Using Ant to automate tasks

To support using Apache Ant with Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) applications running on the application server, the product provides a copy of the Ant tool and a set of Ant tasks that extend the capabilities of Ant to include product-specific functions. Ant has become a very popular tool among Java programmers.

About this task

Apache Ant is a Java-based build tool. In theory, it is similar to Make, but Ant is different. Instead of a model in which it is extended with shell-based commands, Ant is extended using Java classes. Instead of writing shell commands, XML-based configuration files are used. These files reference a target tree in which various tasks are run. Each task is run by an object that implements a particular Task interface.
Avoid trouble:
  • Calling the WebSphere_Ant (WsAnt) scripts outside of the ws_ant launcher is not supported or recommended.
  • When you invoke the Ant tool, do not pass empty strings in place of command arguments in ant script. The script will not work in the wsadmin environment. The <arg value> cannot be an empty string, such as shown in the following example:
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <project name="proj" default="main">
    		<taskdef name="wsadmin" classname="com.ibm.websphere.ant.tasks.WsAdmin"/>
    		<target name="main">
    			<wsadmin,conntype="NONE" lang="jython" failonerror="true" script="&(basedir)/script.ph">
    					<arg value="blah" />
    					<arg value="" />
    			</wsadmin>
    			<!-- manaeapp action="blah" variation-number="0" -->
    		</target>
    </project>
gotcha
By combining the following tasks with those provided by Ant, you can create build scripts that compile, package, install, and test your application on the application server:
  • Install and uninstall applications
  • Start and stop servers in a base configuration
  • Run administrative scripts or commands
  • Run the Enterprise JavaBeans™ (EJB) deployment tool for EJB 1.x or 2.x modules
  • Run the JavaServer Pages (JSP) file precompilation tool

For more detailed information about Ant, refer to the Apache organization Web site.

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Last updated: Oct 21, 2010 1:44:59 AM CDT
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