Ant offers some XML features like the xslt task, which transforms XML files into other files. But unfortunately, with Ant you can’t make simple XPath Queries on a specific XML file.

Luckily, there is a nice open source solution called XmlTask, which offers many possibilities to work with XML files.

1. Download the latest version of XmlTask from http://xmltask.sf.net
2. Create a task definition in Ant
   

   <taskdef name="xmltask"
     classname="com.oopsconsultancy.xmltask.ant.XmlTask"
     classpath="./xmltask-v1.15.1.jar" />
   

3. Use it with the <xmltask> definition
   
   For example, read out the number of a specific node in the XML file:

   <xmltask source="someFile.xml">
     <copy path="count(//aNode)" property="numberOfNodes" />
   </xmltask>
   

   Or change an attribute:

   <xmltask source="someFile.xml" dest="toAnotherFile.xml">
     <attr path="//aNode[1]" attr="enabled" value="true"/>
   </xmltask>
   

There are many other possibilites to work with XML files inside Ant. Check out the documentation at http://xmltask.sf.net.

stefan.jaeger Java ant, Java, XML