PyAMF blog

Today I decided to introduce some Jython in one of our build scripts at work because it was simply too painful to use a pure Ant script. It would’ve been nice to avoid the Jython dependency but after screwing around with Ant for a few hours I decided to write a Python script to do the job.

Although the Ant documentation for the Script task is pretty good it wasn’t dead simple to hook up Jython to Ant, and because I couldn’t find any examples online I decided to create a simple example so others might benefit from it. All files (except for the .jar’s) are available in the sandbox of the PyAMF repository.

Steps:

1. Download Jython 2.2.1 and the JSR 223 scripting engine .jar file for Jython
2. Externalize some paths in a build.properties file (optional)
3. Create a Python test script that prints out some property defined in the Ant build file
4. Create the Ant build.xml file that defines a Script task and includes the build.properties file
5. Run the Ant script on the console and it should output something like:
   
   Buildfile: build.xml

   jython:
   [script] Apache Ant told Jython: Hello World!

   BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 0 seconds


And that’s it, a happy builder!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 pm and is filed under Jython, Tutorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.