WAR file creation using Ant in Java Program

[Srinivas Ivaturi]

Hi
I came to know that we can use Ant API in Java Programming to make the Dyanamic WAR creation. The scenario is like this -->
I have to select set of files and create some XML documents online and make them as WAR. I could able to make all of the above except WAR file generation.
I need some help how can I make use of ANT API in Java Program (A Servlet may be) to create a dynamic WAR file on the fly.

Thanks for your time and help in advance
Srinivas Ivaturi.

[friso dejonge]

download the source of ant, more specifically the code part where they create the war file, copy the code, and there you go.

[Mark Spritzler]

Well in a build.xml it is pretty easy.
Here is one that I created, and I am very very new to Ant. Actually this is my first time ever using Ant.

 
<target name="jars" depends="compile">
        <mkdir dir="${dist.dir}"/>
        <copy todir="${build.ojb.dir}">
            <fileset  dir="${src.ojb.dir}">
                <include name="**/*"/>
            </fileset >
        </copy>
        <war warfile="${dist.dir}/${name}.war"
             webxml="${src.web.dir}/WEB-INF/web.xml">
            <lib dir="${lib.dir}" >
<exclude name="**/build/*.*" />
</lib>
            <classes dir="${build.classes.dir}">
                <include name="**/*.class"/>
                <exclude name="**/ejb/*.class" />
            </classes>
            <classes dir="${build.ojb.dir}">
                <include name="**/*"/>
            </classes>
            <fileset dir="${src.web.dir}">
                <exclude name="**/*.#*"/>
            </fileset>
        </war>
        <!-- create jar file for running unit tests from command line -->
        <jar jarfile="${dist.dir}/${name}-${version}.jar"
             basedir="${build.classes.dir}">
        </jar>
    </target>
 

Mark

[Dirk Schreckmann]

Srinivas,
If you're not already familiar with it, I'm just pointing out that as part of the Ant binaries download is the API documentation. While it doesn't include a complete example that I've noticed, the classes, including the War task class, do seem to be documented well enough to be able to piece things together.
If you're looking for more direction on getting started using the API, just ask.
(If you're having trouble finding the API documentation, take a look at ANT_HOME/docs/manual/api/index.html)