Programmatically Start or Stop an Application, deployed in IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS) using Java Code and ANT script

Technologies used in this article :

1. Apache Ant

2. JDK 1.6

3. IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.1

1. Create a Java Project and a Class with 'main' method

Create a java project ('AntExecutor') and a class ('AntExecutor') in eclipse to run a simple Ant script from java code.

Sample project structure is shown below

2. Setup Java Build Path

Create a folder, named as "lib" directly under project directory "AntExecutor". Copy "ant.jar" and "xercesImpl.jar" files into that "lib" folder. Setup the build path as shown in the screenshot below

3. Write Ant Script

Create an xml file, named as "build.xml" directly under project directory "AntExecutor" and copy the following content

4. Write Code

Copy the following code to the class AntExecutor

package com.srccodes.example;

import java.io.File;

import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
import org.apache.tools.ant.DefaultLogger;
import org.apache.tools.ant.Project;
import org.apache.tools.ant.ProjectHelper;

/**
 * @author srccodes.com
 * @version 1.0
 */
public class AntExecutor {
    /**
     * To execute the default target specified in the Ant build.xml file
     * 
     * @param buildXmlFileFullPath
     */
    public static boolean executeAntTask(String buildXmlFileFullPath) {
        return executeAntTask(buildXmlFileFullPath, null);
    }
    
    /**
     * To execute a target specified in the Ant build.xml file
     * 
     * @param buildXmlFileFullPath
     * @param target
     */
    public static boolean executeAntTask(String buildXmlFileFullPath, String target) {
        boolean success = false;
        DefaultLogger consoleLogger = getConsoleLogger();

        // Prepare Ant project
        Project project = new Project();
        File buildFile = new File(buildXmlFileFullPath);
        project.setUserProperty("ant.file", buildFile.getAbsolutePath());
        project.addBuildListener(consoleLogger);

        // Capture event for Ant script build start / stop / failure
        try {
            project.fireBuildStarted();
            project.init();
            ProjectHelper projectHelper = ProjectHelper.getProjectHelper();
            project.addReference("ant.projectHelper", projectHelper);
            projectHelper.parse(project, buildFile);
            
            // If no target specified then default target will be executed.
            String targetToExecute = (target != null && target.trim().length() > 0) ? target.trim() : project.getDefaultTarget();
            project.executeTarget(targetToExecute);
            project.fireBuildFinished(null);
            success = true;
        } catch (BuildException buildException) {
            project.fireBuildFinished(buildException);
            throw new RuntimeException("!!! Unable to restart the IEHS App !!!", buildException);
        }
        
        return success;
    }
    
    /**
     * Logger to log output generated while executing ant script in console
     * 
     * @return
     */
    private static DefaultLogger getConsoleLogger() {
        DefaultLogger consoleLogger = new DefaultLogger();
        consoleLogger.setErrorPrintStream(System.err);
        consoleLogger.setOutputPrintStream(System.out);
        consoleLogger.setMessageOutputLevel(Project.MSG_INFO);
        
        return consoleLogger;
    }
    
    /**
     * Main method to test code
     * 
     * @param args
     */
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// To start the application 
		executeAntTask("build.xml", "start_Application");
		
		// To stop the application
		// executeAntTask("build.xml", "stop_Application");
	}
}

5. Final project structure

After doing all the changes, the overall project structure will look like this

6. Run Your Code

Right click on 'AntExecutor.java' and select from context menu 'Run As' --> 'Java Application'.

7. Console Output

'executeAntTask("build.xml", "start_Application")' code statement will execute the target 'start_Application' and start the application in the WAS server.

'executeAntTask("build.xml", "stop_Application")' code statement will execute the target 'stop_Application' and stop the application deployed in the WAS server.

start_Application:
     [exec] WASX7209I: Connected to process "server1" on node abhijitgNode01 using SOAP connector;  The type of process is: UnManagedProcess


BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 11 seconds

-----------------------------

stop_Application:
     [exec] WASX7209I: Connected to process "server1" on node abhijitgNode01 using SOAP connector;  The type of process is: UnManagedProcess


BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 9 seconds

Download Source Code

References

• Install Apache Ant
• Write a Simple Ant Buildfile
• Managing deployed applications using wsadmin scripting