Newbie question [time dependencies]

[Peter Murray-Rust <Pe...@nottingham.ac.uk>]

Please forgive what is probably a FAQ or misconception [I have read the ant 
docs and also run some simple examples].

I wish to use ant for building transforming XML documents - for websites, 
etc. - using Xalan and XSL stylesheets. I am trying to set up dependencies 
such as if foo.xml is touched, the foo.xml->foo.html build needs to be 
triggered. But I can't see how to make foo.html depend on foo.xml. javac 
and copydir have such mechanisms - is there a way to make them more 
generally available (as happens in makefiles)?

I very much like the idea of ant and am sure that XML is the right 
foundation for make-like operations.

Peter

Re: Newbie question [time dependencies]

[Peter Murray-Rust <Pe...@nottingham.ac.uk>]

At 14:47 13/06/00 +0200, you wrote:
> >>>>> "PM" == Peter Murray-Rust <Pe...@nottingham.ac.uk> writes:
>
>  PM> But I can't see how to make foo.html depend on foo.xml. javac and
>  PM> copydir have such mechanisms
>
>All tasks determine what to do and wich dependencies to use
>themselves. You best bet is to implement a custom task for your
>transformation (extending MatchingTask would be you best starting point
>I guess) and check which files need processing inside this task.

Thanks.

>I agree that a simple file to file dependency mapping like it is used
>by copydir and javac (at least at the moment) could be factored out
>into a helper class to be reused though.
>Stefan

Agreed. I suspect that potential converts from makefile - like me - would 
be glad of this.

         P.

Re: Newbie question [time dependencies]

[Stefan Bodewig <bo...@bost.de>]

>>>>> "PM" == Peter Murray-Rust <Pe...@nottingham.ac.uk> writes:

 PM> But I can't see how to make foo.html depend on foo.xml. javac and
 PM> copydir have such mechanisms

All tasks determine what to do and wich dependencies to use
themselves. You best bet is to implement a custom task for your
transformation (extending MatchingTask would be you best starting point
I guess) and check which files need processing inside this task.

I agree that a simple file to file dependency mapping like it is used
by copydir and javac (at least at the moment) could be factored out
into a helper class to be reused though.

Stefan