Using Install4j With Ant
Integrating install4j with your Ant script (read about Ant at
ant.apache.org)
is easy. Just use the install4j
task
that is provided in $INSTALL4J_HOME/bin/ant.jar
and set the projectfile
parameter to the install4j project
file that you want to build.
To make the install4j
task available to Ant, you
must first insert a taskdef
element that tells
Ant where to find the task definition. Here is an example of using the
task in an Ant build file:
<taskdef name="install4j" classname="com.install4j.Install4JTask" classpath="C:\Program Files\install4j\bin\ant.jar"/> <target name="media"> <install4j projectfile="myapp.install4j"/> </target>
On macOS, the ant.jar
file is inside the application bundle, for the default application directory the full path is
/Applications/install4j.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/ant.jar
The taskdef
definition must occur only once per
Ant build file and can appear anywhere on the top level below the
project
element.
Note that it is not possible to copy the ant.jar
archive to
the lib
folder of your ant distribution. You have to reference a full
installation of install4j in the task definition.
Task parameters
The install4j
task supports the following parameters:
Attribute | Description | Required |
---|---|---|
projectfile | The install4j project file that should be build. | Yes |
verbose |
Corresponds to the --verbose
command line option.
Either true or false .
|
No, verbose and quiet cannot both be true
|
quiet |
Corresponds to the --quiet
command line option.
Either true or false .
| |
license |
Corresponds to the --license command line option.
If the license has not been configured yet, you can set the license key with this attribute.
| Yes |
test |
Corresponds to the --test
command line option.
Either true or false .
| No, test and incremental cannot both be true |
incremental |
Corresponds to the --incremental
command line option.
Either true or false .
| |
debug |
Corresponds to the --debug
command line option.
Either true or false .
| No |
preserve |
Corresponds to the --preserve
command line option.
Either true or false .
| No |
faster |
Corresponds to the --faster
command line option.
Either true or false .
| No |
disableSigning |
Corresponds to the --disable-signing
command line option.
Either true or false .
| No |
winKeystorePassword |
Corresponds to the --win-keystore-password
command line option.
| No |
macKeystorePassword |
Corresponds to the --mac-keystore-password
command line option.
| No |
appleIdPassword |
Corresponds to the --apple-id-password command line option.
| No |
disableNotarization |
Corresponds to the --disable-notarization command line option.
| No |
release |
Corresponds to the --release
command line option.
Enter a version number like "3.1.2 ".
Version number components can be alphanumeric and should be separated by dots, dashes or underscores.
| No |
destination |
Corresponds to the --destination
command line option.
Enter a directory where the generated media files should be placed.
| No |
buildselected |
Corresponds to the --build-selected
command line option.
Either true or false .
| No |
buildids |
Corresponds to the --build-ids
command line option.
Enter a list of media file ids. The IDs for media files can be shown in the install4j IDE by choosing
Project->Show IDs from the main menu.
| No |
mediatypes |
Corresponds to the --media-types
command line option.
Enter a list of media types. To see the list of supported media
types, execute install4jc --list-media-types .
| No |
Contained elements
-
The
install4j
task can containvariable
elements. These elements override compiler variables in the project and correspond to the-D
command line option. Definitions withvariable
elements take precedence before definitions in the variable file referenced by thevariablefile
parameter.The
variable
element supports the following parameters:Attribute Description Required name The name of the variable. This must be the name of a variable that has been defined on the "General Settings->Compiler Variables" step. Yes value The value for the variable. The value may be empty. Yes mediafileid The ID of the media file for which the variable should be overridden. The IDs for media files can be shown in the install4j IDE by choosing Project->Show IDs from the main menu. No Example:
<install4j projectfile="myapp.install4j"> <variable name="MYVARIABLE" value="15"/> <variable name="OTHERVARIABLE" value="test" mediafileid="8"/> </install4j>
-
The
install4j
task can containvariablefile
elements. These elements read text files containing compiler variables definitions. They correspond to the--var-file
command line optionThe
variablefile
element supports the following parameters:Attribute Description Required file The path of the variable file. Yes -
The
install4j
task can containvmparameter
elements. These elements set VM parameters for the install4j command line compiler process.The
vmparameter
element supports the following parameters:Attribute Description Required value The value of the VM parameter. Yes Example for setting an HTTP proxy (an internet connection is required for Windows code signing):
<install4j projectfile="myapp.install4j" winKeystorePassword="Kajjs7sgLg22"> <vmparameter value="-DproxySet=true"/> <vmparameter value="-DproxyHost=myproxy"/> <vmparameter value="-DproxyPort=1234"/> <vmparameter value="-DproxyAuth=true"/> <vmparameter value="-DproxyAuthUser=buildServer"/> <vmparameter value="-DproxyAuthPassword=iq4zexwb8et"/> </install4j>
Complete example
The "hello" sample project includes an Ant build script that shows how to setup the install4j task. To install the sample projects, invoke Project->Open Sample Project from the install4j IDE. When you do this for the first time, the sample projects are copied to the "Documents" folder in your home directory.
In the samples/hello
directory, execute
ant media
to start the build. If you have not defined install4jHomeDir
in build.xml
,
the build will fail with a corresponding error message.