Usage of the Ant Classloader Tasks

How to use

There are many ways to make a task usable in ant. This manual covers:

Installation:
Jars are copied into $ANT_HOME/lib
Static Configuration:
Jars are included in CLASSPATH
Absolute (Dynamic) Configuration:
Locations are defined external (typically via an Environment variable or a properties file) and resolved in the script.
Relative (Dynamic) Configuration:
Jars are located relative to the project directory.

NOTE: We don't use abstraction in the examples to make them easier and straight forward. A good design guide is The Elements Of Ant Style.

Installation

This alternative is the easiest one and recommended in Ant's manual.

Preparation:

Copy ant-classloadertask.jar into $ANT_HOME/lib.

Definition:

conventional:

<taskdef resource="net/jtools/classloadertask/antlib.xml"/>

namespaced: Just declare it as an Xml namespace with antlib protocol.

<project xmlns:cltask="antlib:net.jtools.classloadertask"
         .../>

This alternative can be useful, if one dont't want to "install" tools whenever he updates Ant. It is a pragmatically solution to solve some issues but using CLASSPATH is NOT RECOMMENDED by Ant's manual.

Preparation:

Add ant-classloadertask.jar to the CLASSPATH.

Definition:

conventional:

<taskdef resource="net/jtools/classloadertask/antlib.xml"/>

namespaced: Declare an Xml namespace with an uri and define this uri in a conventional taskdef.

<project xmlns:cltask="anttask:/net.jtools/antclassloadertask"
         .../>
    <taskdef resource="net/jtools/classloadertask/antlib.xml"
             url="anttask:/net.jtools/antclassloadertask"/>

Absolute (Dynamic) Configuration

This alternative is often used in distributed projects, that use local tool installations. The build is based on a expected set of tools on the user's machine. The information where this tools are located is passed to Ant. There are different ways to pass information to Ant. I'm normally using OS Environment variables.

Preparation:

Write the directory, in which ant-classloadertask.jar resides into a Environment variable. Assume, the jar is located in the directory "C:\tools\ant-classloadertask" you would set a variable
```
set ANT_CLTASK_HOME=C:\tools\ant-classloadertask.
```

Definition:

conventional:

<property environment="env."/>
<taskdef resource="net/jtools/classloadertask/antlib.xml"
        classpath="${env.ANT_CLTASK_HOME}/ant-classloadertask.jar"/>

namespaced: Declare an Xml namespace with an uri and define this uri in a conventional taskdef.

<project xmlns:cltask="anttask:/net.jtools/antclassloadertask"
         .../>
    <property environment="env."/>
    <taskdef resource="net/jtools/classloadertask/antlib.xml"
             classpath="${env.ANT_CLTASK_HOME}/ant-classloadertask.jar"
             url="anttask:/net.jtools/antclassloadertask"/>

Relative (Dynamic) Configuration

This alternative is typically used in projects, that use tool installations in a versioning system (f.e. CVS).

Preparation:

Put ant-classloadertask.jar in a directory with a predefined relative location to your build directory.

Definition:

conventional:

<taskdef resource="net/jtools/classloadertask/antlib.xml"
        classpath="myrelativePath/ant-classloadertask.jar"/>

namespaced: Declare an Xml namespace with an uri and define this uri in a conventional taskdef.

<project xmlns:cltask="anttask:/net.jtools/antclassloadertask"
         .../>
    <taskdef resource="net/jtools/classloadertask/antlib.xml"
             classpath="myrelativePath/ant-classloadertask.jar"
             url="anttask:/net.jtools/antclassloadertask"/>

How to use

Installation

Static Configuration

Absolute (Dynamic) Configuration

Relative (Dynamic) Configuration