Well ... I have sucessfully used ANT and the ANT Visual Age fo Java Plugin.
I have:
moved projects to the workspace
created directories
exported projects in to the directories
"jared" specific directories
filtered the exported directories/jar files into the created directories
All is well and good and I am to the point (more or less) of takeing my
build and moveing it into InstallShield for the final disribution package.
But I have some questions about the ANT and VAJ relationship that perhaps
some one here will know.
First ... it appears that the ANT plugin only deals at the project level. I
am wondering if there is any support or planned support for Solutions? When
you have 22 or so projects that can change from one version to the next, it
is a pain to have to change the script to include the all the project
versions that have changed. It would sure be nice if you could just move the
latest Solution to the workspace and that would automatically pick up all
the current projects.
Next ... it would also be nice if you had the full functionality of the ANT
command line. Specifically the -Dproperty=value option. With the ability to
pass a property into the script from the GUI interface of the plugin, you
should be able to use it to define a build directory structure that might
include the version name and therefor prevent an older version from being
overwritten. Again, the only way to work with this currently is to edit the
script every time you do a new build. Anyone have any info on this?
Though I have not quiet gotten to this point yet I am hopeing to "kick
start" InstallShield from the end of the ANT script and created the master
installation files. IS has its own limitations in this reguard but I think
it might be possible.
The holy grail would be to place a CD-R in my burner, start an ANT script
and come back in an hour or so with the master CD in the tray ready to go to
manufacturing. This would be no small feat as our process from developer
writeing code to the CD ROM burner involves at least 6 networked computers,
but it would be awsome ;)
If anyone has any thoughts, experience or input on this topic, I would be
surely intrested.
Thanks
David T.
