Re: [nant-dev] Property Task - no file attribute?

[Ian M. <ianm@ActiveState.com>]

Brenton House wrote:

> As a former Jakarta Ant user, I am always migrating scripts from Ant=20
> to NAnt as I am porting code from Java to C#. I am curious why the=20
> Property Task does not have the attribute =93File=94 for loading=20
> properties from a text file.=20
> (http://ant.apache.org/manual/CoreTasks/property.html) I know that=20
> NAnt is based on Jakarta Ant and I thought that most of the=20
> functionality was brought over as well. If the reason is simply that=20
> no one has done it, I will contribute and add that to it. If there is=20
> another reason, I am just curious what it is.
>
With NAnt the <import> task is the preferred means to import a large set=20
of properties. The import task pulls in an included build file where you=20
can define common properties using the <property name=3D"foo" value=3D"ba=
r=20
/> syntax.

The reasons for not adding the ability to load a properties from the=20
property task are:

1) the use .properties files containing name, value pairs is not a .net=20
idiom the way it is in java and:
2) having a task thats named <property> also meaning loadproperties in=20
some circumstances is a little confusing
3) the import task gives you the same functionality and more and ensures=20
that all property definitions take the form :
<property name=3D"foo" value=3D"bar />

This should probably be added to the FAQ.

Ian