There's been a lot of discussion of this, and there is this page of external projects:
http://jakarta.apache.org/ant/external.html I think it will simply take someone who has the time to set up a sourceforge project for this and have the ant people link to it. Do you have the time? david jencks On 2001.09.21 15:57:51 -0400 Matthew Inger wrote: > I don't think we're necessarily referring to the > "foreach" type tasks. And I think you're misunderstanding > what we're griping about. You mention adding things to > the "core". That is not where we propose these things > to be. We are looking to put stuff in the "optional" > tasks. In addition to "foreach", i have posted several > tasks, such as "PropertyCopy", "ReplaceRegExp", and a > few others. But they keep getting rejected. > > I never proposed putting anything in the core. I would > rather like to either > > a) Have these things in the "optional" tasks package > or > b) Have some sort of "contrib" package where people > can submit the tasks they have developed, so that > others don't have to go and re-implement them. > Much like the optional package is today, there could > a contrib area where people could go to look for > these types of tasks, and see what others have already > done. > > > It seems that the mentality of the project is that if > they don't think it's part of the basic ant functionality, > it's not going to be part of ant in any form. There is no > reason that everyone should have to re-implement the same > tasks over and over again, when we could have some sort > of contrib process. That's part of the whole spirit of > open source. > > Is there a way to formally propose something like the second > thing i suggested? > > > > > On Fri, 2001-09-21 at 15:22, Brian Moriarty wrote: > > > > I was also wishing for a "foreach", but decided it might not be a good > > idea and didn't ask for it because it is a programming construct. > > > > The docs say ant is not a scripting language, and I like that it's not. > > It describes how to build something task by task, but it's my feeling > > that if any scripting like a "foreach" is needed, one should probably > > create a Task to do it. If they start adding programming construct > > functionality to the ant core, then build files will start looking like > > a script, in which case why not use bash or tcsh or something. (and > > don't say cross platform, because it's as easy to make those cross > > platform anymore w/ cygwin, etc...). > > > > It turned out in my case that writing my own Tasks was actually much > > more versatile and it kept the build.xml file clean and straight > > forward. In general, I just extend the Task I would otherwise put in a > > foreach loop. I add any specialized parameters, and call > > "super.execute()" method inside my subclass. The advantage is that you > > can do anything you want with the parameters before calling execute() > > (in most cases, sometimes the core API keeps the super class attributes > > private and doesn't provide full access by other means, which is very > > limiting if you need that kind of access). > > > > I'm not totally sold on excluding "foreach" since I could just opt not > > to use it, but I do think it would set the stage for making build.xml > > files pretty ugly and script like, and deter people from writing their > > own specialized Tasks (which, imho, is one of the highlights of using > > ant). > > > > > > Brian Moriarty > > Polexis, Inc. > > 2815 Camino del Rio South > > San Diego, CA 92108 > > www.polexis.com > > transforming data into knowledge > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Alejandro Abdelnur [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Friday, September 21, 2001 11:21 AM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Re: [PATCH] PropertyCopy and Foreach (NEW OPTIONAL TASKS) > > > > > > matthew, > > > > i've been there already, submitted code doing that, it has been > > rejected. > > > > it is not the first time, or second time, that these features are > > proposed. i > > think the the folks driving the evolution of ant should start > > considering > > these features again, they should listen a little more of what > > developers/user > > want/need. > > > > fyi: > > > > for embedded properties i modified the project helper, so you can use > > embedded > > variables "a.${b}.c" everywhere. > > > > for looping i've implemented the "xantcall" target, extending the > > "antcall" > > target that supports iterations: > > > > <xantcall target="TARGET" iterate="LIST" iterator="VAR"/> > > > > where VAR is the name of the variable taht will have the element of the > > current iteration. > > > > you can find the code in the archives. > > > > regards. > > > > a > > > > Matthew Inger wrote: > > > > > attached are two useful tasks i have written, that would > > > be helpful to be put into the next release: > > > > > > PropertyCopy - double dereferencing (ie. ${a.${b}.c}) > > > > > > this essentially takes the "from" attribute and treats > > > it as a property name. It gets the value of that property > > > and puts it in the property given by the "name" attribute. > > > It's useful when you have property names that follow a certain > > > pattern with some identifier in it (ie. org.TEST.server) > > > > > > ex. <propertycopy name="NewVar" from="a.${b}.c" /> > > > > > > Foreach - relatively self explanatory > > > > > > ex. <foreach list="${items}" target="callMe" > > > param="item" delimiter="," /> > > > > > > I'm sure there are foreach tasks floating around, but > > > while i'm posting propertycopy i might as well post > > > the foreach task as well. > > > > > > -- > > > Matt Inger ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > > Sedona Corporation > > > 455 S. Gulph Road, Suite 300 > > > King of Prussia, PA 19406 > > > (484) 679-2213 > > > "Self-respect - the secure feeling that no one, > > > as yet, is suspicious." -H.L. Mencken > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > Name: PropertyCopy.java > > > PropertyCopy.java Type: text/x-java > > > Encoding: 7bit > > > > > > Name: ForEach.java > > > ForEach.java Type: text/x-java > > > Encoding: 7bit > > > -- > Matt Inger ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > Sedona Corporation > 455 S. Gulph Road, Suite 300 > King of Prussia, PA 19406 > (484) 679-2213 > "Self-respect - the secure feeling that no one, > as yet, is suspicious." -H.L. Mencken > > >
