the properties are not being set when i use them. i have tried to use them in other tasks without success. also the properties from my file are not referring to other properties. each is explicit with its own key and value. also i am not using the properties from the file as the basis for any other properties within my project. I am using their keys directly in each task i have tried. i have tried 1. using one of the properties in a replace task on a file with a token. 2. using the mkdir task to create a directory named after one of the properties 3. using the mail task to send the value of one of the properties as part of the message. 4. using the echo task to output the value of the property. In all of these cases the output is the property name not its value ${weblogic.webapp.name} instead of mywebapp I am not sure else what to try. -----Original Message----- From: Conor MacNeill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2001 7:06 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: v1.3 -- problems retrieving properties from <property file="SOMEF ILE"> From: "Diane Holt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > --- Nico Seessle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > (Maybe this should go in the FAQ.) > > > > > The better place would be Bugzilla with a little testcase :-) So we can > > fix that and don't need to describe wrong behaviour... > > As I recall, it may not be fixable -- I think it has to do with the order > in which properties get set. That is, if you have something like: > > root.dir=/my/tree > out.dir=${root.dir}/classes > > you will likely get a log message saying that property root.dir isn't set. > Conor could probably explain it in more detail. > OK, when reading in from a properties file, you can ignore this message :-) What happens is this: The properties are read in as a Properties object. They are then read out with an enumeration and added to Ant's collection of properties. The order of properties returned by that enumeration is, in general, not the same as the order of the properties in the file. So, there may effectively be forward references in the order returned by the enumeration. When this occurs, Ant will print this message but then resolve the forward reference within the properties object from the properties file. In other words, properties in a properties file are more declarative than those in a build file :-). Now I agree that the warning there is a problem. The reason I left it in, however, is that it is generally very difficult to catch use of properties which are not set. I'll probably get rid of it now. So, to the original poster, if you ignore the messages, can you check that the values are actually being set correctly. Sorry for the confusion. Conor