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<h1>PropertyFile</h1>

<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. Comments and layout
of the original properties file are preserved.</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>
<tr>
  <td width="12%" valign="top">jdkproperties</td>
  <td width="78%" valign="top">Use java.lang.Properties, which will loose comments and layout of file (default is 'false')</td>
  <td width="10%" valign="top">no</td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>The boolean attribute 'jdkproperties' is provided to recover the previous behaviour of the task, in which the layout and any comments in the properties file were lost by the task.</p>

<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 modifications 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" rowspan="2">At least one must be specified, if <i>operation</i> is not <i>delete</i></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, an additional keyword is allowed: &quot;now&quot;</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">One of the following operations:<br><br>
    <b>for all datatypes:</b><ul>
      <li>&quot;del&quot; : deletes an entry</li>
      <li>&quot;+&quot; : adds a value to the existing value</li>
      <li>&quot;=&quot; : sets a value instead of the existing value (default)</li>
    </ul><br><b>for date and int only:</b><ul>
      <li>&quot;-&quot; : subtracts a value from the existing value</li>
    </ul>
    </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>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">unit</td>
    <td valign="top">The unit of the value to be applied to date +/- operations.
                     Valid Values are:
                     <ul>
                        <li>millisecond</li>
                        <li>second</li>
                        <li>minute</li>
                        <li>hour</li>
                        <li>day (default)</li>
                        <li>week</li>
                        <li>month</li>
                        <li>year</li>
                     </ul>
                     This only applies to date types using a +/- operation.
    </td>
    <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p>The rules used when setting a property value are shown below.&nbsp; The
operation occurs <b>after</b> these rules are considered.</p>

<ul>
  <li>If only value is specified, the property is set to it regardless of its
  previous value.</li>
  <li>If only default is specified and the property previously existed in the
  property file, it is unchanged.</li>
  <li>If only default is specified and the property did not exist in the
  property file, the property is set to default.</li>
  <li>If value and default are both specified and the property previously
  existed in the property file, the property is set to value.</li>
  <li>If value and default are both specified and the property did not exist in
  the property file, the property is set to default.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Examples</h3>

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

<pre># A string value
akey=original value

# The following is a counter, which will be incremented by 1 for
# each time the build is run.
anint=1</pre>

<p>After running, the file would now look like
</p>
<pre>#My properties
#Wed Aug 31 13:47:19 BST 2005
# A string value
akey=avalue

# The following is a counter, which will be incremented by 1 for
# each time the build is run.
anint=2

adate=2005/08/31 13\:47

formated.int=0014

formated.date=243 13\:47</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. 
</p>

<p>
The layout and comment of the original file is preserved. New properties are added at the end of the file. Existing properties are overwritten in place.
</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; default=&quot;0&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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