On Mon, 02 Jun 2008, Bruce Atherton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > My problem with magic properties is that they pollute the namespace > of allowed property names. Since properties are immutable, it can be > confusing for someone to try to define a property for the first time > in their build file and have it come back with an error about > redefinition.
True. We'd list them at http://ant.apache.org/manual/using.html#built-in-props of course. > Your example about "dynamic" properties is interesting. I've always > been in favoring of making properties immutable not by value but by > meaning. Well put, but a bit difficult to achieve. > As another example, consider how we test for a file existing that > could be created in several places throughout the build. We might > have to use a separate property to test for existence in each > section of the build: "file.exists", "file.exists.now", > "file.exists.how.about.now", and then create complex conditions that > combine all three properties into a single property. Much easier > would be if we could assign the property directly to the existence > of the file, and have it change over the lifetime of the build. Some Resource-specialized PropertyHelper might work, something like ${resource:exists(*some-file-name*)}, but I'm not sure whether our PropertyHelper infrastructure is really up to it. In particular if you think it a step further and want to read *some-file-name* from another property. Stefan --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
