Chapter 8: Using wstool, wstkeytool, wstant, and wstkeytoolant

Working with wstant and wstkeytoolant

wstant and wstkeytoolant lets you run wstool and wstkeytool commands from Ant build files. This allows you to write build files that automate many development, deployment, and management tasks.

Jakarta Ant is a Java-based build tool developed by the Apache Jakarta project. To obtain Ant software and documentation, see the Ant Web site . Ant functions are similar to other build tools (such as make, gnumake, or jam) but are platform-independent, extending Java classes rather than OS-specific shell commands. Ant includes a number of tasks that are frequently used to perform builds, including compiling Java files and creating JAR files. It also includes common functions such as copy, delete, chmod, and so on.

Ant build files (similar to a makefile) are written in XML. Like makefiles, Ant build files can include targets that perform a series of tasks. Instead of extending shell commands, Ant’s build file calls out a target tree where various tasks are executed. Each task is run by an object that implements a particular task interface.

Setting up your environment

Install Ant and read the accompanying documentation.

wstant and wstkeytoolant scripts requires a full JDK installation. If you are running wstant or wstkeytoolant from an EAServer client install, make sure you have installed the full JDK. By default, only the JRE files are installed.

Before running wstant or wstkeytoolant, verify that:

The JAGUAR environment variable is set.
A full JDK installation is present.
Jakarta Ant is installed on your system.

By default, wstant and wstkeytoolant searches for Jakarta Ant in %JAGUAR%\jakarta-ant (Windows) or $JAGUAR/jakarta-ant (UNIX). If you install Jakarta Ant in a different location, set the ANT_HOME environment variable to reflect the change before you run wstant or wstkeytoolant scripts.

You can also set ANT_HOME in the user environment file, %JAGUAR%\bin\user_setenv.bat (Windows) or $JAGUAR/bin/user_setenv.sh (UNIX). wstant and wstkeytoolant scripts check the user environment file each time it runs.

wstant and wstkeytoolant scripts

The following scripts are provided for running Ant with wstool and wstkeytool commands:

Windows %JAGUAR%\bin\wstant.bat and %JAGUAR%\bin\wstkeytoolant.bat
UNIX $JAGUAR/bin/wstant and $JAGUAR/bin/wstkeytoolant

wstant and wstkeytoolant syntax

wstant and wstkeytoolant scripts uses this syntax:

wstant or wstkeytoolant [ant_options]

where ant_options are any options and commands supported by Ant; see the Ant documentation for details on these options.

You may frequently use the -buildfile flag, which lets you specify a build file other than the default build.xml for the Ant XML build file.

wstant sample files

The EAServer installation includes wstant sample files. The ReadmeForWSTant.html and build.xml files are located in %JAGUAR%\sample\wst_samples\JavaClass\SimpleJavaClass (Windows) or $JAGUAR/sample/wst_samples/JavaClass/SimpleJavaClass (UNIX). See the ReadmeForWSTant.html file for instructions on using the samples.