Functionalizing few lines of code with ant macrodef

Question

I am trying to "function"alize few lines of ant-code using macrodef. But its resulting in error like :

copy doesn't support the nested "my-macro" element. 

If I "inline" definition of my-macro of adding filterchian within copy-task it works.

My test target looks like this -

<target name="copy-files">
        <sequential>
            <copy todir="abc" >
                <fileset dir="xyz">
                    <!--needy includes/excludes -->
                </fileset>
                <my-macro/>
            </copy>
        </sequential>
 </target>

And my-macro looks like this:

 <macrodef name="my-macro">
        <sequential>
            <filterchain>
                <fixcrlf includes="**" eol="lf"/>
            </filterchain>
        </sequential>

    </macrodef>

Code which works (inlined-one ) looks like :

<target name="copy-files">
        <sequential>
            <copy todir="abc" >
                <fileset dir="xyz">
                    <!--needy includes/excludes -->
                </fileset>
                <filterchain>
                <fixcrlf includes="**" eol="lf"/>
            </filterchain>
          </copy>
 </sequential></target>

Answer 1

The copy task doesn't accept a nested macro element, thats what the errormessage says.
Put the whole copy stuff into your macrodef, f.e. :

<macrodef name="my-macro">
 <attribute name="dest"/>
 <attribute name="fsdir"/>
 <attribute name="fsincludes"/>
 <attribute name="fsexcludes"/>
 <attribute name="fixincl"/>
 <sequential>
  <copy todir="@dest}">
   <fileset dir="@{fsdir}">
    <include name="@{fsincludes}"/>
    <exclude name="@{fsexcludes}"/>
   </fileset>
   <filterchain>
    <fixcrlf includes="@{fixincl}" eol="lf"/>
   </filterchain>
  </copy>
 </sequential>
</macrodef>

-- EDIT --
If number of filesets varies, remove the fsincludes and fsexcludes attribute if not valid for all filesets and use element like that :

 <macrodef name="my-macro">
  <attribute name="dest"/>
  <element name="fs" description="nested filesets"/>
  <attribute name="fixincl"/>
  <sequential>
   <copy todir="@dest}">
     <!-- 1-n nested filesets) -->
     <fs/>
    <filterchain>
     <fixcrlf includes="@{fixincl}" eol="lf"/>
    </filterchain>
   </copy>
  </sequential>
 </macrodef>


 <my-macro dest="C:/whatever" fixincl="**">
   <fs>
     <fileset dir="." includes="**/*.foo"/>
     <fileset dir="../foo" includes="**/*.xml"/>
     <!-- ... -->
   </fs>
 </my-macro>

-- EDIT --
To copy a single file with nested fileset use :

<fileset file="C:/somepath/some.file"/>

-- EDIT -- If you need other copysteps with file tofile, you may use another element if that is sufficient:

<macrodef name="my-macro">
 <attribute name="dest"/>
 <element name="copyfiles" description="nested copy"/>
 <element name="fs" description="nested filesets"/>
 <attribute name="fixincl"/>
 <sequential>

  <copy todir="@dest}">
    <!-- 1-n nested filesets) -->
    <fs/>
   <filterchain>
    <fixcrlf includes="@{fixincl}" eol="lf"/>
   </filterchain>
  </copy>

  <copyfiles/>

 </sequential>
</macrodef>

<my-macro dest="C:/whatever" fixincl="**">
 <fs>
  <fileset dir="." includes="**/*.foo"/>
  <fileset dir="../foo" includes="**/*.xml"/>
  <!-- ... -->
 </fs>
 <copyfiles>
  <copy file="..." tofile="..."/>
  <!-- ... --> 
  </copyfiles>
</my-macro>

Normally for bulk renaming of files a mapper is used.
After all if it gets more complicated you should consider scripting with Groovy or write your own Ant Task.

Answer 2

Rebse's answer already shows what you should go with <macrodef>, and here's some explanation.

Copy Task

<copy>, <macrodef>, <sequential> are Ant tasks. Each Ant task is backed with Java code. Most of Java classes of built-in Ant tasks are under org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs, e.g. Copy.java is the backend of <copy> task.

The nested elements of a task is handled by the task's Java code. For <copy> task, it's code in Copy.java (or other classes it depends on) handling the nested elements.

You will see in Copy.java methods named with createFilterChain, addFileset, createMapper and others. That's why <copy> supports fileset, filterchain, mapper and other nested elements stated in Copy's manual page.

Macrodef

This defines a new task using a nested task as a template.

Macrodef is a way to define an Ant task without coding in Java. It turns its nested Ant xml lines into a new task, which works the same way as other Ant tasks.

Obviously, you should not just put a <filterchain> in <macrodef>, as <filterchain> is not an Ant task, but an Ant type.