>Append to the PATH User variable<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>3.3. Testing the Installation<\/h3>\n
To test your Ant installation:
a. Open a command window and navigate to any directory which DOES NOT contain a build.xml file.<\/p>\nb. Issue the command: ant<\/p>\n
You should receive the error message:
Buildfile: build.xml does not exist!
Build failed<\/p>\n\n<\/a>Error message appear if installed properly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>4. Anatomy of an Ant Project<\/h2>\n
As mentioned above it receives its instructions on how to build a particular project from an XML file. The default Ant project file is build.xml<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The build.xml <\/em>has the following basic structure:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Project – is the main tag of a build.xml Ant file. <\/li>\n
- Task – are the processes that Ant can execute. It is provided and named by Ant (or plug-ins).<\/li>\n
- Properties – the tags with the path and other configurations for Ant (e.g. source dir, output dir, etc…).<\/li>\n
- Target – It is like a task but it is a user defined name.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Note that we can have tasks and targets in the same Ant build file, but a target is defined by the user.<\/p>\n
Now, we’ll see each build.xml<\/em> tag in detail.<\/p>\n
<\/a>4.1. XML Declaration<\/h3>\n
Since the Ant build file is an XML file it begins with the typical declaration of an XML file with its version:<\/p>\n
\n\n
- 4.2. Project Tag<\/a><\/dt>\n
- 3.2. Windows<\/a><\/dt>\n