# How Do I: Call wlwBuild.cmd from an Ant build.xml file?

The following topic explains how to create an Ant task that calls the command line tool wlwBuild.cmd. wlwBuild.cmd is used to create application-level EAR files or project-level JAR files for deployment to a production server.

To create an Ant build.xml file, you can either auto-generate a build.xml file or you can write the file by hand.

To auto-generate an Ant build.xml file for the application

1. Open the target application in WebLogic Workshop.

2. From the Tools menu, select Application properties.
3. In the Application Properties dialog, from the left-side navigation panel, select the Build node.
4. In the section labeled Export, click the Export to Ant file button.
5. An Ant file named exported_build.xml is generated and placed in the application's root directory, e.g., BEA_HOME/weblogic81/samples/workshop/SamplesApp/exported_build.xml.

The generated Ant file contains two tasks by default: "build" and "clean". When calling the build file from the command line, use the -f flag to name the file exported_build.xml:

        C:\bea\weblogic81\samples\workshop\SamplesApp>ant -f exported_build.xml build

To build selected projects with the application, modify the <build> element within the exported_build.xml file. By adding the attribute project="Schemas", only the Schemas project will be build:

      <target name="build">
        <!-- Builds the full application creating an ear at the specified location.
             The server classpath parameter is used, but may be omitted if the server home directory
             configured in Workshop is accessible. -->
        <wlwBuild work="${app.dir}/${work.file}" serverclasspath="${server.classpath}">
           <build outputdir="${output.dir}" outputfilename="${output.file}" project="Schemas"/>
        </wlwBuild>
      </target>

See the documentation within the exported_build.xml file for more information about specifying output directories, output file names, etc.

You can also export an Ant build.xml file for building an individual project in much the same way as you do for the application.

To auto-generate an Ant build.xml file for a project

1. Open the target application in WebLogic Workshop.

2. From the Tools menu, select Project properties, then the target project name.
3. In the Project Properties dialog, from the left-side navigation panel, select the Build node.
4. In the section labeled Build Type, click the Export to Ant file button.
5. An Ant file named exported_build.xml is generated and placed in the project's root directory, e.g., BEA_HOME/weblogic81/samples/workshop/SamplesApp/WebServicesexported_build.xml.

## To Write an Ant Script Manually

You can call the wlwBuild.cmd command line tool from an Ant script by using the <EXEC> task. For more information see the the Apache Ant 1.5.4 Manual and the reference documentation for the wlwBuild Command.

### Related Topics

wlwBuild Command

Apache Ant 1.5.4 Manual

How Do I: Use a Custom Ant Build for a Project?

How Do I: Compile a Single Java File?