Ant Task

Ant

Description

Runs Ant on a supplied buildfile. This can be used to build subprojects. This task must not be used outside of a target if it invoces the same build file it is part of.

When the antfile attribute is omitted, the file "build.xml" in the supplied directory (dir attribute) is used.

If no target attribute is supplied, the default target of the new project is used.

By default, all of the properties of the current project will be available in the new project. Alternatively, you can set the inheritAll attribute to false and only "user" properties (i.e., those passed on the command-line) will be passed to the new project. In either case, the set of properties passed to the new project will override the properties that are set in the new project (See also the property task).

You can also set properties in the new project from the old project by using nested property tags. These properties are always passed to the new project and any project created in that project regardless of the setting of inheritAll. This allows you to parameterize your subprojects. Properties defined on the command line can not be overridden by nested <property> elements.

References to data types can also be passed to the new project, but by default they are not. If you set the inheritrefs attribute to true, all references will be copied, but they will not override references defined in the new project.

Nested <reference> elements can also be used to copy references from the calling project to the new project, optionally under a different id. References taken from nested elements will override existing references that have been defined outside of targets in the new project - but not those defined inside of targets.

Parameters

Attribute	Description	Required
antfile	the buildfile to use. Defaults to "build.xml". This file is expected to be a filename relative to the dir attribute given.	No
dir	the directory to use as a basedir for the new Ant project. Defaults to the current project's basedir, unless inheritall has been set to false, in which case it doesn't have a default value. This will override the basedir setting of the called project.	No
target	the target of the new Ant project that should be executed. Defaults to the new project's default target.	No
output	Filename to write the ant output to. This is relative to the value of the dir attribute if it has been set or to the base directory of the current project otherwise.	No
inheritAll	If `true`, pass all properties to the new Ant project. Defaults to `true`.	No
inheritRefs	If `true`, pass all references to the new Ant project. Defaults to `false`.	No

Parameters specified as nested elements

property

See the description of the property task. Note that the refid attribute points to a reference in the calling project, not in the new one.

reference

Used to choose references that shall be copied into the new project, optionally changing their id.

Attribute	Description	Required
refid	The id of the reference in the calling project.	Yes
torefid	The id of the reference in the new project.	No, defaults to the value of refid.

propertyset

You can specify a set of properties to be copied into the new project with propertysets.

since Ant 1.6.

Basedir of the new project

The basedir value of the new project is affected by the two attributes dir and inheritall, see the following table for details:

dir attribute	inheritAll attribute	new project's basedir
value provided	true	value of dir attribute
value provided	false	value of dir attribute
omitted	true	basedir of calling project (the one whose build file contains the <ant> task).
omitted	false	basedir attribute of the <project> element of the new project

Examples

  <ant antfile="subproject/subbuild.xml" dir="subproject" target="compile"/>

  <ant dir="subproject"/>

  <ant antfile="subproject/property_based_subbuild.xml">
    <property name="param1" value="version 1.x"/>
    <property file="config/subproject/default.properties"/>
  </ant>

  <ant inheritAll="false" antfile="subproject/subbuild.xml">
    <property name="output.type" value="html"/>
  </ant>

The build file of the calling project defines some <path> elements like this:

  <path id="path1">
    ...
  </path>
  <path id="path2">
    ...
  </path>

and the called build file (subbuild.xml) also defines a <path> with the id path1, but path2 is not defined:

  <ant antfile="subbuild.xml" inheritrefs="true"/>

will not override subbuild's definition of path1, but make the parent's definition of path2 available in the subbuild.

  <ant antfile="subbuild.xml"/>

as well as

  <ant antfile="subbuild.xml" inheritrefs="false"/>

will neither override path1 nor copy path2.

  <ant antfile="subbuild.xml" inheritrefs="false">
    <reference refid="path1"/>
  </ant>

will override subbuild's definition of path1.

  <ant antfile="subbuild.xml" inheritrefs="false">
    <reference refid="path1" torefid="path2"/>
  </ant>

will copy the parent's definition of path1 into the new project using the id path2.