How Do I: Use a Custom Ant Build for an Application in Weblogic?

WebLogic Workshop uses a standard Ant build process for all applications. You can create a custom Ant build file for an application that extends the standard build process or uses different build targets altogether. If you want to extend or modify the standard build process, you should first export the standard application build file and begin by modifying that file.

To Export the Standard Application Build File

1.    Choose Tools-->Application Properties to display the Application Properties dialog.

2.    In the left-hand pane, select Build.

3.    In the Build Type pane, click Export to Ant File. A dialog appears informing that the exported_build.xml file has been stored in the root of the application folder. Click OK.

The exported Ant file contains a set of standard tasks and targets for managing the build for your application.

Note the class workshop.core.WlwBuildTask called by the "wlwBuild" task is the same class called by the command line tool wlwBuild.cmd.

 <taskdef name="wlwBuild" classname="workshop.core.WlwBuildTask"

            classpath="${weblogic.home}/workshop/wlw-ide.jar"/>

The most important target in the Ant file is the "build" target.

<target name="build">

    <!-- Builds the full application creating an ear at the specified location.

         The server classpath parameter is used, but may be omitted if the server home directory

         configured in Workshop is accessible. -->

    <wlwBuild work="${app.dir}/${work.file}" serverclasspath="${server.classpath}">

       <build outputdir="${output.dir}" outputfilename="${output.file}"/>

    </wlwBuild>

  </target>

Note that the following parameters are available for the "build" target:

project: String. Name of a specific project within the application to build. If omitted, the entire application will be built.

outputdir: String file path. Directory where build output file(s) will be placed. Defaults to application directory. May not be applicable for some types of project build.

outputfilename: String file path. Filename to use for output archive. Defaults to appname.ear. May not be applicable for some types of project build.

nodebug: Boolean value. Turns debugging information on or off. If no value is specified, the value is set to false.

noear: Boolean value. Specifies whether an EAR file should be generated for the application build. If no value is specified, the value is set to false. Not applicable for a project build.

To Create a Custom Ant Build File

You can use the standard exported build task and add additional build (sub)targets, or you can create a new ant file. To add a new task, you must use the <taskdef> element:

<taskdef name="myTask" classname="myTask" classpath="AllMyClass.jar"/>

Use the classpath attribute to specify the physical location of the JAR file as shown above, or you can specify the location when you change the project properties to use the custom build file as is described next.

You can also create a custom build process for an individual project within your application. Again, you should begin by exporting the standard build file and modifying that file.

To Export the Standard Project Build File

1.    Open the target application in WebLogic Workshop.

2.    From the Tools menu, select Project properties, then the target project name.

3.    In the Project Properties dialog, from the left-side navigation panel, select the Build node.

4.    In the section labeled Build Type, click the Export to Ant file button.

5.    An Ant file named exported_build.xml is generated and placed in the project's root directory, e.g., BEA_HOME/weblogic81/samples/workshop/SamplesApp/WebServicesexported_build.xml.

To Use the Project Build File

1.    Choose Tools-->Project Properties--><projectname> to display the Project Properties dialog.

2.    In the left-hand pane, select Build.

3.    In the Ant Settings area, click Browse, navigate to the new build file and click Open.

4.    If your build file contains a new task definition without a classpath attribute, click Add JAR to specify the location of the Ant task. Navigate and select the file, then click Select JAR.

5.    In the Build Type area, select Use Ant Build.

6.    From the Build Target drop-down list, select the build target.

7.    Click OK.

The Ant window will now appear in WebLogic Workshop, listing the various targets. From this window you can run a target by double-clicking it.