Overview (Ant)

Ant
Package	Description
org.apache.tools.ant.module.api	Examination and execution of Ant build scripts.
org.apache.tools.ant.module.api.support	Utilities for examining and running Ant scripts.
org.apache.tools.ant.module.spi	Ways of influencing how Ant is run inside NetBeans.

The main uses of the Ant integration module are self-contained and do not interact directly with other modules: the user selects a target in an Ant script and runs it. Nonetheless, there are a few significant ways other modules can interact with this module:

AntLogger
Permits customization of the way Ant output is displayed.
register-defs
Registering custom Ant task and type definitions (when these can be run inside the NetBeans JVM only). Typically used to add special tasks which somehow script the IDE, such as connecting the JPDA debugger to a process launched by Ant.
AutomaticExtraClasspathProvider
Permits additions to the default Ant classpath.
IntrospectedInfo
Examining cached and introspected data about which tasks and types are known to be defined in the user's Ant scripts, and what their design-time structure is. Used by XML code completion, for example.
AntTargetExecutor
Running named targets in specified Ant scripts. Can be used by modules which provide a different UI for initiating Ant execution. ActionUtils provides a more convenient wrapper around this functionality.

What is New (see all changes)?

Jan 18 '12 Added TargetLister.Target.getOriginatingScript

Added ability to get originating script for a Target.
Dec 15 '11 Added AntSession.getProperties

Added ability to get user properties defined for a build.
Mar 16 '09 Added AntSession.getIO

Added ability to get the underlying InputOutput object for advanced formatting.
Jun 12 '08 Added AntScriptUtils

Added a new convenience class for getting some common information from Ant scripts.
Mar 6 '08 Ant loggers can now inspect Ant reference objects

The AntEvent methods getProperty and getPropertyNames can now work with Ant references as well as plain properties. This is critical for loggers which wish to inspect e.g. the runtime value of a classpath given as:
```
<classpath refid="my.cp"/>
```
which otherwise would be inaccessible.

Use Cases

The principal use cases for the API are covered in the overall API architecture.

Exported Interfaces

This table lists all of the module exported APIs with defined stability classifications. It is generated based on answers to questions about the architecture of the module. Read them all...

Group of java interfaces

Interface Name	In/Out	Stability	Specified in What Document?
AntLogger	Exported	Stable	.../tools/ant/module/spi/AntLogger.html Permits customization of the way Ant output is displayed.
AutomaticExtraClasspathProvider	Exported	Stable	.../spi/AutomaticExtraClasspathProvider.html Permits additions to the default Ant classpath.
IntrospectedInfo	Exported	Stable	.../ant/module/api/IntrospectedInfo.html Examining cached and introspected data about which tasks and types are known to be defined in the user's Ant scripts, and what their design-time structure is. Used by XML code completion, for example.
AntTargetExecutor	Exported	Stable	.../ant/module/api/AntTargetExecutor.html Running named targets in specified Ant scripts. Can be used by modules which provide a different UI for initiating Ant execution. `ActionUtils` provides a more convenient wrapper around this functionality.

Group of java.io.File interfaces

Interface Name

In/Out

Stability

Specified in What Document?

Exported

Stable

.../org/apache/tools/ant/module/spi/package-summary.html

Registering custom Ant task and type definitions (when these can be run inside the NetBeans JVM only). Typically used to add special tasks which somehow script the IDE, such as connecting the JPDA debugger to a process launched by Ant.

Group of layer interfaces

Interface Name	In/Out	Stability	Specified in What Document?
layer-actions	Exported	Under Development	Context menu actions are read from the layer folder `Loaders/text/x-ant+xml/Actions`.

Implementation Details

Where are the sources for the module?

The sources for the module are in the NetBeans Mercurial repositories.

What do other modules need to do to declare a dependency on this one, in addition to or instead of a plain module dependency?

Nothing.

Read more about the implementation in the answers to architecture questions.

AntStable