Compiling Files With Ant

You can use Ant for all or part of your compilation in the IDE, replacing the IDE's built-in compilation support. You can apply a special compiler type, Indirect Ant Compilation, to arbitrary files so that the files are built with Ant.

To compile with Ant:

  1. Right-click the Java source in the Explorer and choose Properties from the contextual menu.
  2. Change the Compiler property value to Indirect Ant Compilation.
  3. Compiling the source runs the Ant script associated with it.

To change the Compiler property for multiple files:

  1. Choose Project Settings.
  2. Right-click Java Sources.
  3. Change the value of the Default Compiler property to Indirect Ant Compilation.

You can select specific targets to run when performing an incremental compilation, building from scratch, and cleaning.

If several files are compiled at once using the indirect compiler, or if this is mixed with the direct script compiler, - the IDE does not run the same target more than once. For example, if you have a compile target in your script, and you set the indirect compiler to run that target, compiling one source compiles any sources in the file set that are out of date - that is, the IDE simply asks Ant to run that target, and Ant does not know specifically what files it should be compiling.

By default the Ant script to run is located using Ant's normal -find search algorithm, going up directories from the source file until a build.xml file is found. If you want to select a specific script to use for an indirect compiler (it does not need to be near the source), change the Script property on the indirect compiler accordingly. By default, it is blank, meaning to search for the script every time; you can type in a full file path to a build script, or click the ellipsis button to browse to a build script located in the IDE's Filesystems.

See also
Running Ant Scripts
Compiling Ant Scripts
Editing Ant Scripts
Configuring Ant Settings
Creating Custom Ant Tasks

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