Override ignored for property

Question

Content of Build.xml File <?xml version="1.0"?> <taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antcontrib.properties" classpath="ant-contrib-0.6.jar"/> <taskdef classpath="orangevolt-ant-tasks-1.3.2.jar" resource="com/orangevolt/tools/ant/taskdefs.properties"/> <project name="initinstaller" default="all" basedir="." > <target name="configure-server-types-module"> <property file="./installation.conf"/> <echo message="${client.server.types}"/> <if> <not> <contains string="${client.server.types}" substring="tomcat" /> </not> <then> <replaceregexp file="./installation.conf" match="client.server.types=(.*)" replace="client.server.types=\1tomcat," byline="true"> </replaceregexp> </then> </if> </target> <target name="all" depends="configure-server-types-module"> <property file="./installation.conf"/> <echo message="${client.server.types}"/> <if> <not> <contains string="${client.server.types}" substring="tomcat" /> </not> <then> <replaceregexp file="./installation.conf" match="client.server.types=(.*)" replace="client.server.types=\1tomcat," byline="true"> </replaceregexp> </then> </if> </target> 

 Content of installation.conf : client.server.types=jboss, 

Detailed output:

 Apache Ant version 1.8.1 compiled on April 30 2010 Trying the default build file: build.xml Buildfile: D:\testing\build.xml Detected Java version: 1.6 in: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_21\jre Detected OS: Windows XP parsing buildfile D:\testing\build.xml with URI = file:/D:/testing/build.xml Project base dir set to: D:\testing parsing buildfile jar:file:/C:/apache-ant-1.8.1/lib/ant.jar!/org/apache/tools/ant/antlib.xml with URI = jar:file:/C:/apache-ant-1.8.1/lib/ant.jar!/org/apache/tools/ant/antlib.xml from a zip file dropping D:\testing\ant-contrib-0.6.jar from path as it doesn't exist dropping D:\testing\orangevolt-ant-tasks-1.3.2.jar from path as it doesn't exist Build sequence for target(s) `all' is [configure-server-types-module, all] Complete build sequence is [configure-server-types-module, all, ] configure-server-types-module: [property] Loading D:\testing\installation.conf [echo] jboss, [replaceregexp] Replacing pattern 'client.server.types=(.*)' with 'client.server.types=\1tomcat,' in 'D:\testing\installation.conf' by line. [replaceregexp] File has changed; saving the updated file all: [property] Loading D:\testing\installation.conf **Override ignored for property "client.server.types"** [echo] jboss, [replaceregexp] Replacing pattern 'client.server.types=(.*)' with 'client.server.types=\1tomcat,' in 'D:\testing\installation.conf' by line. [replaceregexp] File has changed; saving the updated file BUILD SUCCESSFUL Total time: 0 seconds ============================================================== 

my question is that I can override the ant property

Answer 1

Once the Ant property is set, its value cannot be changed.

Perhaps you could use the prefix attribute of the <property> task when you first load the properties file so that the property has a different name:

 <target name="configure-server-types-module"> <property file="./installation.conf" prefix="temp."/> <echo message="${temp.client.server.types}"/> <if> <not> <contains string="${temp.client.server.types}" substring="tomcat" /> </not> <then> <replaceregexp file="./installation.conf" match="client.server.types=(.*)" replace="client.server.types=\1tomcat," byline="true"> </replaceregexp> </then> </if> </target> 

Note. I have not tested this.

Then, for the second purpose, you can still use your own name, since this property has not yet been set.

Answer 2

If you already use the Ant -Contrib banner, as it seems from your example, you can change the property definition to var (see http://ant-contrib.sourceforge.net/tasks/tasks/variable_task.html )