Deployment/Development Question..

[Je...@nlgroup.ca]

Please forgive me for the beginner question.   I am starting a new project that
will have a Web app(Struts) and EJB's.  I have read many "Best practices" in
this list but I still have  a couple (probably obvious) questions.
I am also working through "Java Tools for Extreme Programming".  I like this
book but the am unclear on some basic development Issues.

1 - I understand the basic process of setting up a usable working directory that
will allow Ant to deploy to test/production environments.
but how does CVS or VisualSourceSafe fit in to the automated process?
can it be that ant will:
Create and/or update the working directory - THEN proceed to build the project
to the target machine?

2 - Ant build's during the coding process:
     I think I would NOT want Ant to do a complete rebuild each time I make
small code change to JSP or class.
     So I think this is how I would like it work.
     There would be a separate Ant script (besides the build/deploy ) that would
perform a checkout directly to the developers machine and assemble
     a "development" web app structure that would allow the developer to run
project from the local machine.
     They then can change the JSP and compile the classes as needed.
     Then at the end of the day, check the code back in.

     ** I guess this is where Forte4J/Netbeans  Ant support would come in handy,
where the developer code run this from the IDE

3 - I see that VisualSourceSafe is supported by an ant task.    Are there any
issues with it?

Sorry again for the basic questions.

Thank for any help.



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Re: Deployment/Development Question..

[Steve Loughran <st...@iseran.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Je...@nlgroup.ca>
To: <an...@jakarta.apache.org>
Sent: Friday, June 07, 2002 12:02 PM
Subject: Deployment/Development Question..


>
>
> Please forgive me for the beginner question.   I am starting a new project
that
> will have a Web app(Struts) and EJB's.  I have read many "Best practices"
in
> this list but I still have  a couple (probably obvious) questions.
> I am also working through "Java Tools for Extreme Programming".  I like
this
> book but the am unclear on some basic development Issues.

Aah, deployment is a fun problemo. [gratuitous product placement] Erik and I
dedicate two chapters to it, and we could go for a whole book just on the
subject, I think.

>
> 1 - I understand the basic process of setting up a usable working
directory that
> will allow Ant to deploy to test/production environments.
> but how does CVS or VisualSourceSafe fit in to the automated process?
> can it be that ant will:
> Create and/or update the working directory - THEN proceed to build the
project
> to the target machine?

you can have two build files; one to update the CVS tree, then another to do
a clean build. Split them so that the update can update the build file too.

>
> 2 - Ant build's during the coding process:
>      I think I would NOT want Ant to do a complete rebuild each time I
make
> small code change to JSP or class.

yup. unless you use <jspc> ant doesnt compile jsp pages anyway.

>      So I think this is how I would like it work.
>      There would be a separate Ant script (besides the build/deploy ) that
would
> perform a checkout directly to the developers machine and assemble
>      a "development" web app structure that would allow the developer to
run
> project from the local machine.

I have a deploy target that takes the WAR file the developers create and
stick it on local/remote servers. Every build does a redeploy, no in-situ
editing of JSP pages is allowed, <jspc> pre-validates the pages anwyay.

>      ** I guess this is where Forte4J/Netbeans  Ant support would come in
handy,
> where the developer code run this from the IDE

look also at jEdit, IDEA, etc. IDEA is the best java IDE I have come across,
but I tend to run jedit and idea side by side for different things.

>
> 3 - I see that VisualSourceSafe is supported by an ant task.    Are there
any
> issues with it?

yeah, VSS is inadequate :(


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