XML files may suffer somewhat in readibility, but, there is XSL to help with formatting.
For example: I found the http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-antxsl/examples/example2 /ant2html.xsl. It does some formatting on an Ant build file and produces an HTML file that is displayable in a browser. I was not satisfied with the way it worked so I did a hack on it to add formatting for macrodef and changed the way it formatted some of the other elements. You can get my hack at http://www.wilandra.com/ContributedTools/wfrant2html.zip. My hack works on Mozilla and IE6. It does not format scriptdef and has some minor problems with indentation but it does make the file more readable. It produces an index of targets so you can go directly to any target to see what it does. You cannot edit the build file from the browser. To use one of the XSL files, place the XSL file in the same directory as the Ant build file and add the following line to the Ant build file right after the <?xml line: <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="./wfrant2html.xsl"?> Thanks. Bill Bill Rich Wilandra Consulting LLC 1325 Addiewell Place San Jose, CA 95120-3905 phone: +1 408 268-2452 mobile: +1 408 410-9713 Santa Cruz: +1 831 464-9007 fax: +1 413 669-9716 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.wilandra.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 9:24 AM To: Ant Users List Cc: Ant Users List Subject: RE: winning the case for ANT a few additional 1p comments; Ant is a 'disruptive' tool e.g. many developers can quickly get on with their work using the tool whilst the declaritive format makes composition trivial; hands up for those who have spent hours plastering make builds together...PERL and make vie for the low scanability award...though this doesnt mean that Ant doesnt also suffer from low readibility...there are whole groups of developers who find XML an impenetrable format...I am not of that group. IF a project is big enough in scope its quite common for no one tool to solve the build problem...this might be a 'warm body' problem which means u need to take the ready skills of those around you...or perhaps there are many complicated problem domains; politics aside...why not just use both Ant and make? note: Anthill pro integrates these two nicely btw In development teams, democracy tends to rule...which I would beware of; 3 alternate analagies of teams working together are; Chief Surgeon: One or few highly talented individuals with specialists Football (variations being real or american): Team approach, with medium level of skill throughout the pitch...with the coach as manager. Success is built on team playing well together though directed by management. another variation of Football is the; Orchestra: Sequencing and coordination of a group of highly talented individuals performed by conductor If your man is the 'coach', 'surgeon' or 'conductor' I would listen to him/her...otherwise if u think productivity will be limited by Ant let em use Make locally...its easy enough to invoke in Ant. Ant is wickedly useful outside of the context of building software.....one measurement of a tools usefulness and applicability is the extent to which it can be ab/used to solve problems quickly...this confuses matters appreciably. gl,jim fuller --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
