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<h1>Ant PropertyFile Task User Manual</h1>
<p>by</p>
<!-- Names are in alphabetical order, on last name -->
<ul>
  <li>Thomas Christen (<a href="mailto:chr@active.ch">chr@active.ch</a>)</li>
  <li>Jeremy Mawson (<a href="mailto:jem@loftinspace.com.au">jem@loftinspace.com/au</a>)</li>
</ul>

<p>Version 1.1 - 2001/01/28</p>
<hr>
<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
  <li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
  <li><a href="#proptask">PropertyFile Task</a></li>
  <li><a href="#entryElement">Entry Task</a></li>
</ul>

<hr>
<h2><a name="introduction">Introduction</a></h2>
<p>Ant provides an optional task for editing property files.  This is very useful
when wanting to make unattended modifications to configuration files for application
servers and applications.  Currently, the task maintains a working property file with
the ability to add properties or make changes to existing ones.  However, any comments
are lost.  Work is being done to make this task a bit more &quot;human friendly&quot;.</p>

<hr>
<h2><a name="proptask">PropertyFile Task</a></h2>
<h3>Parameters</h3>
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
  <td width="12%" valign="top"><b>Attribute</b></td>
  <td width="78%" valign="top"><b>Description</b></td>
  <td width="10%" valign="top"><b>Required</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td width="12%" valign="top">file</td>
  <td width="78%" valign="top">Location of the property file to be edited</td>
  <td width="10%" valign="top">Yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td width="12%" valign="top">comment</td>
  <td width="78%" valign="top">Header for the file itself</td>
  <td width="10%" valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
</table>

<h3>Parameters specified as nested elements</h3>
<h4><a name="entryElement">Entry</a></h4>
<p>Use nested <code>&lt;entry&gt;</code>
elements to specify actual modifcations to the property file itself</p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
  <tr>
    <td valign="top"><b>Attribute</b></td>
    <td valign="top"><b>Description</b></td>
    <td align="center" valign="top"><b>Required</b></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">key</td>
    <td valign="top">Name of the property name/value pair</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">Yes</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">value</td>
    <td valign="top">Value to set (=), to add (+) or subtract (-)</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">Yes</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">type</td>
    <td valign="top">Regard the value as : int, date or string (default)</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">operation</td>
    <td valign="top">&quot;+&quot; or &quot;=&quot; (default) for all datatypes<br>&quot;-&quot; (for date and int only).<br>
    </td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">default</td>
    <td valign="top">Initial value to set for a property if it is not
                     already defined in the property file.<br>
                     For type date, two additional keywords are allowed: &quot;now&quot; or &quot;never&quot;.</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">pattern</td>
    <td valign="top">For int and date type only. If present, Values will
                     be parsed and formatted accordingly.</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
  </tr>
</table>
<h3>Examples</h3>

<p>The following changes the my.properties file.  Assume my.properties look like:</p>

<pre># A comment
akey=novalue</pre>

<p>After running, the file would now look like
</p>
<pre>#Thu Nov 02 23:41:47 EST 2000
akey=avalue
adate=2000/11/02 23\:41
anint=1
formated.int=0014
formated.date=028 17\:34
</pre>
<p>
The slashes conform to the expectations of the Properties class.  The file will be stored in a manner so that each character is examined and escaped if necessary.  Note that the original comment is now lost.  Please keep this in mind when running this task against heavily commented properties files.  It may be best to have a commented version in the source tree, copy it to a deployment area, and then run the modifications on the copy.  Future versions of PropertyFile will hopefully eliminate this shortcoming.
</p>

<blockquote><pre>&lt;propertyfile
    file=&quot;my.properties&quot;
    comment&quot;My properties&quot; &gt;
  &lt;entry  key=&quot;akey&quot; value=&quot;avalue&quot; /&gt;
  &lt;entry  key=&quot;adate&quot; type=&quot;date&quot; value=&quot;now&quot;/&gt;
  &lt;entry  key=&quot;anint&quot; type=&quot;int&quot; operation=&quot;+&quot;/&gt;
  &lt;entry  key=&quot;formated.int&quot; type=&quot;int&quot; default=&quot;0013&quot; operation=&quot;+&quot; pattern=&quot;0000&quot;/&gt;
  &lt;entry  key=&quot;formated.date&quot; type=&quot;date&quot; value=&quot;now&quot; pattern=&quot;DDD HH:mm&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/propertyfile&gt;
</pre></blockquote>
<p>
To produce dates relative from today :</p>
<blockquote><pre>&lt;propertyfile
    file=&quot;my.properties&quot;
    comment=&quot;My properties&quot; &gt;
  &lt;entry  key=&quot;formated.date-1&quot;
      type=&quot;date&quot; default=&quot;now&quot; pattern=&quot;DDD&quot;
      operation=&quot;-&quot; value=&quot;1&quot;/&gt;
  &lt;entry  key=&quot;formated.tomorrow&quot;
      type=&quot;date&quot; default=&quot;now&quot; pattern=&quot;DDD&quot;
      operation=&quot;+&quot; value=&quot;1&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/propertyfile&gt;
</pre></blockquote>

<p>
Concatenation of strings :</p>
<blockquote><pre>&lt;propertyfile
    file=&quot;my.properties&quot;
    comment=&quot;My properties&quot; &gt;
  &lt;entry  key=&quot;progress&quot; default=&quot;&quot; operation=&quot;+&quot; value=&quot;.&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/propertyfile&gt;
</pre></blockquote>
<p>Each time called, a &quot;.&quot; will be appended to &quot;progress&quot;
</p>
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