Set a property inside one ant target and use it in another target

Question

My build file is

<target name="default">  
 <antcall target="child_target"/>  
 <echo> ${prop1}   </echo>  
</target>

<target name="child_target">  
 <property name="prop1" value="val1"/>   
</target>

I get an error that ${prop1} has not been set. How do I set a property in the target?

Answer 1

antcall creates a new project. From the Ant documentation:

The called target(s) are run in a new project; be aware that this means properties, references, etc. set by called targets will not persist back to the calling project.

Use depends instead:

<project default="default">
  <target name="default" depends="child_target">
    <echo>${prop1}</echo>
  </target>
  <target name="child_target">
    <property name="prop1" value="val1"/>
  </target>
</project>