[SUBMIT] New task: recorder

Jay Glanville 28 Mar 2001 14:18:55 -0000

I am submitting (for everyone's pleasure) a new task, called <recorder>.


The recorder task allows a user to state a log file inside the build.xml
file.  Feature of the recorder are setting (and modifying on the fly) the
logging level to record, and manual starting and stopping of the recording.

I consider this to be of 0.5 level.  In other words, the basic core
functionality works and is tested, but I want feedback from users on all
aspects of functionality: core and future possibilities.

There are two new classes to go into the ant.taskdef package (Recorder.java
and RecorderEntry.java), and a new document to go into the manual/coretasks
(recorder.html).  The defaults.properties in the taskdef directory also
needs to be modified (to add the new task) and according to CVS, the diff
is:
  cvs diff defaults.properties (in directory
D:\ant\cvs\jakarta-ant\src\main\org\apache\tools\ant\taskdefs\)
  Index: defaults.properties
  ===================================================================
  RCS file:
/home/cvspublic/jakarta-ant/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/defaults.
properties,v
  retrieving revision 1.64
  diff -r1.64 defaults.properties
  45a46
  > recorder=org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Recorder


So, please use this task and send me feedback on how useful it is, what
could work better, what features you want in the future, etc.

Jay

PS
<rant>
You know, I'm surprised that no one has added a diff target to ant's
build.xml source version that goes through the entire CVS tree looking for
things that have been modified, performs diffs on all these files and
records them to a log file.  This way, coders simply need to do a "build
diff" command to see a capturing of all their work.  Then, the submitters
can simply do a "build patch" command (the patch target would also need to
be created) to update CVS.  Of course, this is just me spouting off of the
top of my head - I haven't' thought of any of the implementation details, or
possible pitfalls.  Wouldn't such targets be deemed useful?
</rant>








   

--
Jay Dickon Glanville
P068 - SiteManager Development, Nortel Networks
613-765-1144 (ESN 395-1144)
MS: 045/55/A05
E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 <<recorder.html>>  <<Recorder.java>>  <<RecorderEntry.java>>

Title: Ant User Manual

Recorder

Description

A recorder is a listener to the current build process that records the output to a file.

Several recorders can exist at the same time. Each recorder is associated with a file. The filename is used as a unique identifier for the recorders. The first call to the recorder task with an unused filename will create a recorder (using the parameters provided) and add it to the listeners of the build. All subsiquent calls to the recorder task using this filename will modify that recorders state (recording or not) or other properties (like logging level).

Parameters

Attribute	Description	Required
file	The name of the file this logger is associated with.	yes
action	This tells the logger what to do: should it start recording or stop? The first time that the recorder task is called for this logfile, and if this attribute is not provided, then the default for this attribute is "start". If this attribute is not provided on subsiquest calls, then the state remains as previous. [Values = {start\|stop}, Default = no state change]	no
append	Should the recorder append to a file, or create a new one? This is only applicable the first time this task is called for this file. [Vaules = {yes\|no}, Default=yes]	no
loglevel	At what logging level should this recorder instance record to? This is not a once only parameter (like `append` is) -- you can increase or decrease the logging level as the build process continues. [Vaules= {error\|warn\|info\|verbose\|debug}, Default = no change]	no

Examples

The following build.xml snippit is an example of how to use the recorder to record just the <javac> task:

    ...
    <compile >
        <recorder file="log.txt" action="" />
        <javac ...
        <recorder file="log.txt" action="" />
    <compile/>
    ...

The following two calls to <recorder> set up two recorders: one to file "records-simple.log" at logging level info (the default) and one to file "ISO.log" using logging level of verbose.

    ...
    <recorder file="records-simple.log" />
    <recorder file="ISO.log" loglevel="verbose" />
    ...

Notes

There is some funtionality that I would like to be able to add in the future. They include things like the following:

Attribute	Description	Required
messageprefix	Whether or not to include the message prefixes (things like the name of the tasks or targets, etc). This has the same effect as the `-emacs` command line parameter does to the screen output. [yes\|no]	no
listener	A classname of a build listener to use from this point on instead of the default listener.	no
includetarget	A coma-separated list of targets to automaticly record. If this value is "all", then all targets are recorded. [Default = all]	no
excludetarget		no
includetask	A coma-separated list of task to automaticly record or not. This could be difficult as it could conflict with the `includetarget/excludetarget`. (e.g.: `includetarget="compile" exlcudetask="javac"`, what should happen?)	no
excludetask		no

Recorder.java
Description: Binary data

RecorderEntry.java
Description: Binary data