• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
programming forums Java Mobile Certification Databases Caching Books Engineering Micro Controllers OS Languages Paradigms IDEs Build Tools Frameworks Application Servers Open Source This Site Careers Other Pie Elite all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
Marshals:
  • Campbell Ritchie
  • Jeanne Boyarsky
  • Ron McLeod
  • Paul Clapham
  • Liutauras Vilda
Sheriffs:
  • paul wheaton
  • Rob Spoor
  • Devaka Cooray
Saloon Keepers:
  • Stephan van Hulst
  • Tim Holloway
  • Carey Brown
  • Frits Walraven
  • Tim Moores
Bartenders:
  • Mikalai Zaikin

Opinion: Ant for non-build related tasks

 
Greenhorn
Posts: 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
There seems to be a lot of useful functionality within ANT that does have to deal directly with
building a projects.
I was curious if anyone else uses ant for things it was not originally meant for like: end of days processes, launching exports --> ftping files to and from clients & updating records.
Also, is there any scheduling product with built-in ant support that IS NOT geared to the idea that it is supposed to be a BUILD?
Matt
 
Sheriff
Posts: 3063
12
Mac IntelliJ IDE Python VI Editor Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I think Ant can be used effectively in a lot of non-build contexts. Its biggest drawback is its lack of branching logic, loops, and such that you find in a general purpose scripting language. If you don't need that, then great, use Ant. It's relatively easy to set up, it's powerful, and it runs on many platforms. On the other hand, for more complex tasks, I would use a UNIX shell script, Windows command language, or Perl.
 
slicker
Posts: 1108
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
check out ant-contrib from softforge.net
Ant-Contrib
It has a lot of cool tasks such as if-then-else,
foreach, shellscript, etc.
 
Sheriff
Posts: 67746
173
Mac Mac OS X IntelliJ IDE jQuery TypeScript Java iOS
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I know a QA department that uses ant to control the execution of their test suites.
bear
 
catch it before it slithers away! Oh wait, it's a tiny ad:
a bit of art, as a gift, the permaculture playing cards
https://gardener-gift.com
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic