Ant How to create a Java Project

In this tutorial, we will show you how to use Ant build tool to manage a Java project, compile, and package it into a Jar file.

Technologies used :

1. Eclipse 4.2
2. Ant 1.9.4
3. JDK 1.7

1. Create a Java Project

In Eclipse IDE, create a new Java project named “AntDateUtils”.

2. Java Source Code

Create a new Java class to print out the current date :

package com.mkyong.core.utils;
import java.util.Date;
public class DateUtils {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		System.out.println(getLocalCurrentDate());
	private static Date getLocalCurrentDate() {
		return new Date();		

3. build.xml

Create a new build.xml in the project root folder, read comment for self-explanatory.

<project name="AntJavaProject" default="main" basedir=".">
	<description>
		Create a Java Project (JAR) with Ant build script
	</description>
	<property name="projectName" value="DateUtils" />
	<!-- Java sources -->
	<property name="src.dir" location="src" />
	<!-- Java classes -->
	<property name="build.dir" location="bin" />
	<!-- Output, Jar -->
	<property name="dist.dir" location="dist" />
	<target name="init">
		<!-- Create the time stamp -->
		<tstamp />
		<!-- Create the build directory structure used by compile -->
		<mkdir dir="${build.dir}" />
	</target>
	<target name="compile" depends="init" description="compile the source ">
		<!-- Compile the java code from ${src.dir} into ${build.dir} -->
		<javac includeantruntime="false" srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${build.dir}" />
	</target>
	<target name="dist" depends="compile" description="package, output to JAR">
		<!-- Create the distribution directory -->
		<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}" />
		<!-- Put everything in ${build} into the {$projectName}-${DSTAMP}.jar file -->
		<jar jarfile="${dist.dir}/${projectName}-${DSTAMP}.jar" basedir="${build.dir}" >
		    <manifest>
			<!-- create an executable Jar -->
			<attribute name="Main-Class" value="com.mkyong.core.utils.DateUtils" />
		    </manifest>
		</jar>
	</target>
	<target name="clean" description="clean up">
		<delete dir="${build.dir}" />
		<delete dir="${dist.dir}" />
	</target>
	<!-- Default, run this -->
	<target name="main" depends="clean, compile, dist" />
</project>

4. Ant Build Scripts

Done, try few Ant’s commands

4.1 Compile the source code

$ ant compile

<target name="compile" depends="init" description="compile the source ">
	<javac includeantruntime="false" srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${build.dir}" />
</target>

4.2 Package the project into an executable Jar file

$ ant dist

<target name="dist" depends="compile" description="package, output to JAR">
	<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}" />
	<jar jarfile="${dist.dir}/${projectName}-${DSTAMP}.jar" basedir="${build.dir}">
	  <manifest>
		<attribute name="Main-Class" value="com.mkyong.core.utils.DateUtils" />
	  </manifest>
	</jar>
</target>

4.3 Delete folders

$ ant clean

<target name="clean" description="clean up">
	<delete dir="${build.dir}" />
	<delete dir="${dist.dir}" />
</target>

4.4 If no options, the default target will be executed, in this example, the default target is main

<project name="AntJavaProject" default="main" basedir=".">
	...
	<target name="main" depends="clean, compile, dist" />

$ ant

Output

Buildfile: /Users/mkyong/Documents/workspace/AntDateUtils/build.xml
clean:
   [delete] Deleting directory /Users/mkyong/Documents/workspace/AntDateUtils/bin
   [delete] Deleting directory /Users/mkyong/Documents/workspace/AntDateUtils/dist
init:
    [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/mkyong/Documents/workspace/AntDateUtils/bin
compile:
    [javac] Compiling 1 source file to /Users/mkyong/Documents/workspace/AntDateUtils/bin
dist:
    [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/mkyong/Documents/workspace/AntDateUtils/dist
      [jar] Building jar: /Users/mkyong/Documents/workspace/AntDateUtils/dist/DateUtils-20141030.jar
main:
BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 1 second

Final Directory Structure

5. Test

5.1 Run a class inside a Jar file.

$ pwd
/Users/mkyong/Documents/workspace/AntDateUtils
$ java -cp dist/DateUtils-20141030.jar com.mkyong.core.utils.DateUtils
Thu Oct 30 17:39:21 MYT 2014

5.2 Run the executable Jar file

$ pwd
/Users/mkyong/Documents/workspace/AntDateUtils
$ java -jar dist/DateUtils-20141030.jar
Thu Oct 30 17:40:21 MYT 2014

References

1. Apache Ant Hello World Official Guide