ZDO Corporation

Join Task for ANT enables you to create a string consisting of file names separated by a separator you defined. I developed this ANT task in order to create the content of archive parameter for Applet tag, which consists of a series of JAR files separated by commas, within the ANT build file. The Join tag could also serve to many other purposes.

1. Usage

In your buid.xml file, define the Join task using taskdef, and call it:

 <taskdef name="join" classname="com.zdo.ant.Join" classpathref="classpath" />

 <join separator="," property="joined">
   <fileset dir="${src}" />
 </join>

 <echo message="${joined}" />

Join task creates a string of file names separated by the value of separator and returns back this string under the name of variable defined using property parameter. (eg. x.java, y.java etc.)

2. Installation

1. Download the zdo-ant-1.0.zip file.
2. Do a ant compile on command prompt to compile.
3. Do a ant test on command prompt in order to test.
4. Do a ant bundle on command prompt in order to create the zdo-ant-1.0.jar JAR file.
5. You can now include the zdo-ant-1.0.jar JAR file to your classpath inorder to use it in your projects.

 $ ant -projecthelp
 Buildfile: build.xml

 Main targets:

  bundle     creates a jar bundle
  clean      clean build directory
  compile    compile java source files
  copyright  display copyright message
  init       initialize build directory
  test       tests the task
 Default target: compile

3. Source Code

Here is the source code Join.java:

/**
 * Copyright (c) 2004
 *      Ali Onur Cinar <cinar(a)zdo.com>
 *
 * License:
 *
 *   Permission  to  use,  copy, modify, and  distribute  this software and its
 *   documentation   for  educational   purposes  and  without  fee  is  hereby
 *   granted,  provided  that the  above  copyright notice appear in all copies
 *   and  that both  the  copyright  notice  and  this  permission  notice  and
 *   warranty  disclaimer appear in supporting documentation, and that the name
 *   of Ali Onur Cinar not be  used  in  advertising or publicity pertaining to
 *   distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission.
 *
 * @author     A. Onur Cinar <cinar(a)zdo.com>
 * @version    %W% %G% ZDO
 * @version    $Id: Join.java,v 1.1 2004/09/21 13:12:05 cinar Exp $ ZDO
 * @since      1.0
 */

package com.zdo.ant;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Vector;
import java.util.ListIterator;
import org.apache.tools.ant.Task;
import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
import org.apache.tools.ant.types.FileSet;

public class Join extends Task
{
  /**
   * Default Constructor. 
   *
   */
  public Join()
  {
    fileSets = new Vector();
    setSeparator(",");
  }

  /**
   * Sets the separator string.
   * 
   * @param p separator string
   */
  public void setSeparator(String p)
  {
    separator = p;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the separator string.
   * 
   * @return separator string
   */
  public String getSeparator()
  {
    return separator;
  }

  /**
   * Sets the property name which
   * will hold the result.
   * 
   * @param p property name
   */
  public void setProperty(String p)
  {
    property = p;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the property name which
   * will hold the result.
   * 
   * @return property name
   */
  public String getProperty()
  {
    return property;
  }

  /**
   * Adds a file set.
   * 
   * @param p file set
   */
  public void addFileset(FileSet p)
  {
    fileSets.add(p);
  }

  /**
   * Executes the task.
   * 
   * @throws BuildException if property name
   *         is not defined.
   */
  public void execute()
    throws BuildException
  {
    if(property == null)
    {
       throw new BuildException(
         "property attribute is required", 
		 getLocation());
    }

    StringBuffer joinString = new StringBuffer();

    ListIterator iterator = fileSets.listIterator();

    while (iterator.hasNext())                        // for each file set
    {
       FileSet fileSet = (FileSet)iterator.next();    // get only included
       String files[] = fileSet.getDirectoryScanner(  // files
       	 getProject()).getIncludedFiles();

       for (int i=0; i < files.length; i++)           // for each file
       {
          if(joinString.length() > 0)                 // use separator
          {
            joinString.append(separator);
          }

          joinString.append(files[i]);                // add to list
       }
    }

    getProject().setProperty(property,                // set property value
      joinString.toString());
  }

  /** Class Data */
  protected String separator;
  protected List fileSets;
  protected String property;
}