Now that we have fully described the artifacts that we will create with this project, we need to compile them.

Running javac

Using our Antlion-constructed references, we declare the "compile" target in two pieces, one for the core Java files, and one for the unit tests: <property name="classes-tests.dir" location="${work.dir}/classes-ut" /> <target name="compile" description="Compile the source and test code" depends="compile::java, compile::tests"/> <target name="compile::java"> <mkdir dir="${classes.dir}" /> <javac debug="true" deprecation="true" includeAntRuntime="false" srcdir="src/java" destdir="${classes.dir}"> <classpath refid="path.simpleproject.jar.build" /> <sourcepath> <fileset refid="fs-src.simple" /> </sourcepath> </javac> <copy todir="${classes.dir}"> <fileset refid="fs-other.simple" /> </copy> </target> <target name="compile::tests"> <mkdir dir="${classes-tests.dir}" /> <javac debug="true" deprecation="true" includeAntRuntime="false" srcdir="src/tests" destdir="${classes-tests.dir}"> <classpath refid="path.simpleproject-tests.jar.build" /> <sourcepath> <fileset refid="fs-src.simple-tests" /> </sourcepath> </javac> <copy todir="${classes-tests.dir}"> <fileset refid="fs-other.simple-tests" /> </copy> </target> This will compile the code, and copy the non-Java files into the classes directories. We use the Antlion-generated identifiers for the depends classpaths, but use the fileset IDs we explicitly specified for the source files. Note that even though we used the <sourcepath> elements, we still need to declare the srcdir. Note that the "compile::tests" target does not declare a dependency upon the "compile::java" target. This allows a knowledgable user to spend their valuable seconds on building the "compile::java" only when they need to; that is, if they are working on the unit tests, they shouldn't spend their time running a task that isn't necessary. Also, since only the "compile" target has a description, the -projecthelp argument to Ant will only tell users about the "compile" target.

Creating The Jars

Since we just created a directory that's nicely organized for a jar file, we might as well create the jar files now, one for each declared artifact: <target name="dist" description="create the distributable files" depends="compile, dist::java, dist::tests" /> <target name="dist::java"> <mkdir dir="${dist.dir}" /> <jar destfile="${artifact.simpleproject.jar}" basedir="${classes.dir}"> <manifest> <attribute name="Class-Path" value="${mfcp.simpleproject.jar}" /> </manifest> </jar> </target> <target name="dist::tests"> <mkdir dir="${dist.dir}" /> <jar destfile="${artifact.simpleproject-tests.jar}" basedir="${classes-tests.dir}" /> </target> Even though the individual distribution targets have a dependency upon the compiled source, we only declare this dependency for the owning "dist" target. This allows a knowledgable user to only build what they need to build. Our artifacts, however, require a tighter set of dependencies to work correctly, so we have those as separate targets, with the full dependency list. <target name="artifact::jar" depends="compile::java, dist::java" /> <target name="artifact::test-jar" depends="compile::java, compile::tests, dist::tests" /> Here, we force the correct dependencies, even with the tests, since the java code must be compiled before the tests.