Running Ant

After setting up the Ant environment, you can build the DITA output by running the ant command.

Here are some samples to explain how to use Ant to build sample output in the DITA directory.

Note: To run the Ant demo properly, you should switch to the DITA installation directory under the command prompt. If you are using the "Full Easy Install" package, running the "startcmd" batch file in that directory will give you a prompt that is already set up for the following commands.

You can build all demos in the DITA directory
Input ant all -f build_demo.xml

The building process will create an /out/ directory and put the output files in subdirectories that parallel the source directory.
You can also rebuild specific DITA sample files after running the full demo.
First you need to remove part of the output by specifying a "clean" target, and then rebuild the output. For example: To rebuild FAQ demo, run the following two commands:
```
ant clean.demo.faq -f build_demo.xml
ant demo.faq -f build_demo.xml
```
Note: To find out the complete list of targets you can clean and build, check the name attributes for the target elements within the build_demo.xml file. Or, input ant -projecthelp -f build_demo.xml for a full list information.
You can also build your own selections using a prompted build.
Input ant -f build_demo.xml

Ant will prompt you for the input file, output directory, and transform type. Values on these parameters are case sensitive.

To set up your own reusable Ant builds, with access to the full range of DITA-OT parameters, start by using the samples provided in samples/ant_samples/. That directory contains a sample Ant script for each common output format.

Note: To troubleshoot problems in setting up Java, Ant, Saxon, or FOP, you will get better information from the communities for those components rather than the communities for the DITA. Of course, if you find issues relevant to the DITA XSLT scripts (or have ideas for improving them), you are encouraged to engage the DITA community.