AntCall Task

AntCall

Description

Call another target within the same build-file optionally specifying some properties (param's in this context). This task must no be used outside of a target.

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 param 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 <param> elements.

Nested <reference> elements can 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.

When a target is invoked by antcall, all of its dependent targets will also be called within the context of any new parameters. For example. if the target "doSomethingElse" depended on the target "init", then the antcall of "doSomethingElse" will call "init" during the call. Of course, any properties defined in the antcall task or inherited from the calling target will be fixed and not overridable in the init task -or indeed in the "doSomethingElse" task.

If the build file changes after you've started the build, the behavior of this task is undefined.

Parameters

Attribute	Description	Required
target	The target to execute.	Yes
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

Note on `inheritRefs`

<antcall> will not override existing references, even if you set inheritRefs to true. As the called build files is the same build file as the calling one, this means it will not override any reference set via an id attribute at all. The only references that can be inherited by the child project are those defined by nested <reference> elements or references defined by tasks directly (not using the id attribute).

Parameters specified as nested elements

param

Specifies the properties to set before running the specified target. See property for usage guidelines.

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.

Examples

  <target name="default">
    <antcall target="doSomethingElse">
      <param name="param1" value="value"/>
    </antcall>
  </target>

  <target name="doSomethingElse">
    <echo message="param1=${param1}"/>
  </target>

Will run the target 'doSomethingElse' and echo 'param1=value'.

  <antcall ... >
    <reference refid="path1" torefid="path2"/>
  </antcall>

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