Apache Ant Manager

A Visual Studio Code extension that provides a graphical UI for configuring Apache Ant build tasks, similar to Eclipse's Ant launcher configuration.

Features

• Visual Configuration UI - Configure Ant tasks using a modern webview interface
• Build File Selection - Browse and select Ant build.xml files
• Target Discovery - Automatically parse and display available targets with descriptions
• Execution Order - Define the order in which targets should be executed with drag-and-drop reordering
• Task Generation - Generate VS Code tasks.json entries for your Ant configurations
• Tree View - Browse Ant targets directly in the Explorer sidebar
• Environment Settings - Configure working directory, ANT_HOME, JAVA_HOME, and shell
• Multi-Root Workspace Support - Manage tasks across multiple workspace folders
• Workspace-Level Tasks - Save tasks to the workspace file for shared configurations

Screenshots

Task Manager View

Task Configuration

Extension Settings

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for "Apache Ant Manager"
4. Click Install

From Source

git clone https://github.com/diabolo-68/apache-ant-manager.git
cd apache-ant-manager
npm install
npm run compile

Then press F5 in VS Code to launch the extension in debug mode.

Usage

Opening the Configuration UI

1. From Command Palette: Press Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P on macOS) and run "Ant: Open Ant Configuration"
2. From Explorer: Right-click on a build.xml file and select "Open Ant Configuration"
3. From Tree View: Use the Ant Targets view in the Explorer sidebar

Configuring a Build Task

1. Select your build.xml file using the Browse button
2. Enter a name for your task
3. Choose where to save the task (workspace folder or shared workspace file)
4. Configure environment settings (working directory, ANT_HOME, JAVA_HOME, shell)
5. Check the targets you want to run from the Available Targets grid
6. Use the ▲/▼ buttons to arrange execution order in the Execution Order list
7. Add any additional Ant arguments (e.g., -Dproperty=value, -verbose)
8. Click Save Task to create a VS Code task

Managing Tasks

• View Tasks: Use the "Ant: View Ant Tasks" command to see all configured tasks
• Run Tasks: Click the ▶ button next to a task, or use VS Code's built-in "Run Task" command
• Edit Tasks: Click the ✏️ button to modify an existing task
• Delete Tasks: Click the 🗑️ button to remove a task

Multi-Root Workspace Support

When working with multi-root workspaces:

• Each task shows a badge indicating which folder it belongs to
• You can save tasks to any workspace folder or to the shared workspace file
• Moving tasks between folders is supported when editing

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.85.0 or higher
• Apache Ant - Should be installed and accessible via PATH, or configured via ANT_HOME setting

Optional

• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 11+ - Required only if using the Java parser option for advanced Ant property resolution

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

Commands

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm

Optional (for Java parser)

• Java JDK 11+
• Maven 3.6+

Build Steps

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile TypeScript
npm run compile

# (Optional) Build Java parser component
cd java
mvn package
cd ..

# Run in debug mode - Press F5 in VS Code

Project Structure

apache-ant-manager/
├── src/                    # TypeScript extension source
│   ├── extension.ts        # Extension entry point
│   ├── panels/             # Webview panels
│   ├── providers/          # Tree view providers
│   ├── services/           # Business logic services
│   └── types/              # TypeScript type definitions
├── java/                   # Java Ant parser component (optional)
│   ├── pom.xml
│   └── src/main/java/
├── media/                  # Webview CSS and assets
└── .vscode/                # VS Code configuration

Known Issues

• The Java parser option requires Java 11+ and may be slower for large build files with many imports
• Target descriptions are only shown if defined in the build file's description attribute

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Repository

• GitHub: https://github.com/diabolo-68/apache-ant-manager
• Issues: https://github.com/diabolo-68/apache-ant-manager/issues

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by Eclipse's Ant Build configuration dialog
• Uses the Apache Ant build tool
• Built with the VS Code Extension API

Enjoy building with Ant! 🐜