Can the Ear file creation be automated using Eclipse IDE?

[Mark E Hansen]

I'm using Eclipse Galileo (3.5.1.M2) with JBoss Tools (plugin) and am building an Enterprise JEE application which consists of Entities and Session Beans in an ejb jar file and Servlets/JSPs in a War file, all wrapped up in an application EAR file to be deployed on JBoss AS 5.1.0.GA.

I can build the application using a keyboard accelerator (Ctrl+B), but when creating the Ear file, I need to right-click on the project, select Export -> EAR, and use the wizard, having to select the target Ear file, etc.

Is there any way to have the creation of the Ear file happen automatically as a part of the build process?

If not, is there any way to get the IDE to remember the Ear settings, such that I can just click a single button to generate it again - without having to go through the menus and wizard?

I've gone through the Eclipse help, but can't seem to find anything that will help me here.

Thanks,

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Mark,
Yes. You can create an Ant build.xml that does what you want. You then have one click access to run it. Or you can add that build.xml as a custom builder to your project so it happens automatically.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

To add a custom builder, go to project preferences > builders > new > ant builder and link it to your ant script

[Mark E Hansen]

Ahhh, sweet. I think that is just what I was looking for. Can I assume that when I add the Ant build to my project builders, that it will get run in the order specified each time I build my project using the Project -> Build All (Ctrl+B)?

Also, since the rest of the build process is already being done, all my Ant build script needs to do is cobble together the Ear file, right?

Therefore, I could name my Ant build something like 'Build EAR File', since that's all it would be doing?

Or am I thinking about this in the wrong way?

Thanks,

[Mark E Hansen]

Thanks for your help. I've created an Ant build script, and got it to work for the most part from within Eclipse.

The problem is that I've discovered I can't use Ctrl+B to execute the Build All when focus is on a source file editor window.
As I edit source files, I want to be able to Save them (Ctrl+S), then build the project (Ctrl+B).

I edited the configuration for General -> Editor -> Keys to remove the key binding for "Bold" (which was set to Ctrl+B in certain contexts) and now Ctrl+B executes the build regardless of the context.

I can see how I might want Ctrl+B to execute the Bold command when editing HTML/JSP files, but not when editing Java source files. However, I guess I can live without Ctrl+B = Bold. Can you think of any reason I would not want to solve my problem in this way?

Thanks,

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Mark E Hansen wrote: Can you think of any reason I would not want to solve my problem in this way?

No. It sounds good. How often do we make things bold when writing code?