Ant - Directory not created

[Timothy Sam]

Hi guys! I'm just wondering why the setup-war-structure target particularly the line

<mkdir dir="${wardir}"/>

doesn't seem to execute. I can't see a directory named war in my basedir. Everything else though are created.

<project name="hibernate-test" default="compile">
 
  <property name="sourcedir" value="${basedir}\src"/>
  <property name="targetdir" value="${basedir}\bin"/>
  <property name="libdir" value="${basedir}\lib"/>
  <property name="configdir" value="${basedir}\config"/>
  <property name="wardir" value="${basedir}\war"/>
  <property name="viewsdir" value="${basedir}\views"/>
  <property name="static-htmldir" value="${basedir}\static-web"/>
 
  <target name="setup-war-structure" depends="compile">
    <mkdir dir="${wardir}"/>
    <mkdir dir="${wardir}/WEB-INF"/>
    <mkdir dir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/classes"/>
    <mkdir dir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/lib"/>
    <mkdir dir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/views"/>
 
    <copy todir="${wardir}.WEB-INF/classes">
      <fileset dir="${targetdir}"/>
    </copy>
 
    <copy todir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/lib">
      <fileset dir="${libdir}"/>
    </copy>
 
    <copy todir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/views">
      <fileset dir="${viewsdir}"/>
    </copy>
 
    <copy todir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/">
      <fileset dir="${configdir}"/>
    </copy>
 
    <copy todir="${wardir}">
      <fileset dir="${static-htmldir}"/>
    </copy>
 
  </target>
 

  <target name="compile" depends="copy-resources">
 
    <javac srcdir="${sourcedir}" destdir="${targetdir}" debug="on">
      
      <classpath>
 
        <fileset dir="${libdir}">
          <include name="*.jar"/>
        </fileset>
 
      </classpath>
    
    </javac>     
 
  </target>
 

  <target name="copy-resources">
  
    <copy todir="${targetdir}">
        
        <fileset dir="${sourcedir}">
          <exclude name="**/*.java"/>
        </fileset>
 
    </copy>
 
  </target>
 

</project>

Thanks!

[Tim Holloway]

Try using a forward slash instead of a backslash in the directory pathname. That is: "${basedir}/war".

Forward slashes work almost every place backslashes do for filename paths in Java (and Ant is a Java program). However they carry 2 advantages:

1. They work when running the ant builds on non-Windows systems like Solaris.

2. Forward slashes don't have a "magic" meaning. Backslashes are used in Java for escape sequences.

In the case of Ant file and directory operations, I'm pretty sure that item #2 won't bite you, but why take chances? Look for a "${basedir}war" directory that you can't account for. If you find one, that was the problem.

[Timothy Sam]

Thanks for the tip! I incorporated you suggestion with my script and I solved the problem by changing project tag's default attribute to setup-war-structure instead of compile.

<project name="hibernate-test" default="setup-war-structure">
 
  <property name="sourcedir" value="${basedir}/src"/>
  <property name="targetdir" value="${basedir}/bin"/>
  <property name="libdir" value="${basedir}/lib"/>
  <property name="configdir" value="${basedir}/config"/>
  <property name="wardir" value="${basedir}/war"/>
  <property name="viewsdir" value="${basedir}/views"/>
  <property name="static-htmldir" value="${basedir}/static-web"/>
 
  <target name="compile" depends="copy-resources">
 
    <javac srcdir="${sourcedir}" destdir="${targetdir}" debug="on">
      
      <classpath>
 
        <fileset dir="${libdir}">
          <include name="*.jar"/>
        </fileset>
 
      </classpath>
    
    </javac>     
 
  </target>
 

  <target name="copy-resources">
  
    <copy todir="${targetdir}">
        
        <fileset dir="${sourcedir}">
          <exclude name="**/*.java"/>
        </fileset>
 
    </copy>
 
  </target>
 

  <target name="setup-war-structure" depends="compile">
    <mkdir dir="${wardir}"/>
    <mkdir dir="${wardir}/WEB-INF"/>
    <mkdir dir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/classes"/>
    <mkdir dir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/lib"/>
    <mkdir dir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/views"/>
 
    <copy todir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/classes">
      <fileset dir="${targetdir}"/>
    </copy>
 
    <copy todir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/lib">
      <fileset dir="${libdir}"/>
    </copy>
 
    <copy todir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/views">
      <fileset dir="${viewsdir}"/>
    </copy>
 
    <copy todir="${wardir}/WEB-INF/">
      <fileset dir="${configdir}"/>
    </copy>
 
    <copy todir="${wardir}">
      <fileset dir="${static-htmldir}"/>
    </copy>
 
  </target>
 

 
</project>

[Jan Cumps]

Timothy, your signature nicely matches the problem you had.

Regards, Jan

[Timothy Sam]

Only that I wanted it to be made using ant and not by hand.