Before you can use the Jalopy Ant task in your build scripts, you have to define the task. This can be done in several ways, depending on the Ant and Jalopy versions you use.

The most conservative way to define the task that works with all versions, is to utilize the <taskdef> element in your build script and specify the class name of the Jalopy task. In order to achieve a self-contained build, you should not place the Jalopy libraries into your Ant /lib folder, but use the classpath attribute to point to the binaries:

<taskdef name="jalopy"
         classname="com.triemax.JalopyTask"
         classpath="${deps}/jalopy-ant-1.9.3.jar" />

Please note that it’s sufficient to reference the Jalopy Ant task library, if the core engine file sits in the same directory (which should be the norm).

If the Jalopy libraries have been added to the Ant class path (by placing them in the Ant/lib folder), you can simply bind the task as follows:

<taskdef name="jalopy" classname="com.triemax.JalopyTask" />

After the task has been defined, you can use it in the same manner like any other task:

<target name="format">
  <jalopy ...>
    ...
  </jalopy>
</target>

Since Jalopy 1.9.3, you can utilize the library feature available with Ant 1.6 or later. When the library has been added to the Ant class path, you can either bind the task globally for the whole script:

<project name="foo" xmlns:triemax="antlib:com.triemax" ...>
   ...
</project>

Or limited to a specific target:

<target name="jalopy" xmlns:triemax="antlib:com.triemax" />
  ...
<target/>

Declaring the namespace will automatically load the task and you can access it using the prefixed name defined in the declaration:

<target name="format">
  <triemax:jalopy ...>
    ...
  </triemax:jalopy>
</target>

But it is usually more sensible to leave the Ant class path alone and instead explicitly handle the class path in the build script to achieve a self-contained build process:

<target name="format">
  <typedef resource="com/triemax/antlib.xml" classpath="${deps}" />
  <jalopy ...>
    ...
  </jalopy>
</target>

Nested <fileset> elements can and should be used to specify the source files and/or directories:

<target name="format">
  <jalopy ...>
    <fileset dir="${dir.src.java}">
      <include name="**/*.java" />
    </fileset>
  </jalopy>
</target>

You can also set user environment variables for a run by using nested <variable> elements.