Question

I try to parse a ini file into properties which I can use in my ant script. I have the following:

<project name="DeployScript" default="deploy-staging" basedir=".">
    <taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antcontrib.properties" />

    <!-- The location of the settings.ini file -->
    <property name="ini-file" location="../settings.ini" />

    <loadfile property="iniConfig" srcFile="${ini-file}"/>  

    <target name="deploy-staging" 
        description="Deploy project to staging environment" >
        <echo message="Ini file: ${ini-file}" />
        <echo message="${lib}" />
        <echo message="${store_dir}" />
        <echo message="${ant.home}" />

        <!--- walk the ini file's lines -->
        <foreach list="${iniConfig}"
            target="echoMsg"
            param="line" 
            delimiter="${line.separator}" />

        <echo message="HERE: ${prevSection}" />
    </target>

    <property name="prevSection" value="" />

    <!-- this is executed for every line in the ini file. -->
    <target name="echoMsg">  
        <!-- strip out the section name, variable name and value (if exists on the line) -->
        <propertyregex property="secm"
            input="${line}"
            regexp="^\[(.*)\]"
            select="\1"
            casesensitive="false" />
        <propertyregex property="name"
            input="${line}"
            regexp="^([\S]+)\s*=\s*([^;]+)"
            select="\1"
            casesensitive="false"
            defaultValue="" /> 
        <propertyregex property="value"
            input="${line}"
            regexp="^([\S]+)\s*=\s*([^;]+)"
            select="\2"
            casesensitive="false"
            defaultValue="" />

        <!-- overwrite the previous section if we have found a new one. -->
        <if>
            <isset property="secm" />
            <then>
                <echo message="PREVSECTION IS SET" />   
                <property name="prevSection" value="${secm}" />
            </then>
        </if>

        <!-- display the information about the found data -->       
        <echo message="line    = ${line}" />
        <echo message="section = ${secm}" />
        <echo message="name    = ${name}" />        
        <echo message="value   = ${value}" />
        <echo message="new last section: ${prevSection}" />
        <echo message="----" />             
    </target>   
</project>

What I try to do is parse all name=value pairs and put them in properties like: section.name=value;

Somehow the section is not remembered within the “echoMsg” target. I would like the section name to be remembered.

So,

[global]
name=var
name2=val

[section2]
name=var

Should become:

global.name=var
global.name2=val
section2.name=var

This is the output of my ant script:

echoMsg:
 [echo] PREVSECTION IS SET
 [echo] line    = [global]
 [echo] section = global
 [echo] name    =
 [echo] value   =
 [echo] new last section: global
 [echo] ----

echoMsg:
 [echo] line    = servername = my-server.local ; Server name
 [echo] section = ${secm}
 [echo] name    = servername
 [echo] value   = mac-mini-van-Peter.local7
 [echo] new last section: ${prevSection}
 [echo] ----

As you can see, the last “${prevSection}” is not set. I would expect it to be “global”.

I tried to use instead of property, but there’s no difference.

Answer 1

Here’s a hint: Try adding an echo section before the <propertyregex> statements to see what the values of the various properties.

I added these <echo> lines…

<target name="echoMsg">
    <!-- strip out the section name, variable name and value (if exists on the line) -->
    <echo message="prev line    = ${line}" />
    <echo message="prev section = ${secm}" />
    <echo message="prev name    = ${name}" />
    <echo message="prev value   = ${value}" />
    <echo message="prev new last section: ${prevSection}" />
    <echo message="----" />

Now let’s look at the output:

deploy-staging:
     [echo] Ini file: /Users/david/property.ini
     [echo] ${lib}
     [echo] ${store_dir}
     [echo] /usr/share/ant

echoMsg:
     [echo] prev line    = [global]
     [echo] prev section = ${secm}
     [echo] prev name    = ${name}
     [echo] prev value   = ${value}
     [echo] prev new last section: 
     [echo] ----
     [echo] PREVSECTION IS SET
     [echo] line    = [global]
     [echo] section = global
     [echo] name    = 
     [echo] value   = 
     [echo] new last section: 
     [echo] ----

echoMsg:
     [echo] prev line    = name=foo
     [echo] prev section = ${secm}
     [echo] prev name    = ${name}
     [echo] prev value   = ${value}
     [echo] prev new last section: 
     [echo] ----
     [echo] line    = name=foo
     [echo] section = ${secm}
     [echo] name    = name
     [echo] value   = foo
     [echo] new last section: 
     [echo] ----

echoMsg:
     [echo] prev line    = name2=bar
     [echo] prev section = ${secm}
     [echo] prev name    = ${name}
     [echo] prev value   = ${value}
     [echo] prev new last section: 
     [echo] ----
     [echo] line    = name2=bar
     [echo] section = ${secm}
     [echo] name    = name2
     [echo] value   = bar
     [echo] new last section: 
     [echo] ----

echoMsg:
     [echo] prev line    = [section2]
     [echo] prev section = ${secm}
     [echo] prev name    = ${name}
     [echo] prev value   = ${value}
     [echo] prev new last section: 
     [echo] ----
     [echo] PREVSECTION IS SET
     [echo] line    = [section2]
     [echo] section = section2
     [echo] name    = 
     [echo] value   = 
     [echo] new last section: 
     [echo] ----

echoMsg:
     [echo] prev line    = name=fubar
     [echo] prev section = ${secm}
     [echo] prev name    = ${name}
     [echo] prev value   = ${value}
     [echo] prev new last section: 
     [echo] ----
     [echo] line    = name=fubar
     [echo] section = ${secm}
     [echo] name    = name
     [echo] value   = fubar
     [echo] new last section: 
     [echo] ----
     [echo] HERE: 

BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 1 second

Each call to <echomsg> loses the values previously set in <echomsg>.

I suggest you try the <for> task. The <for> task won’t lose the values of your property through each iteration of the loop. However, you’ll have to add the override setting to your <propertyregex> tasks, and to use the <var> tasks instead of <property> tasks to be able to reset your property values through each iteration of the loop.

You’ll also have to change your <taskdef> to this:

<taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antlib.xml" />