Timestamps in Ant log?

Question

Is there an easy way to have the Ant logger (default or other) add a timestamp to each message?

The only way I can think of is to use the Log4jListener and have its settings include the timestamp. Or write a custom logger that subclasses DefaultLogger and writes the timestamp. If there's a better or easier way (preferably without requiring that users install a new jar file into their Ant lib directory),

I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Answer 1

Try this

ant -logger org.apache.tools.ant.listener.ProfileLogger

It prints the entry time and exit time for each target along with the time taken for each target in ms.

Answer 2

Given properties are immutable in ant you need to do something a bit funky here otherwise you just end up logging the same timestamp again and again.

Using antcall gives you a fresh session which means you can reuse the property, although it is a little clumsy.

<macrodef name="timestamp.echo"> 
  <attribute name="message"/>    
  <sequential> 
    <antcall target="_timestamp.echo">
        <param name="message" value="@{message}" />
    </antcall>
  </sequential> 
</macrodef>  


<target name="_timestamp.echo"> 
   <tstamp> 
    <format property="current.time" pattern="dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss"/> 
   </tstamp>          
   <echo message="${current.time} ${message}"/> 
</target>

If you are using Ant 1.8 then you can use local which is much cleaner

<macrodef name="timestamp.echo"> 
  <attribute name="message"/>    
  <sequential> 
   <local name="current.time" />
   <tstamp> 
    <format property="current.time" pattern="dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss"/> 
   </tstamp>          
   <echo message="${current.time} @{message}" />
  </sequential> 
</macrodef>  

And here is how you can use it

<target name="testTsEcho" depends="init" description="blah">
    <timestamp.echo message="test" />
    <sleep seconds="10" />
    <timestamp.echo message="test2" />
</target>