The process of out project development has one drawback, which is common to many serious J2EE-projects: after applying changes to the code code and further recompilation, a server do not catches a new version automatically, but requires stoping it, cleaning cache, restarting it again and then, redeploying a package.
Not to make this by hands every time, there are several ways to automate it manually (hm…): for example, a batch or shell scripts for Windows or Linux accrodingly. But it seems to me, that it is more logical to entrust this work to the compiling ant-script: you press a button and everything restarts and reassembles by itself.
(this version is for Windows)
So I have taken an existing script and started to revise it. I’ve found several tricks about ant on Windows (but they are, may be, a common thing for a man who experienced with ant building :) ), and I’ve got the following script as a result.
Here is the build.properties file. It contains a values that may change frequently so it is better to store them separately from the ant script.
# package name
war.name = SomeProjectPackage
# path to JDK
java.home = "C:\Worktable\Java\jdk1.5.0_12"
# path to the server root directory
server.dir = C:/Worktable/Java/apache-tomcat-5.5.25
# script that is used to start server
server.command = catalina.bat
# path to the project root directory
root.dir = C:/Workspace/SomeProject
# path to the place where package must be deployed
deploy.dir = ${server.dir}/webapps/
# JPDA setting (you can use a remote debugging by
# (for example, Eclipse can) connecting to the specified port)
jpda.transport = dt_socket
jpda.port = 56666
# path to the project libraries
lib.dir = ${root.dir}/lib/
# path to the project's temporary assemblage place
dist.dir = ${root.dir}/dist/
# path to the directory with web-content: pages, scripts, images and so on
web.dir = ${root.dir}/WebContent/
Now let us consider the script part by part. In the heading - we include our .properties file.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="SomeProject" default="redeploy" basedir=".">
<property file="build.properties"/>
. . .
Now the compilation target goes (build), the target cleaning temporary directories used while building (clean), and the rebuilding which, in fact, cleans and then builds the package (rebuild).
. . .
<!-- Compiles project with all dependencies. -->
<target name="build"
description="--> compiles project with all dependencies">
<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}"/>
<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}/classes"/>
<javac source="1.5"
srcdir="${root.dir}/src"
destdir="${dist.dir}/classes"
debug="on"
verbose="false"
optimize="on">
<classpath>
<fileset dir="${lib.dir}" includes="**/*.jar"/>
</classpath>
</javac>
</target>
<!-- Cleans the build. -->
<target name="clean"
description="--> cleans the build">
<delete quiet="true" dir="${dist.dir}"/>
</target>
<!-- Rebuild. -->
<target name="rebuild" depends="clean,build"
description="--> [clean, build]"/>
. . .
And now the subject targets of the article – a deploying target (put a new package to the servers), de-deploying target (taking an old package from server) and re-deploying target (which, in fact, takes and then puts).
When deploying (deploy) we compile the code (depends="build"), then create the logs directory at the server, then constructing a package from the compiled sources (with jar command) and putting it to a temporary directory, and then we start a server. The server can be started from ant-script only from inside its own environment, in case of Windows, so we need to call it using cmd /c catalina.bat jpda start command with ant exec (arguments must be separated the exactly same way as you see them below – exec must wrap the whole catalina jpda start command with quotes correctly). Also we need to pass several environment variables to server, what we do using env commands. The server is started in separate thread (spawn="true" – or else the script will inactively wait for a server to return an exit code that will not happen while server is running) and in the clean way (not using java-vm – vmlauncher="false"). Now server is running, we can deploy a package there and then clean up the temporary directories and files (copy and delete commands sequence).
To unload a package from server (undeploy) we stop the server using the rules specified above (when stopping we can’t specify JPDA variables and wait for a server to stop; but if something had failed – it is a normal state – may be a server was not started at all (failifexecutionfails="false")). Then we clean up the directory at the server where our package was deployed (being unpackaged), removing the package itself and we clean the server cache.
When we redeploy (redeploy) – a default target – the old version of the package is removed from the server (undeploy), temporay directories are cleaned up (clean), then package is constructed and deployed to server (deploy).
. . .
<!-- Prepares deployment -->
<target name="pre-deploy">
<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}/war"/>
<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}/war/WEB-INF"/>
<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}/war/WEB-INF/classes"/>
<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}/war/WEB-INF/lib"/>
<copy todir="${dist.dir}/war">
<fileset dir="${web.dir}">
<include name="**/*.*"/>
</fileset>
</copy>
<copy todir="${dist.dir}/war/WEB-INF/classes">
<fileset dir="${dist.dir}/classes">
<include name="**/*.*"/>
</fileset>
</copy>
<copy todir="${dist.dir}/war/WEB-INF/lib" flatten="true">
<fileset dir="${lib.dir}">
<include name="**/*.jar"/>
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
<!-- Deploys application on server. -->
<target name="deploy" depends="rebuild, pre-deploy"
description="--> deploys application on server">
<mkdir dir="${server.dir}/logs"/>
<jar jarfile="${war.name}.war" basedir="${dist.dir}/war"/>
<exec dir="${server.dir}/bin" executable="cmd"
vmlauncher="false" spawn="true">
<env key="JAVA_HOME" value="${java.home}"/>
<env key="JPDA_TRANSPORT" value="${jpda.transport}" />
<env key="JPDA_ADDRESS" value="${jpda.port}" />
<env key="CATALINA_HOME" value="${server.dir}"/>
<arg value="/c" />
<arg value="${server.command} jpda start"/>
</exec>
<copy file="${war.name}.war" todir="${deploy.dir}"/>
<delete dir="${dist.dir}" failonerror="false" />
<delete file="${war.name}.war" failonerror="false" />
</target>
<!-- Un-deploys application from server. -->
<target name="undeploy"
description="--> un-deploys application from server">
<exec dir="${server.dir}/bin" executable="cmd"
failifexecutionfails="false" vmlauncher="false">
<env key="JAVA_HOME" value="${java.home}"/>
<env key="CATALINA_HOME" value="${server.dir}"/>
<arg value="/c" />
<arg value="${server.command} stop"/>
</exec>
<delete quiet="true">
<fileset dir="${deploy.dir}">
<include name="${war.name}*"/>
</fileset>
</delete>
<delete dir="${deploy.dir}/${war.name}" failonerror="false"/>
<delete file="${deploy.dir}/${war.name}.war" failonerror="false" />
<delete dir="${server.dir}/work/Catalina" failonerror="false" />
</target>
<!-- Re-deploys application on server. -->
<target name="redeploy"
depends="undeploy,clean,deploy"
description="--> [undeploy,clean,deploy]">
</target>
</project>
</xml>
Seems that’s all :)
P.S. Yes, as people give me advices, there is Tomcat Client Deployer – a package that has a levers to re-deploy with Ant, but it requires a server to be running all the time.
And yes, there are another ways to do it like CruiseControl but it seems for me, it is not so required to setup a packages like this just to redeploy something fast.
And yes I also know now that Maven has a war-plugin for something similar our targets… Maven is fat, forget it :)