how to set swf metadata.publisher to an ant property in the mxmlc task

[justme123]

Hi,

Is there a straight forward way to set metadata.publisher to the value of an ant property in the mxmlc task?

From the docs i'd have expected it to work like this:

<property name="publisher" value="Initrode Global"/>
<mxmlc [...]>
[...]
<metadata publisher="${publisher}"/>
</mxmlc>

But publisher is not a valid attribute for the metadata element.

So what about a nested element?

<property name="publisher" value="Initrode Global"/>
<mxmlc [...]>
[...]
<metadata> 
<publisher>${publisher}</publisher>
</metadata>
</mxmlc>

leads to this error when the task is executed:
"command line: Error: configuration variable 'metadata.publisher' value contains unknown token 'publisher'"

Replacing ${publisher} with a string works, so i guess it's the mxmlc task interpreting ${*} as something different (what does token mean in this context?!).

i also tried using the nested 'arg' element that mxmlc should have inherited from javac

<mxmlc [...]>
[...]
<arg value="-publisher='${publisher}'"/>
</mxmlc>

but it looks like that's being ignored aswell.

the only workaround i've found so far is to wrap the call to mxmlc inside a macrodef with an attribute for publisher (macrodef uses @{*} to reference its attributes and without the $ it works).

<macrodef name="mxmlcmacro">
<attribute name="publisher"/>
<mxmlc [...]>
[...]
<metadata>
<publisher>@{publisher}</publisher>
</metadata>
</mxmlc>
</macrodef>

but this workaround really messes up the readability of the buildfile, i'd really apreciate a clean solution.

tia, justme123

[Peter Cowling]

Hi,

I expect that 'publisher' is reserved. So:

> Change your property name to something else i.e. IN_GLOBAL.

> Then your metadata entry to

<publisher name="${IN_GLOBAL}"/>

[justme123]

Thank you!!!

although it's not a problem with the property name:

<property name="banana" value="Initrode Global"/>
<mxmlc [...]>
[...]
<metadata> 
<publisher>${banana}</publisher>
</metadata>
</mxmlc>

Error: configuration variable 'metadata.publisher' value contains unknown token 'banana'

using the 'name' attribute of the publisher element does work:

<property name="publisher" value="Initrode Global"/>
<mxmlc [...]>
[...]
<metadata> 
<publisher name="${publisher}"></publisher>
</metadata>
</mxmlc>

Do you know where these attributes are documented?

[Peter Cowling]

I remember a document called 'Ant2Flex' or something similar document somewhere on the web, but don't remember where. It was a table that set out flex compiler attributes, against the Ant equivalents...

EDIT:
Does this not work though:

<property name="banana" value="Initrode Global"/>
<mxmlc [...]>
[...]
<metadata> 
<publisher name="${banana}" />
</metadata>
</mxmlc>

[justme123]

That also works, it's just a different property name. The problem with my first attempts was never the name (i actually don't use ${publisher} in the production file, i've just used it to provide a more readable example).

I didn't find the document you've mentioned jet, or even the source of the flex ant tasks (even if no documentation exists, the source code should tell what the attribute names are).

[Peter Cowling]

Flex2ant document mentioned earlier.

[justme123]

Oh, i've seen that of course, but it's for flex2ant mxmlc task (org.flex2ant.Mxmlc) not adobes mxmlc task (flex.ant.MxmlcTask).

But i've found the source code by adobe, it's in <flex 3.3 sdk>/ant/src *duh*

The file ant/src/flex/ant/types/Metadata.java contains the information i needed:

date, description and title can be set as an attritute of the metadata element, others need to be nested elements:

<mxmlc [...]>
[...]
<metadata
 date="01.01.1970"
 description="this is an example"
 title="google me">
<publisher name="Initrode Global"/>
<creator name="justme123"/>
<contributor name="Peter Cowling"/>
<language code="EN"/>
</metadata>
</mxmlc>

I don't need localized-description and localized-title, so that's left as an exercise to the reader.

Thanks Peter!