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ant

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<h2><a name="ant">Ant</a></h2>
<h3>Description</h3>

<p>Runs Ant on a supplied buildfile. This can be used to build
subprojects.  <strong>This task must not be used outside of a
<code>target</code> if it invokes the same build file it is part
of.</strong></p>

<p>When the <i>antfile</i> attribute is omitted, the file &quot;build.xml&quot;
in the supplied directory (<i>dir</i> attribute) is used.</p>
<p>If no target attribute is supplied, the default target of the new project is
used.</p>
<p>By default, all of the properties of the current project will be
available in the new project.  Alternatively, you can set the
<i>inheritAll</i> attribute to <code>false</code> and only
&quot;user&quot; 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 <a
href="property.html">property task</a>).</p>

<p>You can also set properties in the new project from the old project
by using nested property tags. These properties are always passed
to the new project and any project created in that project
regardless of the setting of <i>inheritAll</i>.  This allows you to
parameterize your subprojects.  Properties defined on the command line
cannot be overridden by nested <code>&lt;property&gt;</code> elements.</p>

<p>References to data types can also be passed to the new project, but
by default they are not.  If you set the inheritrefs attribute to
true, all references will be copied, but they will not override
references defined in the new project.</p>

<p>Nested <a href="#reference"><i><code>&lt;reference&gt;</code></i></a> elements
can also 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.</p>

<h3>Parameters</h3>
<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">antfile</td>
    <td valign="top">the buildfile to use. Defaults to
      &quot;build.xml&quot;.  This file is expected to be a filename
      relative to the dir attribute given.</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">dir</td>
         <td valign="top">the directory to use as a basedir for the new Ant project.
      Defaults to the current project's basedir, unless
      inheritall has been set to false, in which case it doesn't
      have a default value.  This will override the basedir
      setting of the called project.</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">target</td>
    <td valign="top">the target of the new Ant project that should be executed.
      Defaults to the new project's default target.</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">output</td>
    <td valign="top">Filename to write the ant output to.  This is
    relative to the value of the dir attribute if it has been set or
    to the base directory of the current project otherwise.
    </td>
    <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">inheritAll</td>
    <td valign="top">If <code>true</code>, pass all properties to the
      new Ant project.  Defaults to <code>true</code>.</td>
    <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">inheritRefs</td>
    <td valign="top">If <code>true</code>, pass all references to the
      new Ant project.  Defaults to <code>false</code>.</td>
    <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h3>Parameters specified as nested elements</h3>

<h4>property</h4>
<p>See the description of the <a href="property.html">property
task</a>. <br/>
These properties become equivalent to properties you define on
the command line. These are special properties and they will always get passed
down, even through additional <code>&lt;*ant*&gt;</code> tasks with inheritall set to
false (see above). <br/>
Note that the <code>refid</code> attribute points to a
reference in the calling project, not in the new one.</p>

<h4><a name="reference">reference</a></h4>
<p>Used to choose references that shall be copied into the new project,
optionally changing their id.</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">refid</td>
    <td valign="top">The id of the reference in the calling project.</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">Yes</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">torefid</td>
    <td valign="top">The id of the reference in the new project.</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">No, defaults to the value of refid.</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h4>propertyset</h4>

<p>You can specify a set of properties to be copied into the new
project with <a
href="../CoreTypes/propertyset.html">propertyset</a>s.</p>

<p><em>since Ant 1.6</em>.</p>

<h4>target</h4>

<p>You can specify multiple targets using nested <code>&lt;target&gt;</code> elements
instead of using the target attribute.  These will be executed as if
Ant had been invoked with a single target whose dependencies are the
targets so specified, in the order specified.</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">name</td>
    <td valign="top">The name of the called target.</td>
    <td valign="top" align="center">Yes</td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p><em>since Ant 1.6.3</em>.</p>

<h3>Basedir of the new project</h3>

<p>The basedir value of the new project is affected by the two
attributes dir and inheritall, see the following table for
details:</p>

<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
  <tr>
    <td valign="top"><b>dir attribute</b></td>
    <td valign="top"><b>inheritAll attribute</b></td>
    <td valign="top"><b>new project's basedir</b></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">value provided</td>
    <td valign="top">true</td>
    <td valign="top">value of dir attribute</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">value provided</td>
    <td valign="top">false</td>
    <td valign="top">value of dir attribute</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">omitted</td>
    <td valign="top">true</td>
    <td valign="top">basedir of calling project (the one whose build
        file contains the <code>&lt;ant&gt;</code> task).</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">omitted</td>
    <td valign="top">false</td>
    <td valign="top">basedir attribute of the <code>&lt;project&gt;</code> element
        of the new project</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h3>Examples</h3>
<pre>
  &lt;ant antfile=&quot;subproject/subbuild.xml&quot; dir=&quot;subproject&quot; target=&quot;compile&quot;/&gt;

  &lt;ant dir=&quot;subproject&quot;/&gt;

  &lt;ant antfile=&quot;subproject/property_based_subbuild.xml&quot;&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;param1&quot; value=&quot;version 1.x&quot;/&gt;
    &lt;property file=&quot;config/subproject/default.properties&quot;/&gt;
  &lt;/ant&gt;

  &lt;ant inheritAll=&quot;false&quot; antfile=&quot;subproject/subbuild.xml&quot;&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;output.type&quot; value=&quot;html&quot;/&gt;
  &lt;/ant&gt;
</pre>

<p>The build file of the calling project defines some
<code>&lt;path&gt;</code> elements like this:</p>

<pre>
  &lt;path id="path1"&gt;
    ...
  &lt;/path&gt;
  &lt;path id="path2"&gt;
    ...
  &lt;/path&gt;
</pre>

<p>and the called build file (<code>subbuild.xml</code>) also defines
a <code>&lt;path&gt;</code> with the id <code>path1</code>, but
<code>path2</code> is not defined:</p>

<pre>
  &lt;ant antfile=&quot;subbuild.xml&quot; inheritrefs=&quot;true&quot;/&gt;
</pre>

<p>will not override <code>subbuild</code>'s definition of
<code>path1</code>, but make the parent's definition of
<code>path2</code> available in the subbuild.</p>

<pre>
  &lt;ant antfile=&quot;subbuild.xml&quot;/&gt;
</pre>

<p>as well as</p>

<pre>
  &lt;ant antfile=&quot;subbuild.xml&quot; inheritrefs=&quot;false&quot;/&gt;
</pre>

<p>will neither override <code>path1</code> nor copy
<code>path2</code>.</p>

<pre>
  &lt;ant antfile=&quot;subbuild.xml&quot; inheritrefs=&quot;false&quot;&gt;
    &lt;reference refid=&quot;path1&quot;/&gt;
  &lt;/ant&gt;
</pre>

<p>will override <code>subbuild</code>'s definition of
<code>path1</code>.</p>

<pre>
  &lt;ant antfile=&quot;subbuild.xml&quot; inheritrefs=&quot;false&quot;&gt;
    &lt;reference refid=&quot;path1&quot; torefid=&quot;path2&quot;/&gt;
  &lt;/ant&gt;
</pre>

<p>will copy the parent's definition of <code>path1</code> into the
new project using the id <code>path2</code>.</p>

<hr>
<p align="center">Copyright &copy; 2000-2004 The Apache Software Foundation. All rights
Reserved.</p>

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