# Target |

## Description

A build file's target is comparable to a method of class in an object oriented programming language. Targets can be invoked from the command line or from within the build script itself. If a build script 'build.eant' contains a target 't1' for example you can invoke this target from the commondline like this:

      geant t1

## Parameters

name
  Description: The target's name. The name must be unique within the build file. If the build file inherits from other build file(s) the inheritance rules must be followed as well. The mechanisms to resolve naming conflicts are basically the same as in the Eiffel programming language. Since probably all users of geant are Eiffel developers and thus are familiar with Eiffel's inheritance mechanisms these rules are not documented. Geant will display error messages in case these rules are violated.

  Domain: String

  Default: -

if
  Description: execute target only if the variable used in the attributevalue is defined. If the value is '$some_var' for example and the variable name 'some_var' is defined the target will be executed (but only if evaluation of attribute 'unless' does not prevent this). Note that the variable can also reference an environment variable like '$WINDIR' for example. In addition to simply checking if a variable is defined or not it is also possible if it's value is equal to a certain string. This is done like this: '${some_var}=some_value'. At the moment only equality comparison is supported.

  Domain: variable definition or variable-value comparison

  Default: -

unless
  Description: The description of attribute 'if' is valid for this attribute as well with the difference that the evaluation of the attribute value is negated. Thus this means the target is executed only if the variable referenced in the attributevalue is not defined etc. (but only if evaluation of attribute 'if' does not prevent this)

  Domain: variable definition or variable-value comparison

  Default: -

once
  Description: Should target be executed only once? If set to 'true' this target will be executed only on it's first invocation. Note: Use this attribute instead of the obsolete attribute 'depend'

  Domain: true|false

  Default: false

depend
  Description: Obsolete. Use attribute 'once' instead. Comma separated list of names of targets which should be invoked before this target is executed. Execution of targets is done from left to rights. Thus if the value of this attribute is 'a,b,c' The first target 'a', then target 'b' and finally target 'c' are called. Note that these targets are only executed if they have not been executed before.

  Domain: Comma separated list of target names

  Default: -

## Parameters specified as nested elements

obsolete
  Description: If provided marks this target as obsolete. The nested text is displayed if this target gets executed. The target list (shown by invoking 'geant -t' will include this text as well next to the target's description.

  Domain: Text

  Default: -

description
  Description: A description of what this target does. The target list (shown by invoking 'geant -t' will include this text next to the target's name.

  Domain: Text

  Default: -

argument
  Description: Element representing a formal argument of this target. The name of the argument is specified by it's attribute 'name'. There can be any number of this element to specify an arbitrary number of arguments. It is not allowed to have two or more argument elements with the same name. The sequence of the argument definition is important since it defines the actual to formal argument value assignments when it is called in the so called terse way (see documentation of tasks 'geant' and 'precursor' for more information). If the target is redefined the number of arguments must match the precursor's.

  Domain: -

  Default: -

## RNG Specification

      <define name="target">
        <element name="target">
        <optional>
          <element name="obsolete">
            <text/>
          </element>
        </optional>
        <zeroOrMore>
          <element name="argument">
            <attribute name="name"/>
          </element>
        </zeroOrMore>
        <ref name="description"/>
        <attribute name="name"/>
        <optional>
          <attribute name="once"/>
        </optional>
        <optional>
          <attribute name="depend"/>
        </optional>
        <ref name="dir_if_unless"/>
        <ref name="tasks"/>
        </element>
      </define>

      <define name="tasks">
        <zeroOrMore>
          <choice>
            <ref name="available"/>
            <ref name="copy"/>
            <ref name="echo"/>
            <ref name="delete"/>
            <ref name="exec"/>
            <ref name="exit"/>
            <ref name="geant"/>
            <ref name="gelex"/>
            <ref name="geyacc"/>
            <ref name="gepp"/>
            <ref name="getest"/>
            <ref name="gexace"/>
            <ref name="gexmlsplit"/>
            <ref name="ise"/>
            <ref name="mkdir"/>
            <ref name="move"/>
            <ref name="outofdate"/>
            <ref name="precursor"/>
            <ref name="se"/>
            <ref name="set"/>
            <ref name="setenv"/>
            <ref name="unset"/>
            <ref name="ve"/>
            <ref name="xslt"/>
          </choice>
        </zeroOrMore>
      </define>

## Examples

      <target name="t1">
        <echo message="This is target 't1'"/>
      </target>