Skip to main content

Save the Environment

The DITA Open Toolkit (DITA-OT) uses Apache Ant to do its build processing. I have now realized what a confusing warren of build files there is for building the samples. I'm sure someone really cool and hip on Ant could look at it and grok it, but I have never been accused of coolnes or hipness. (No, don't gasp, it's true!)

What I have determined, is that there is some setup required. I will do this within the calling script (.bat file) rather than making permanent environment variables.
The script will start out by setting DITA_HOME to the directory in which I installed DITA.

set DITA_OT=C:\jdn\DITA-OT1.4.2.1

Then in that directory, I place a setuplocalenv.bat file that has some more variables


REM Get the absolute path of DITAOT's home directory
set DITA_DIR=%~dp0

REM Set environment variables
set ANT_OPTS=-Xmx512m %ANT_OPTS%
set ANT_HOME=%DITA_DIR%tools\ant
set PATH=%ANT_HOME%\bin;%PATH%

REM This last one is actually all one line.
set CLASSPATH=%DITA_DIR%lib;
%DITA_DIR%lib\dost.jar;
%DITA_DIR%lib\resolver.jar;
%DITA_DIR%lib\fop.jar;
%DITA_DIR%lib\avalon-framework-cvs-20020806.jar;
%DITA_DIR%lib\batik.jar;
%DITA_DIR%lib\xalan.jar;
%DITA_DIR%lib\xercesImpl.jar;
%DITA_DIR%lib\xml-apis.jar;
%DITA_DIR%lib\icu4j.jar;
%CLASSPATH%


This sets up all the environment variables that two weeks or so of constant error messages and documentation readin tells me I need. Not entirely sure what all of them do. I know xalan is Apache's XSLT processor, and xerxesImpl is the Xerxes implementation (XML parser). I also know that fop.jar is the Formatting Objects Processor for outputting PDF. batik is the SVG libraries. The file called dost.jar is the DITA Open Source Tools, but I havn't a clue what icu4j, resolver, or the avalon thing are. DITA-OT wants them, so I put them on the classpath and try not to worry about it.



Now I should be able to call ant with a build file and use a logger for recording errors.

set DITAMAP=myMapName.ditamap
ant -logger org.dita.dost.log.DITAOTBuildLogger



I'll post later about how this works. My fingers hurt.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

KISS me, I'm dorky!

Ok, I give up. I've been trying to make the DITA-OT do what I want it to do. It's a really powerful and flexible tool, and I know that somebody really smart could make it do just about anything. Problem is, I'm just not that damn smart, apparently. When it comes down to it, all I really want is Ant, since I'm writing my own stylesheets and only have one output format. Also, I am not likely to need DITA's transclusion mechanisms. So forget the DITA-OT, I'll just use Ant.
Post a Comment
Read more

Furry Feet, Cotton Mouth, and a Big Dorky Smile

Through most of my life, I've had some serious misconceptions about depression. I have long believed that depressed people were just irritating weak-willed whiners who needed a kick in the ass and to shake it off. So naturally, I got a nice dose of the irony of life and wound up with depression myself. The more I read about depression, the more I realize how long I've had it without knowing. Actually, a big sign of depression isn't necessarily crying/sadness or a tendency to listen to emo rock at all. It can often be severe detachment and apathy. I know there's probably a lot of people out there saying "Duh!" right now, but that was news to me. Actually, three of the big symptoms are: - Apathy/Detachment - Lack of Motivation/Drive - Forgetfulness All of these, I've had in spades for some time. A lot of the reading says if these last for more than two weeks at a pop, you could be considered clinically depressed. Now that it's been poi...
1 comment
Read more

New Geek Project

I was considering a new project at work, but couldn' t seem to get funding, so I'll try it at home, and perhaps blog about it (in addition to my rants).   It strikes me that creating XML documentation in a topic based architecture is almost exactly like a software development project:  You have source files that you need to control (XML source instead of code source), you have binaries to link in (images instead of libraries), and you must run the source through a process (stylesheet instead of compiler) to create your executable file(s).  In this case, it's a document or web instead of an actual program file.  Since I'm not creating something for work, I'll make something I like better.  Something for one of my geekier hobbies...  Yes, I'm one of those freaky Dungeons and Dragons players.  Since I'm running a campaign, maybe I'll try to create a world encyclopedia or adventure notes using this project. So, let's start at the beginning.  Source.   I...
Post a Comment
Read more