ant junit build error inside eclipse

Question

I am hoping there are some people who have seen and have a solution for the problem that I am having right now with ant script. I am using an ant script to compile my java codes in eclipse but eclipse keeps giving me these errors

[junitreport] Processing E:\workspace\DataOrchestrationDevelopment\DataOrchestration\Logs\jsreports\junit\html\TESTS-TestSuites.xml to C:\Users\u0160235\AppData\Local\Temp\null1503375679
[junitreport] Loading stylesheet jar:file:/E:/software/apache/apache-ant-1.8.2/lib/ant-junit.jar!/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/junit/xsl/junit-frames.xsl
[junitreport] : Error! The first argument to the non-static Java function 'replace' is not a valid object reference.
[junitreport] : Error! Cannot convert data-type 'void' to 'reference'.
[junitreport] : Fatal Error! Could not compile stylesheet
[junitreport] Failed to process E:\workspace\DataOrchestrationDevelopment\DataOrchestration\Logs\jsreports\junit\html\TESTS-TestSuites.xml

BUILD FAILED
E:\workspace\DataOrchestrationDevelopment\DataOrchestration\ant\developerbuild.xml:124: The following error occurred while executing this line:
E:\workspace\DataOrchestrationDevelopment\DataOrchestration\ant\QunitAntScript.xml:20: Errors while applying transformations: Fatal error during transformation

My environment settings:

• Windows 7
• Eclipse 3.6 RC2 32 bit
• JDK 1.6 update 32 32 bit
• Ant 1.7.2
• Junit 4 (within eclipse): in my project jar folder I have junit-dep-4.8.2.jar

One thing to mention that if I compile my codes outside eclipse using the same ant script, everything works just fine, but it doesn't work inside eclipse. I tried to google the errors above the stylesheet above, but that didn't help me much. My guess is somehow, within eclipse different version of junit is being used, but I might be wrong.

Answer 1

I experienced the same stylesheet problem within Eclipse using the following environment:

• Windows 7 x64
• Eclipse 3.7.2 (SR2) 32-bit
• JDK 1.6.0_32 32-bit
• Ant 1.7.2 (from Eclipse) or 1.7.4 (from Apache, current)
• Junit 4.8.1 (project dependency)

My build succeeds while using JDK 1.6.0_31, so it appears the stylesheet problem is an Ant or Java bug introduced with the release of Java 6 build 32. I could not find any reports in Apache's Bugzilla system. If it helps someone, these are the bug fixes included in build 32: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/2col/6u32bugfixes-1579554.html

My current workaround is to use Java 6 JDK build 31.

Update: Workaround to use a newer JDK

The Ant failures from within Eclipse started with a defect introduced in Java 6u32 and Java7u4. The saga is reported in Eclipse Bug #384757, including a workaround allowing you to use newer JDKs.

• Download the org.apache.xalan and org.apache.xml.serializer plug-ins from the Eclipse Orbit project
• Copy them to a directory listed in the Java java.ext.dirs property

I use the following directories because they are defined by default and independent of JDK version:

• On Windows: C:\Windows\Sun\Java\lib\ext
• On Mac: /Users/$USER/Library/Java/Extensions

The root problem was reported to Oracle, but the bug is no longer in their bug database. I am not optimistic it will ever be fixed.

Update: Apache fixed the problem in Ant

Apache has fixed the root problem; it may be available in the Ant 1.9.0 release (Apache Bug #54641).

Update: Ant 1.9.1 scheduled for Eclipse 4.4

As @OliBlogger mentioned, Apache fixed the root problem in Ant 1.9.1. Eclipse plans to update to Ant 1.9.1 in Eclipse 4.4 (perhaps sooner, the Eclipse bug system does not yet have 4.3.x milestones).

Update: Fixed in Eclipse 4.4

I confirmed that my build now succeeds using Java 7 JDK build 67 and Ant 1.9.2 distributed with Eclipse 4.4.1 (Windows 7) without using the Orbit plug-in workaround.

Answer 2

Please try to go to Preferences->Ant->Runtime and set the Ant Home... there to your ant installation folder. By default eclipse comes with and uses an ant contributed as a plug-in.

You can also add there additional jars, folders if needed.