Develop Reference

Netbeans Create Standalone Jar

I have an application with two libraries that are being used from the java\extensions folder. I would like this jar file be be runnable from any computer such as a computer without netbeans. What is the best way to create this jar? I have read some tutorials but they don't seem to answer my question.

If it is a standard NetBeans project with build.xml, I usually add a target like this to build.xml:
<target name="-post-jar">
<jar jarfile="${dist.jar}" update="true">
<zipfileset src="${dist.jar}" includes="**/*.class" />
<zipfileset src="${libs.somelibrary.classpath}" includes="**/*.class"/>
</jar>
</target>
Here somelibrary is a third party library that has been added to the project. Add a zipfileset element for each library you want to include in the jar file. You should already have something like this in project.properties for each of the libraries:
javac.classpath=\
${libs.somelibrary.classpath}:\

Netbeans/java adding external config files

Based on this topic: Netbeans and external configuration files
I assume that what I want to do this is possible. But the answer is not really working for me.
The code is use know is from the last answer:
<target name="-pre-jar">
<echo>Copying resources files to build directory...</echo>
<mkdir dir="${dist.jar.dir}/resources"/>
<copy todir="${dist.jar.dir}/resources">
<fileset dir="resources" includes="**"/>
</copy>
</target>
But this just creates a dir named: ${dist.jar.dir} with my resources folder and files in it at the same location of my src,dist,build,nbproject folder. But I want it to be in dist, so my dist has, the jar, lib,webfiles and resources.
Thanks for any help and clarification.

If you want to copy all the contents of a specific directory to the \dist directory of the build you can do the following:
<target name="-pre-init">
<!-- Create a resource directory property -->
<property name="src.res.dir" value="${basedir}/res" />
</target>
<target name="-pre-jar">
<!-- Copy external resources folder -->
<copy todir="${build.classes.dir}\inside\res\dir">
<fileset dir="${src.res.dir}\inside\res\dir">
<include name="**/*" />
</fileset>
<copy>
</target>
This will copy the contents of a folder called \inside\res\dir inside of your projects $\res directory. I use this technique to include an application icon in the distribution.
You should then be able to access these resources from inside your application with something like the following:
ClassLoader.getSystemResource("inside/res/dir/file.ext")

Okay I solved it, so to copy a file, I placed the file in in a folder within src named resources with in there my file.
And then the following code does the trick:
<target name="-post-jar">
<copy file="${src.dir}/resources/filename.extension" flatten="true" todir="${dist.dir}/resources" />
</target>
Okay, for some reason my jar isn't being builded/updated any more if I use this in my build file..Anyone any clues?
solved needs to be "-post-jfx-jar" for jfx projects

Ant: using war task on exploded directory

I am relatively new to Ant, and am trying to find the easiest way to WAR-up my web application.
I already have build targets that create the following "exploded WAR" directory structure:
MyApp/
src/
...
gen/ <-- this gets created as a part of every build
war/
stylesheets/
myapp.css
views/
index.jsp
cool.jsp
...
WEB-INF/
web.xml
lib/
(All of my dependencies)
classes/
META-INF/
jdoconfig.xml
com/
myapp/
(All compiled binaries)
So, given the fact that by the time I'm ready to create the WAR file (using <war/>, <zip/> or anything else), I already have the exploded version of the WAR ready to go.
The problem I have with the <war/> task is that it doesn't seem to support directories under war/ besides WEB-INF/lib and WEB-INF/classes:
<war destfile="myapp.war" webxml="gen/war/WEB-INF/web.xml">
<lib dir="gen/war/WEB-INF/lib" />
<classes dir="gen/war/WEB-INF/classes" />
</war>
What about stylesheets and views, or anything else I might want? What if I want to add a file or directory to WEB-INF/? What if I wanted to add something to the war at the same level as WEB-INF/? The <war/> task just seems to be too inflexible.
Either way (as I'm sure the task is flexible and I'm just not "getting" it), I just want the easiest way to create a myapp.war with the exact directory structure that the earlier build targets have created under gen/war. Thanks in advance.

You can use a fileset inside of the war tag
An Example from our build file
<war destfile="${war.dest.file.name.without.extension}.war" manifest="${build.dir}/MANIFEST.MF" webxml="${webcontent.dir}/WEB-INF/web.xml">
<fileset dir="${webcontent.dir}" casesensitive="no">
<exclude name="WEB-INF/lib/**"/>
<exclude name="WEB-INF/classes/**"/>
<exclude name="WEB-INF/web.xml"/>
<exclude name="META-INF/context.xml"/>
</fileset>
<lib dir="${app.lib.dir}"/>
<classes dir="${classes.dir}"/>
</war>

Figured it out, this is way easier. The <war/> task imposes too many constraints if you already have your own exploded war directory. Just zip it up!
<zip destfile="myapp.war"
basedir="gen/war" update="true" />

How to include libs and other non class folders in a project while creating a jar file using <jar> task in build.xml

In my project I can include packages under src folder, but I need to include other folders (which don't contains .java or .class files) and libraries.
How do I include libraries and other non class folders in a project while creating a jar file using <jar> task in my build.xml ?

Here's a snapshot of how I do this:
<jar destfile="adasim-${version}-deps.jar" manifest="resources/MANIFEST.MF">
<fileset dir="${class.dir}"/>
<fileset dir=".">
<include name="resources/xml/adasim.xsd"/>
<include name="resources/VERSION"/>
</fileset>
<archives>
<zips>
<fileset dir="${lib.dir}" includes="**/*.jar" excludes="**/junit*.jar"/>
</zips>
</archives>
</jar>
you use <fileset> to select files that you want to copy into the JAR and you use <zips> combined with JARs to include that contents from JARs.
Extensive documentation can be found in the ant manual.

Using ant war task to include files in WEB-INF directory

I'm using ant to build my web-app. I'm sure this is simple but I can't figure out how to tell ant to create a specific folder in the WEB-INF directory and copy files to it.
My ant war task looks like this:
<target name="warItUp" depends="compile">
<war destfile="MyApp.war" webxml="${home.dir}\WEB-INF\web.xml">
<classes dir="${classes.dir}"/>
<classes file="${src.dir}/hibernate.cfg.xml"/>
<classes dir="${src.dir}" includes="**/*.hbm.xml"/>
<!-- Include the PDF files -->
<fileset dir="${home.dir}/PDFs">
<include name="**/*.pdf"/>
</fileset>
<!-- Include the JSP files -->
<fileset dir="${home.dir}/JSPs">
<include name="**/*.jsp"/>
</fileset>
<!-- Include the images -->
<fileset dir="${home.dir}/images">
<include name="**/*"/>
</fileset>
</war>
All the fileset elements work i.e. they include the pdf, jsp and image files in the root directory of the war file.
But if I want to create a sub-directory in the WEB-INF directory of the war file and include files in it how do I specify that? e.g. say I wanted to include WEB-INF/TagLibraryDescriptors/MyTagLib.tld in the war file or if I wanted to create a WEB-INF/JSP folder in my war file and copy all JSP files to it.
Thanks.

OP here, thanks for all the responses. I found another solution - there is a webinf element that can be included in the war task.
This will copy files from the source JSPs folder into the WEB-INF folder in the war file:
<webinf dir="${home.dir}/JSPs"
includes="**/*.jsp">
</webinf>
whereas this will copy files from the source JSPs folder into the WEB-INF/JSPs folder (my preferred choice):
<webinf dir="${home.dir}"
includes="/JSPs/**/*.jsp">
</webinf>
I think I'll stick with this solution but thanks for the responses.

As an alternative to the nested webinf element, you can also use the zipfileset element, which lets you specify the source folder and the path prefix in the archive:
<zipfileset dir="${home.dir}/JSPs" includes="**/*.jsp" prefix="WEB-INF/JSPs"/>

Try to create this directory into your project and then just add fileset like the following:
<fileset dir="${home.dir}/WEB-INF/mydirectory/*">
<include name="**/*"/>
</fileset>

Why not creating the dir structure you need the mkdir way?