Java conditional compilation: how to prevent code chunks from being compiled?

You can make the calls using reflection and compile the code with Java 5.

e.g.

Class clazz = Class.forName("java.package.ClassNotFoundInJavav5");
Method method = clazz.getMethod("methodNotFoundInJava5", Class1.class);
method.invoke(args1);

You can catch any exceptions and fall back to something which works on Java 5.

Hiding two implementation classes behind an interface like Gareth proposed is probably the best way to go.

That said, you can introduce a kind of conditional compilation using the replace task in ant build scripts. The trick is to use comments in your code which are opened/closed by a textual replacement just before compiling the source, like:

/*{{ Block visible when compiling for Java 6: IFDEF6

public static void openFile(java.io.File file) throws java.io.IOException {
  // open the file using java.awt.Desktop
  ...

/*}} end of Java 6 code. */

/*{{ Block visible when compiling for Java 5: IFDEF5

  // open the file using alternative methods
  ...

/*}} end of Java 5 code. */

now in ant, when you compile for Java 6, replace "IFDEF6" with "*/", giving:

/*{{ Block visible when compiling for Java 6: */

public static void openFile(java.io.File file) throws java.io.IOException {
  // open the file using java.awt.Desktop
  ...

/*}} end of Java 6 code. */

/*{{ Block visible when compiling for Java 5, IFDEF5

public static void openFile(java.io.File file) throws java.io.IOException {
  // open the file using alternative methods
  ...

/*}} end of Java 5 code. */

and when compiling for Java 5, replace "IFDEF5". Note that you need to be careful to use // comments inside the /*{{, /*}} blocks.

Nope there isn't any support for conditional compilation in Java.

The usual plan is to hide the OS specific bits of your app behind an Interface and then detect the OS type at runtime and load the implementation using Class.forName(String).

In your case there no reason why you can't compile the both OS* (and infact your whole app) using Java 1.6 with -source 1.5 -target 1.5 then in a the factory method for getting hold of OS classes (which would now be an interface) detect that java.awt.Desktop class is available and load the correct version.

Something like:

 public interface OS {
     void openFile(java.io.File file) throws java.io.IOException;
 }

 public class OSFactory {
     public static OS create(){
         try{
             Class.forName("java.awt.Desktop");
             return new OSJ6();
         }catch(Exception e){
             //fall back
             return new OSJ5();
         }
     }
 }