What is Apache Ant?

Ant is primarily used for building and deploying Java projects but can be used for every possible repetitive tasks, e.g. generating documentation.

A Java build process typically includes:

• the compilation of the Java source code into Java bytecode
• creation of the .jar file for the distribution of the code
• creation of the Javadoc documentation

Ant uses an xml file for its configuration. The default file name is build.xml. Ant builds are based on three blocks: tasks, targets and extension points.

A task is a unit of work which should be performed and constitutes of small atomic steps, for example compile source code or create Javadoc. Tasks can be grouped into targets.

A target can be directly invoked via Ant. Targets can specify their dependencies. Ant will automatically execute all dependent targets.

Here are some of the screenshots:

http://www.vogella.com/tutorials/ApacheAnt/article.html