From Eclipse, I found I can easily export an Ant build file for my project. It provides references to 3rd party libraries and some base targets. I'm using it from my global build file. The only thing that bothers me about this, is that if something is modified in the project structure (like adding a new 3rd party library), we have to think (yes that can be hard sometimes!) about regenerating that build.xml file. I'm wondering if anyone here knows a way to have it updated automatically. By "automatically" I mean that it would not be necessary to explicitly ask Eclipse to regenerate it every time it's needed. I don't know what could be the trigger though...
Any thoughts or knowledge on this?
Thanks!
MJ
Right-click on an Eclipse project then "Export" then "General" then "Ant build files". I don't think it is possible to customise the output format though.
I have been trying to do the same myself. What I found was that the "Export Ant Buildfile" gets kicked off in the org.eclipse.ant.internal.ui.datatransfer.AntBuildfileExportPage.java file. This resides in the org.eclipse.ant.ui plugin.
To view the source, use the Plug-in Development perspective and open the Plug-ins view. Then right-click on the org.eclipse.ant.ui plugin and select import as > source project.
My plan is to create a Java program to programmatically kick off the ant buildfile generation and call this in an Ant file every time I build by adding the ant file to the builders of my projects (Right-click preferences on a projet, under the builders tab).
I've had the same problem, our work environment is based on Eclipse Java projects, and we needed to build automatically an ANT file so that we could use a continuous integration server (Jenkins, in our case).
We rolled out our own Eclipse Java to Ant tool, which is now available on GitHub:
ant-build-for-java
To use it, call:
java -jar ant-build-for-java.jar <folder with repositories> [<.userlibraries file>]
The first argument is the folder with the repositories. It will search the folder recursively for any .project file. The tool will create a build.xml in the given folder.
Optionally, the second argument can be an exported .userlibraries file, from Eclipse, needed when any of the projects use Eclipse user libraries. The tool was tested only with user libraries using relative paths, it's how we use them in our repo. This implies that JARs and other archives needed by projects are inside an Eclipse project, and referenced from there.
The tool only supports dependencies from other Eclipse projects and from Eclipse user libraries.
Take a look at the .classpath file in your project, which probably contains most of the information that you want. The easiest option may be to roll your own "build.xml export", i.e. process .classpath into a new build.xml during the build itself, and then call it with an ant subtask.
Parsing a little XML sounds much easier to me than to hook into Eclipse JDT.
If all you need is the classpath entries, I do something like the following to use the eclipse build path.
<xmlproperty file=".classpath" collapseAttributes="true" delimiter=";" />
Then set that value in the path
<path id="eclipse.classpath">
<pathelement path="${classpath.classpathentry.path}"/>
</path>
<target name="compile" depends="init">
<javac srcdir="${src}" destdir="${build}" updatedProperty="compiled">
<classpath refid="eclipse.classpath"/>
</javac>
</target>
I'm the one who donated the Ant export filter to Eclipse. I added the auto export feature, but only to my personal plug-in eclipse2ant, which I still maintain to coordinate bug fixes.
Unfortunately I have no time to merge it to the official Eclipse builds.
Select File > Export from main menu (or right click on the project name and select Export > Export…).
In the Export dialog, select General > Ant Buildfiles as follows:
Click Next. In the Generate Ant Buildfilesscreen:
Check the project in list.
Uncheck the option "Create target to compile project using Eclipse compiler" - because we want to create a build file which is independent of Eclipse.
Leave the Name for Ant buildfile as default: build.xml
Click Finish, Eclipse will generate the build.xml file under project’s directory as follows:
Double click on the build.xml file to open its content in Ant editor:
source
Related
I have seen several of this question asked here, but none have fully been answered to my necessity. I have a file I want to create a jar file with so I can simply place it on my desktop and run it. I think I understand the process up to using Process Structure, then I am lost.
Basically, you can generate an artifact in IntelliJ from the build menu -> build artifact.
Dependending on your project, possible artifacts may be found automatically or not (if you use a "build tool" like maven, ant or gradle).
In case of a build tool, check its documentation to find how to generate a jar file from it.
If you're using a pure IntelliJ project, select your project root and hit F4, it will open its settings. In Artifacts, you'll have to add a new jar (the green + at the top of the window). Select "From modules and dependencies...". Then, you'll have to select the module to use and its main class. It should be enough. Then, you'll just have to build the needed artifact. The jar file will be generated in the folder defined in the configuration (Project settings->Project, Project compiler output in case of a single module, otherwise it will be generated in the module's folder)
When you're looking for a feature in IntelliJ, don't forget to use ctrl+shift+A to search it by its name.
Hope it helps
What is the file build.xml?
I was wondering if it is a possibility to import this project in Eclipse or Netbeans using this build.xml. I tried to import the project but I get some errors since one part is created using J2ME and the other J2SE and I guess this file should be the configuration.
build.xml usually is an ant build script.
It contains information necessary to build the project to produce the desired output, be it Javadocs, a compiled project, or a JAR file.
I believe Eclipse has ant built-in, so it should be possible to execute the build.xml by choosing "Run As..." and "Ant Build".
The build.xml file, if it is an ant script, is not used to import the project into an IDE like Eclipse or Netbeans. A build script is used to build the project (or produce some desired output) rather than an mechanism for importing the project into an IDE.
As mentioned by #coobird this is an ant build file. Although IDEs such as Eclipse and Netbeans have ant support built-in, it is also possible to run ant from the command-line and this may be the simplest way to get started if the project has been well created.
See http://ant.apache.org/
for docs.
If you want to try this approach, install ant, cd to the directory with build.xml and issue
ant
Eclipse can be told to build using an Ant script, but you can also use Ant itself.
build.xml file is an Ant(Apache) script.
you can find more information on Ant & build.xml here
In java project build.xml file is used write the ant script.
And from that ant script you can generate war file and can deploy on Tomcat server
I need to develop an ant wrapper to an automated task implemented in java, and I'm going to do this with eclipse, and I want to do it by extending ant's Task class.
Since eclipse already has an integrated version of ant, I would feel like a kind of waste to add my own copy of ant.jar somewhere. I'm looking for a way to indicate that i need "this major version of ant" for my project, and let eclipse do the rest of the work. A bit like when we configure a project to use "A J2SE 1.6 runtime", and not "The exact specific version of the jre installed here".
I checked Project context menu -> Build path -> Add library, and I was expecting to find something like "Ant" in the library type selection popup, next to JRE System Library, EAR Library, Google app engine, etc... And I did not find it.
Also, there is not "Ant task" project template.
Am I missing a plugin here ? Is there a smart thing to do ? Or do I just have to drop ant.jar in a lib/ directory in my project ?
You can create a "User Library" containing the Ant jars from your Eclipse install and add this to your project's build path.
Project / Build Path / Configure Build Path
Add Library / User Library
Click the User Library button
Give it a name, e.g. "ant" or "eclipse-ant"
Click Add JARs...
Navigate to the ant plugin dir in your Eclipse installation
e.g. eclipse\plugins\org.apache.ant_1.7.1.v20090120-1145\lib
Select some or all of the jars
Finish
Those jars are now on your build path.
I'm using NetBeans to import a series of libraries from my Arduino IDE. I'm following directions from the following link:
http://silveiraneto.net/2009/03/01/arduino-and-java/
This works provided I use the Arduino-0013 version of the IDE install, more current versions do not compile using this method.
I have found that using the Arudino-0013 set as the working directory is NOT necessary if I manually move the "preferences.txt" and "keywords.txt" and "librxtxSerial.so" files into the lib folder in my Java dist (build) folder, and also move the entire Arduino-0013 "Hardware" folder also into my Java dist (build) folder.
When I do this I can run the Java program from the dist directory on the command line. Using the command:
java -jar myProgram.jar
rather than having to go into the Arudino-0013 as my working directory and use -cp to get my program to work (which I haven't worked out how to do incidentally):
Is there a way to include these .txt files and the Arudino hardware folder with all the files it contains when I build the project with NetBeans? The reason I ask is because it's getting annoying having to do this manually every time I do a new build.
My answer is not specific to netbeans but you can try:
Make an Apache ANT build file to build your project. In that file make a copy task which will copy txt files in your build. By doing this you will not have to so it manually. See here: http://wiki.netbeans.org/NetbeansedAnt to know how to work with ANT in NetBeans.
In Netbeans, if you switch from the Projects tab to the Files tab, you'll see that you have a build.xml file. This is an Ant build.xml file. You can configure Ant to automatically copy the files for you whenever your build your project. You would essentially have something like this:
<project ...>
<target name="-pre-compile">
<copy file="some/path/preferences.txt" todir="../some/dir"/>
<copy file="some/path/keywords.txt" todir="../some/dir"/>
<copy file="some/path/librxtxSerial.so" todir="../some/dir"/>
</target>
<target name="-post-compile">
<copy todir="build/dir">
<fileset dir="some/path/Arduino-0013"/>
</copy>
</target>
</project>
There is more information in the build.xml file about what you can and can't hook into. The Ant documentation is good, and the Tasks section of the Ant Manual will be particularly useful.
There should be a dependencies section in NetBeans for your project. You can then add external libraries to your project, such as local JAR files you've got. The best way would probably be to jar up the text files and Arduino directory together, then add that JAR file as a compile-time (and/or run-time) dependency to your project. Now, when you compile your project in NetBeans it should include the specified JAR file on the classpath and voila.
Sorry to not give you more NetBeans-specific direction, I've only used the IDE a couple of times, but all IDEs will allow you to add local JAR files and third-party libraries as dependencies to your project, you just need to find where in the IDE you can do that.
Another idea that might work is to set NetBeans to use your local copy of Java for compilation instead of the one that came bundled with the IDE, that way you don't need to fuss with project dependencies. Again, I don't know where in NetBeans to set this, but start in the General Settings (or perhaps the Project-specific Settings) and find the Java/compilation section; hopefully there's an option to specify which JDK to use, then point it at your local copy.
I have a NetBeans project that relies on one specific Java class in another project. Right now, when NetBeans compiles the project, it only adds a reference to the other Java class, which leads to a NoClassDefFoundError since the external class isn't in the JAR.
How can I force NetBeans to compile that external file into the JAR when it builds, short of copying and pasting it over?
I take it that you are trying to create what it commonly known as a "fat JAR file"; i.e. a JAR file that contains all required classes for your application.
Try the recipe in this forum posting.
Another alternative might be to add something like the following to your Ant buld.xml file.
<target name="-post-jar">
<jar update="true" destfile="${dist.jar}">
<zipfileset src="${javac.classpath}"/>
</jar>
</target>
If it's Maven based, simply use the ant task to copy the class to your target/classes in the appropriate phase (I guess compile-sources or such - something before test).
If it's Ant based, you'd have to hack NetBeans' ant build scripts, which are extensible per-project.
BTW, the standard way is to make the "another project" a dependency of your project. That class might need another classes from that project... and so on.
I might also recommend JDGUI to decompile that project and to cherry-pick the classes you need. http://java.decompiler.free.fr/?q=jdgui