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<title>Visual Age for Java Tasks and Plugin User Manual</title>
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<H1>Visual Age for Java Tasks and Plugin User Manual</H1>
<a name="authors"></A>by<UL>
<LI>Wolf Siberski
(<A href="mailto:wolf.siberski@tui.de">
wolf.siberski@tui.de</A> )
<LI>Christoph Wilhelms
(<A href="mailto:christoph.wilhelms@tui.de">
christoph.wilhelms@tui.de</A>)</LI></UL>
Version 1.2 - 2001/06/14<br>
<hr>
<h2>Table of Contents</H2>
<ul>
<li><A href="#introduction">Introduction</A>
<li><A href="#tasks">The Tasks</A><A href="#introduction"></A>
<ul>
<li><A href="#vajload">VAJLoad</A>
<li><A href="#vajexport">VAJExport</A>
<li><A href="#vajimport">VAJImport</A></LI></UL>
<li><A href="#sample_buildfile">A sample build file</A><br>
<li><A href="#plugin">The Plugin</A>
<ul>
<li><A href="#installation">Installation</A>
<li><A href="#usage">Usage</A> </LI></UL>
<li><A href="#faq">Frequently Asked Questions</A>
<li><A href="#va_versions">Visual Age Versions</A>
<li><A href="#history">History</A><A href="#history"></A> </LI></UL>
<hr>
<h2><a name="introduction"></A>Introduction</H2>
<P>Visual Age for Java is a great Java IDE, but it lacks
decent build support; for creating deliveries. On the other hand, Ant supports
the build process very good, but is (at least at the moment) command line based.
So we decided to write some tasks to access the VAJ repository and a small
visual Ant frontend to make running Ant from VAJ possible. We use the Tool API
to integrate Ant in VisualAge for Java. In combination with the VAJ tasks
(vajload, vajexport, vajimport) you can load defined versions of projects
into your workspace, export the source code, compile it with an external
compiler and build a jar without leaving the IDE. Of course compile messages are
viewed in a logging window. Concluding: This tool provides decent deployment
support VAJ has not (out of the box).</P>
<H3>What's new</H3>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="0" width="500">
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top">2001/06/14</TD>
<td valign="top">
<UL>
<LI>Now all tasks can access VAJ via 'Remote Access
To Tool API'. Therefore builds containing VAJ tasks can also be executed
from the command line (Kudos to Glenn McAllister for describing the
concept and providing source code at
<A href="http://www7.software.ibm.com/vad.nsf/Data/Document4366">
http://www7.software.ibm.com/vad.nsf/Data/Document4366</A>.
<LI>It is possible to cancel a running build
executed from the plugin
<LI>Improved error handling in the plugin. Now all
errors should show up either in the log window or in the
console.</LI></UL></TD></TR></TABLE>
<h2><a name="tasks"></A>The Tasks</H2>
At the moment there are three tasks which help integrating the VAJ repository
contents into an external build process:
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="0" width="500">
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top"><A href="#vajload">VAJLoad</A><br></TD>
<td valign="top"> loads specified versions into the workspace<br></TD></TR>
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top"><A href="#vajexport">VAJExport</A><br></TD>
<td valign="top"> exports specified packages into the file system<br></TD></TR>
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top"><A href="#vajimport">VAJImport</A><br></TD>
<td valign="top"> imports specified files into the workspace<br></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P>These tasks are described in detail below.</P>
<hr>
<P></P>
<h2><a name="vajload"></A>VAJLoad</H2>
<h3>Description:</H3>
<p>Loads a specified VAJ project version into the
workspace.</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="middle" valign="top"><b>Required</B></TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">remote</TD>
<td valign="top">
<P>name and port of a remote tool server. (format:
<servername>:<port no>).<BR>If this
attribute is set, the tasks will be executed on the specified tool
server. </P></TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR></TABLE>
<h3>Parameters specified as nested elements</H3>
<h4>vajproject</H4>
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td valign="top"><b>Attribute</B></TD>
<td valign="top"><b>Description</B></TD>
<td align="middle" valign="top"><b>Required</B></TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">name</TD>
<td valign="top">name of the VAJ project to load into
the workspace</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">yes</TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">version</TD>
<td valign="top">name of the requested version</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">yes</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<h3>Example</H3>
<pre><vajload remote="localhost:32767">
<vajproject name="My Testcases" version="1.7beta"/>
<vajproject name="JUnit" version="3.2"/>
</vajload>
</PRE>
<hr>
<h2><a name="vajexport"></A>VAJExport</H2>
<h3>Description:</H3>
<p>Exports Java source files, class files and/or resources from the workspace
to the file system. Exports can be specified by giving the VAJ project
name and package name(s). This works very similar to <A href="index.html#fileset">
FileSets</A>. </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="middle" valign="top"><b>Required</B></TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">destdir</TD>
<td valign="top">location to store the exported
files</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">yes</TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">exportSources</TD>
<td valign="top">export source files (default:
"yes")</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR>
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top">exportResources</TD>
<td valign="top">export resource files (default:
"yes")</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR>
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top">exportClasses</TD>
<td valign="top">export class files (default: "no")</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR>
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top">exportDebugInfo</TD>
<td valign="top">include debug info in exported class
files (default: "no")</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top>defaultexcludes</TD>
<TD vAlign=top>
<P>use default excludes when exporting (default: "yes").<BR>Default excludes are: IBM*/**, Java
class libraries/**, Sun class libraries*/**, JSP Page Compile Generated
Code/**, VisualAge*/** </P></TD>
<TD vAlign=top align="middle">no</TD></TR>
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top">overwrite</TD>
<td valign="top"> overwrite existing files (default:
"yes")</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">remote</TD>
<td valign="top">
<P>name and port of a remote tool server. (format:
<servername>:<port no>).<BR>If this
attribute is set, the tasks will be executed on the specified tool
server. </P></TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR></TABLE>
<h3>Parameters specified as nested elements</H3>
<h4>include</H4>
specifies the packages to include into the export
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td valign="top"><b>Attribute</B></TD>
<td valign="top"><b>Description</B></TD>
<td align="middle" valign="top"><b>Required</B></TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">name</TD>
<td valign="top">name of the VAJ project and package to export.<br>
The first element of the name must be the project name, <br>
then the package name elements
separated by '/'.</TD>
<td valign="top">yes</TD></TR></TABLE>
<h4>exclude</H4>
specifies the packages to exclude from the export<br>
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td valign="top"><b>Attribute</B></TD>
<td valign="top"><b>Description</B></TD>
<td align="middle" valign="top"><b>Required</B></TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">name</TD>
<td valign="top">name of the VAJ project/package not to
export</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">yes</TD></TR></TABLE>
<h3>Example</H3>
<pre><vajexport destdir="${src.dir}" exportResources="no">
<include name="MyProject/**"/>
<exclude name="MyProject/test/**"/>
</vajexport>
</PRE>
This example exports all packages in the VAJ project 'MyProject', except
packages starting with 'test'.
<h3>Default Excludes</H3>
The default excludes are:<br>
<pre> IBM*/**
Java class libraries/**
Sun class libraries*/**
JSP Page Compile Generated Code/**
VisualAge*/**
</PRE>
<hr>
<h2><a name="vajimport"></A>VAJImport</H2>
<h3>Description:</H3>
<p>Imports Java source files, class files and/or resources
from the file system into VAJ. These imports can be specified with a fileset.
</P>
<h3>Parameters</H3>
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td valign="top"><b>Attribute</B></TD>
<td valign="top"><b>Description</B></TD>
<td align="middle" valign="top"><b>Required</B></TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">vajProject</TD>
<td valign="top">imported files are added to this VAJ
project</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">yes</TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">importSources</TD>
<td valign="top">import source files (default:
"yes")</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR>
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top">importResources</TD>
<td valign="top">import resource files (default:
"yes")</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR>
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top">importClasses</TD>
<td valign="top">import class files (default: "no")</TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR>
<tr>
<td valign="top">remote</TD>
<td valign="top">
<P>name and port of a remote tool server. (format:
<servername>:<port no>).<BR>If this
attribute is set, the tasks will be executed on the specified tool
server. </P></TD>
<td valign="top" align="middle">no</TD></TR></TABLE>
<h3>Parameters specified as nested elements</H3>
<h4>fileset</H4>
A <A href="index.html#fileset">FileSet</A> specifies the files to import.
<h3>Example</H3>
<pre><vajimport project="Test" importClasses="true">
<fileset dir="${import.dir}">
<include name="com/sample/**/*.class"/>
<exclude name="com/sample/test/**"/>
</fileset>
</vajimport>
</PRE>
This example imports all class files in the directory ${import.dir}/com/sample
excluding those in the subdirectory test<br>
<hr>
<h2><a name="sample_buildfile"></A>The
Plugin</H2>
The tasks are usable within VAJ by running the
org.apache.tools.ant.Main class, but this is
quite inconvenient. Therefore a small GUI is
provided which allows selecting a build file
and executing its targets. This Plugin is accessible
from the VAJ Tools menu (see <A href="#usage">Usage</A>).
<hr>
<h2><a name="installation"></A>Installation</H2>
<p>At the moment the installation has it's rough edges. If something
described below doesn't work for You, it's probably not Your fault
but incomplete/wrong instructions. In this case, please contact one
of the <A href="#authors">authors</A>.</P>
<p>We assume <CODE>C:\IBMVJava</CODE> as VAJ
install directory. If You have installed it elsewhere, adapt the pathes below.
<h3>Plugin</H3>
<ul>
<li>install the Visual Age IDE Tools (via File->Quick
Start-> Add feature->'IBM IDE Utility class libraries'
<li>import an appropriate XML parser to VAJ (we use Xerces
1.2.0 and are happy with it). Unfortunately the XML parser delivered with VAJ
(in the project 'IBM XML Parser for Java') doesn't work with Ant. You have to
remove that project (temporarily) from the workspace before importing another
XML implementation.
<li>import the Ant sources <STRONG>and </STRONG> resources into VAJ.
<li>Create the directory <CODE>
C:\IBMVJava\ide\tools\org-apache-tools-ant</CODE>.
<li>export the Ant and XML parser class and resource files
into this directory. Be sure to select class files <STRONG>and</STRONG>
resources. Sources don't have to
be exported. Some optional tasks have errors and can't be exported when You
don't have the necessary packages in Your workspace (e.g. junit task, ejbc
task). If You need this tasks either import these packages into VAJ, too, or
copy the .class files directly from the binary distribution.
<li>copy <CODE>default.ini</CODE> (in <CODE>
jakarta-ant\src\...\taskdefs\optional\ide</CODE>) to <CODE>
C:\IBMVJava\ide\tools\org-apache-tools-ant\default.ini</CODE>.
<li>if you want to access this help from the Workbench, create the
directory <CODE> C:\IBMVJava\ide\tools\org-apache-tools-ant\doc</CODE>
and copy the files <CODE>VAJAntTool.html</CODE>,
<CODE>toolmenu.gif</CODE> and <CODE>
anttool1.gif</CODE> to it.
<li>VAJ has to be restarted to recognize the new tool.
<li>Now if You open the context menu of a project, You should see the entry
'Ant Build' in the Tools submenu (see <A href="#usage">Usage</A>).
<li>Make sure the tool works as expected. Now You can
remove Ant and the imported XML parser from Your workspace (and optionally add
the IBM parser again). </LI></UL>
<h3>Servlets for Remote Tool Access</H3>
<UL>
<LI>
For
a good introduction into the VAJ Remote Tool Access see the
great introduction from Glenn McAllister at
<A href="http://www7.software.ibm.com/vad.nsf/Data/Document4366">
http://www7.software.ibm.com/vad.nsf/Data/Document4366</A>. It
is highly recommended to read this article before doing the installation (to
understand what you do :-) ).
<LI>insert the following lines into
<code>C:\IBMVJava\ide\tools\com-ibm-ivj-toolserver\servlets\servlet.properties</CODE>.
Typically this file is empty. If not, be careful not to delete the other lines.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="500">
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top">
<PRE>servlet.vajload.code=org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.optional.ide.VAJLoadServlet
servlet.vajexport.code=org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.optional.ide.VAJExportServlet
servlet.vajimport.code=org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.optional.ide.VAJImportServletName<PRE> </PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TABLE>
<LI>export the following classes from the package
<CODE>org.apache.tools.ant</CODE>
to <CODE>C:\IBMVJava\ide\tools\com-ibm-ivj-toolserver\servlets\</CODE>:<BR>
<CODE>BuildException<BR>
DirectoryScanner<BR>
FileScanner<BR>
Location</CODE>
<LI>export the following classes from the package
<CODE>org.apache.tools.ant.taksdefs.optional.ide</CODE>
to <CODE>C:\IBMVJava\ide\tools\com-ibm-ivj-toolserver\servlets\</CODE>:<BR>
<CODE>VAJUtil<BR>
VAJExportServlet<BR>
VAJImportServlet<BR>
VAJLoadServlet<BR>
VAJLocalUtil<BR>
VAJProjectDescription<BR>
VAJToolsServlet<BR>
VAJWorkspaceScanner</CODE>
<LI>configure the Remote Access (via
Window->Options..., then choose 'Remote Access To Tool API') as shown in
the following picture:</LI></UL>
<P align=center><IMG height=645 alt="" src="remacc.gif"
width=587 border=0 ></P>
<P>Now you should be able to execute VAJ Tasks from the
command line.</P>
<hr>
<h2><a name="usage"></A>Usage</H2>
<H3>Plugin</H3>
<P>
When the tool is installed correctly and your Ant build
file is configured, it is really easy to use.<br>
Go to your Workbench, select the project you want to deploy and
open its context menu. In the submenu <i>Tools</I> you should find
the new entry <i>Ant Build</I>. Klick it to start the tool! </P>
<center><IMG height=246 src="toolmenu.gif" width=393 border=0></CENTER>
After a short time this frame should pop up:
<center><IMG height=241 alt=""
src="anttool1.gif"
width=389 border=0></CENTER>
This frame contains the following elements:
<ul>
<li>A menubar with some options described later
<li>The name of your selected VAJ project
<li>An entry field for the Ant XML buildfile with a browse
[...] button. The full qualified filename, including the directory is needed
here.
<li>A list with tasks specified in the buildfile. Until your first save of
the build info (described later), this list will be empty. When loading
a build file by the ( <EM>Re)Load </EM> button, this list
is filled with all tasks which have a description attribute. The
task you select in this list will be executed when pressing the
<EM>Execute </EM> button.
<li>A pulldown box for specifying the log level.
<li>Four buttons. Two of them I have already
described. The other are the <EM>Stop</EM> button to cancel a running build
and the third one is just the <EM>Close</EM> button to exit our small tool!
<li>Note that the build is canceled on the next console
output after pressing the <EM>Stop</EM> button, not
directly after pressing it.</LI></UL>
<P>
After you have set up your buildprocess you might find it useful
to save the data you've just entered, so we implemented an option to
save it to the repository into your selected project. Make sure that you
have an open edition of your project before selecting
<i>Save
BuildInfo To Repository</I> from the <i>File</I> menu.
Now your information is saved to this edition of your project and will
be loaded automatically the next time you start <i>Ant Build</I>.<br>
If you have closed the log window accidentally, it can be reopened
with the <i>Log</I> item in the <i>File</I> menu, and if you want to
know who developed this, just select <i>About</I> in the <i>Help</I> menu. </P>
<H3>Servlets for Remote Tool Access</H3>
<P>With the servlets installed and the remote access
running you can use Ant from the command line without any restrictions. Just
make sure the remote attribute in your build file is set correctly.</P>
<hr>
<h2><a name="faq"></A>Frequently Asked
Questions</H2>
<P><STRONG>Q: If I try to load a build
file, I get the error "Can't load default task list". Why?</STRONG><br>
A: Ant not only contains class files, but also resource
files. This messsage appears if the file
<BR>.../org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/defaults.properties is
missing. Make sure that you import/export not only java/class files, but also
all resource files when importing/exporting Ant.</P>
<P><STRONG>Q: I want to load, export
and build more then one Visual Age project to one jar! How to?</STRONG><br>
A: The VA tasks are able to load and export several
Projects all at once. You can choose whatever project you like for storing the
tool information, it doesn't really matter </P>
<p><STRONG>Q: When I load my build
file, the list of targets is empty. Why?</STRONG><br>
A: You
need to add the optional "description" parameter to the targets you want to come
up in the list. Then reload the build file in the "ant build" tool. We chose to
display only targets with description to allow the build file developer to
distinguish between targets for end users and helper targets. </P>
<p><STRONG>Q: Is there a sample build
file available? </STRONG><br>
A: Now you can find an <A href="#sample_buildfile">example</A> in this manual </P>
<p><STRONG>Q: Why does it export my
entire workspace when I've already implicitly selected a project when starting
the Tool?</STRONG><br>
A: This selection does not carry into
the buildfile you are using. Set the Project name at the beginning of the
"includes" parameter. </P>
<p><STRONG>Q: When I import Ant into
my Workspace, I get Problems reported. Can I ignore them?</STRONG><br>
A: It depends on the problems reported, and what you want to do with Ant.
Problems you can't ignore:
<ul>
<li>Classes from javax.xml.parser missing - install a compatible parser
(see <A href="#installation">installation</A>)
<li>Classes from com.ibm.ivj.util missing - install the Visual Age IDE
Utility feature (see <A href="#installation">installation</A>).
<li>Errors in optional tasks you use within your build
file</LI></UL>
<br>
<p><STRONG>Q: I want to use the same
buildfile both within Visual Age and from the command line using my regular Ant
environment. What do I need to be aware of?</STRONG><br>
A:
You have to specifie a remote server via the 'remote' attribute. Otherwise the
three Visual Age tasks won't work when executing Ant from the command line. </P>
<p><STRONG>Q: I can export packages
from project 'ABC', but not from project 'XYZ'! Why?</STRONG><br>
A: Common reasons are:</P>
<UL>
<li>The project is excluded by the default excludes (see
attribute 'defaultexcludes' of VAJExport)
<li>When looking at the project in the workspace, it is
often difficult to distinguish between project name and version name (e.g. as
in 'My GUI Components Java 2 3.5'). Check if you have the right project name
by switching off the version name display temporarilly.</LI></UL>
<p><STRONG>Q: How do I control the
import/export of sourcefiles, compiled files and project resources
explicity?</STRONG><br>
A: Via the Boolean values
exportClasses (default false) exportSources (default true) and exportResources
(default true). In some situations, Resources are not exported correctly without
this being explicity set. VAJ doesn't export resources correctly if a package
contains only resources (see below).</P>
<hr>
<h2><a name="known_problems"></A>Known
Problems</H2>
<ul>
<li>Exporting a package containing just resources doesn't
work. This is a VAJ Tool API bug. Workaround: create a dummy class and set
'exportSources' to false. </LI></UL>
<hr>
<h2><a name="va_versions"></A>VisualAge
for Java Versions</H2>
This tool integration has been tested with versions 3.02 and 3.5
of VisualAge for Java. It should run with the 2.x Versions, too, but
we didn't try. The graphical user interface is built with AWT so it is
JDK independent by now.
<hr>
<h2><a name="history"></A>History</H2>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="1" width="400">
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top">1.0</TD>
<td valign="top">2000/09/11</TD>
<td valign="top">Initial Version</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top>1.1</TD>
<TD vAlign=top>2001/02/14</TD>
<TD vAlign=top>Added Task documentation and more FAQs
(thanks to Richard Bourke for the FAQ additions) </TD></TR>
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="top">1.2</TD>
<td valign="top">2001/07/02</TD>
<td valign="top">
<P>Added documentation of new remote feature.<BR>Minor corrections.</P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<hr>
<center>Copyright &#copy 2001,2002 Apache Software
Foundation. All rights Reserved.</CENTER>
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