You can also group all the property values in a separate properties file and include it in the ant build file. Here the build.properties file contains all the property values. Remember the property value is immutable, so if you set a property value in the properties file you cannot change it in the build file. This give more control over the build process.
The build.properties file.
1.web.dir=WebContent2.web.lib.dir=${web.dir}/WEB-INF/lib3.build.classes.dir=build/classes4.dist.dir=dist5.project.name=AntExample3
Use the property task to include the properties file in the Ant build file.
1.<property file="build.properties" />
Here is the complete build file for your reference.
01.<?xml version="1.0" ?>02.<project name="AntExample3" default="war">03. 04.<property file="build.properties" />05. 06.<path id="compile.classpath">07.<fileset dir="${web.lib.dir}">08.<include name="*.jar"/>09.</fileset>10.</path>11. 12.<target name="init" depends="clean">13.<mkdir dir="${build.classes.dir}"/>14.<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}" />15.</target>16. 17.<target name="compile" depends="init" >18.<javac destdir="${build.classes.dir}" debug="true" srcdir="src">19.<classpath refid="compile.classpath"/>20.</javac>21.</target>22. 23.<target name="war" depends="compile">24.<war destfile="${dist.dir}/${project.name}.war"webxml="${web.dir}/WEB-INF/web.xml">25.<fileset dir="${web.dir}"/>26.<lib dir="${web.lib.dir}"/>27.<classes dir="${build.classes.dir}"/>28.</war>29.</target>30. 31.<target name="clean">32.<delete dir="${dist.dir}" />33.<delete dir="${build.classes.dir}" />34.</target>35. 36.</project>
