Ant Overview

Liquibase has a set of Ant tasks that it provides.

Concepts and types

Database

All of the Liquibase Ant tasks are designed around the <database> type. This element configures the database connection and corresponding settings that Liquibase will use when accessing and updating the database. It is a required in all Liquibase Ant tasks.

Attribute	Description	Required
id	The unique identifier for the instance that can be used to reference tasks.	No
driver	The fully qualified class name of the JDBC driver.	Yes
url	The JDBC connection URL.	Yes
user	The username to the JDBC connection.	No
password	The password to the JDBC connection.	No
defaultSchemaName	The schema to use by default for managed database objects and Liquibase control tables.	No
defaultCatalogName	The catalog to use by default for managed database objects and Liquibase control tables.	No
outputDefaultSchema	The attribute to send output with the default schema name.	No; Default is true
outputDefaultCatalog	The attribute to send output with the default catalog name.	No; Default is true
liquibaseSchemaName	The schema name where the Liquibase tables will be located.	No
liquibaseCatalogName	The catalog name where the Liquibase tables will be located.	No
databaseClass	The fully qualified class name of a class that implements the Database interface. Used to add database types that are not officially supported by Liquibase.	No
databaseChangeLogTableName	The attribute that overrides the name of the DATABASECHANGELOG table.	No
databaseChangeLogLockTableName	The attribute that overrides the name of the DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK table.	No
liquibaseTablespaceName	The name of the tablespace where Liquibase tables are located.	No

<liquibase:database  
    id="my-database"  
    driver="${db.driver}"  
    url="${db.url}"  
    user="${db.user}"  
    password="${db.password}"/>

If you use more than one Liquibase task in your Ant build, create the <database> anywhere in your build, give it an id, and reference it using the databaseref attribute:

<liquibase:database  
    id="my-database"  
    driver="${db.driver}"  
    url="${db.url}"  
    user="${db.user}"  
    password="${db.pass}"/>

<liquibase:update  
    databaseref="my-database"  
    changeLogFile="path/to/changelog.xml"/>  

<liquibase:tag  
    databaseref="my-database"  
    tag="new-tag"/>

The <database> type also supports a nested element <connectionProperties> which allows users to specify custom JDBC connection properties to Liquibase:

<liquibase:database  
    id="my-database"  
    driver="${db.driver}"  
    url="${db.url}"  
    user="${db.user}"  
    password="${db.pass}">  
<liquibase:connectionproperties>  
    <liquibase:connectionproperty  name="prop1"  value="value1"/>  
    <liquibase:connectionproperty  name="prop2"  value="value2"/>  
    <propertyset>  
        <propertyref  prefix="liquibase"/>  
    </propertyset>  
</liquibase:connectionproperties>  
</liquibase:database>

changelog parameters

Liquibase changelog files can have parameters that are dynamically substituted at runtime. All Liquibase Ant tasks support these parameters by way of the <changeLogParameters> element.

<liquibase:updateDatabase  databaseref="my-database"  changeLogFile="/path/to/changelog.xml">  
    <liquibase:changeLogParameters>  
        <liquibase:changeLogParameter  name="name1"  value="value1"/>  
        <liquibase:changeLogParameter  name="name2"  value="value2"/>  
        <propertyset>  
            <propertyref  prefix="params"/>  
        </propertyset>  
    </liquibase:changeLogParameters>  
</liquibase:updateDatabase>

To start using Liquibase and Ant, follow Getting Started with Liquibase and Ant.