Adding an Ant target to the pre-processing pipeline

You can add an Ant target to the pre-processing pipeline. This enables you to insert additional processing before or after the pre-processing chain or a specific step in the pre-processing operation.

You can use the depend.preprocess.pre and depend.preprocess.post extension points to run a target before or after the entire pre-processing operation. In addition, there are extension points that enable you to run an Ant target before specific pre-processing steps.

Tip: For maximum compatibility with future versions of DITA-OT, most plug-ins should use the extension points that run before or after pre-processing.

1. Define and integrate the new Ant target.

2. Create the following plugin.xml file:

   <plugin id="*plugin-id*">
     <feature extension="*extension-point*" value="*Ant-target*"/>
   </plugin>
   

   where

   • plugin-id is the plug-in identifier.
   • extension-point is a pre-processing extension point.
   • Ant-target is the name of the Ant target.

3. Use the dita install subcommand to install the plug-in.

   Note: For more information, see Installing plug-ins.

The new target is added to the Ant dependency list. The new target is now always run in conjunction with the specified step in the pre-processing pipeline.

Example

The following plugin.xml file specifies that the myAntTargetBeforeChunk target is always run before the chunk step in the pre-processing stage.

<plugin id="com.example.extendchunk">
  <feature extension="depend.preprocess.chunk.pre" 
           value="myAntTargetBeforeChunk"/>
</plugin>

It assumes that the myAntTargetBeforeChunk target has already been defined and integrated.

CAUTION:

The internal order of preprocessing steps is subject to change between versions of DITA-OT. New versions may remove, reorder, combine, or add steps to the process, so the extension points within the preprocessing stage should only be used if absolutely necessary.

Related information

Pre-processing extension points

Installing plug-ins