ruby

An {@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.api.project.rake.RakeArtifact} is a representation of a build product created from a (somehow Ant-based) project. Rather than relying on details of how another project arranges its builds, a parent project can use {@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.api.project.rake.RakeArtifactQuery} to find Ant artifacts from another project (or, perhaps, arbitrary source not formally contained in a project). Using artifact information it is possible to tell what build product (file or directory) will be created and what general sort it is (e.g. JAR vs. Javadoc); which Ant script and target to run to create that build product; and how to request that it be cleaned. This information suffices to create an Ant build script in the parent project that can run sub-builds.

An {@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.api.project.rake.RakeArtifact} can be used to represent a build product of a sub-project, typically used as a dependency in a parent project. {@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.spi.project.rake.RakeArtifactProvider} can be used to enumerate artifacts (i.e. targets creating some files) which are recommended for export to parent projects.

A typical project based on Ant follows a standard pattern of having a project folder containing:

build.xml

A top-level editable build script.

various folders such as src

Development files.

various folders such as build

Build products. Not sharable in a VCS.

nbproject/build-impl.xml

Main logic for the build; regenerated from nbproject/project.xml but sharable.

nbproject/project.xml

General project metadata, including a declaration of the type of project, its name, some structural parameters relating to the build, a list of subprojects, etc.

nbproject/project.properties

Sharable build configuration for the project.

nbproject/private/private.xml

Per-user (or per-checkout) project metadata, if any.

nbproject/private/private.properties

Per-user build configuration for the project.

nbproject/private/cache

Cache directory containing disposable files that might speed up various operations.

Note that since Ant is not aware of the NetBeans Filesystems API, all these files must be physically present on disk, not e.g. in an archive or remote filesystem.

There may also be a file named build.properties located in the NetBeans user directory which can supply additional definitions needed for a build: e.g. the locations of Java platforms and libraries. A typical build-impl.xml loads property definitions from this global properties file as well as the project's nbproject/project.properties and nbproject/private/private.properties.

The basic operations commonly performed on an Ant-based project are:

• Creation from wizard, including build.xml.

• Loading metadata from disk.

• Modifying metadata and build properties in memory, and subsequently saving to disk.

• Regenerating nbproject/build-impl.xml, typically based on transforming nbproject/project.xml with an XSLT stylesheet.

• Running a build target of a well-known name in build.xml using Ant.

• Enumerating important build outputs ("artifacts").

• Adding dependencies on "subprojects" by getting information about their artifacts and storing references to them.

• Interpreting values of Ant properties found on disk, to be used in providing information to the IDE about various development files (e.g. when implementing queries).

A new category of Ant-based project can be registered in the system by adding an implementation of {@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.spi.project.support.rake.RakeBasedProjectType} to the default lookup. This will get an instance of {@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.spi.project.support.rake.RakeProjectHelper} for every project it creates; the helper does a lot of the work required to interact with the file structure outlined above.

{@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.spi.project.support.rake.ActionHelper} provides a number of utilities which make it easy to run Ant targets.

{@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.spi.project.support.rake.ReferenceHelper}s can also be created by an Ant-based project and used to manage references to subprojects and their artifacts in a high-level manner.

{@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.spi.project.support.rake.ProjectGenerator} provides the easiest way to create a new Ant-based project on disk. Use {@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.spi.project.support.rake.GeneratedFilesHelper} to make build scripts and {@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.spi.project.support.rake.ProjectXmlSavedHook} to be told when to recreate them.

{@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.spi.project.support.rake.EditableProperties} is a VCS-friendly alternative to {@link java.util.Properties}. {@link org.netbeans.modules.ruby.spi.project.support.rake.PropertyUtils} also provides various methods for working with Ant concepts such as relative file paths, property substitution, etc.