Practical Code Generation in .NET: Covering Visual Studio 2005, 2008, and 2010

Description

• Copyright 2010
• Edition: 1st

• eBook (Watermarked)
• ISBN-10: 0-321-77065-X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-321-77065-3

“Once this skill is within your everyday comfort zone, it will give your productivity a boost and increase your value to your team. I encourage you to add the techniques outlined in this book to your toolset and to use them to develop your own workbench of generative tools. In doing so, I’m confident you’ll improve your capabilities, and what’s more, have fun doing so.”

–From the Foreword by Gareth Jones, Developer Architect, Visual Studio®, Microsoft

Enlist Visual Studio’s Built-in Code Generation Tools to Write Better Software Faster

Automatic code generation can dramatically increase your productivity, improve code quality and maintainability, promote reuse, and help you extend best practices throughout your development organization. .NET and Visual Studio contain many powerful, code-generation tools--and this book shows you how to succeed with all of them. With Practical Code Generation in .NET, spend less time writing monotonous, repetitive code--leaving more time to address troublesome areas!

Microsoft MVP Peter Vogel covers code generation with Visual Studio 2010, 2008, and 2005, as well as all recent versions of .NET, including .NET 4.0. You’ll learn when enlisting code generation makes sense and how to design solutions that build on the skills and resources you already have.

Writing for experienced programmers, Vogel shows how to generate reliable code using procedural code, Visual Studio add-ins, XML, configuration files, and more--including Microsoft’s innovative CodeDOM technology for generating code in multiple languages. He brings everything together in three complete, chapter-length case studies.

Coverage includes

•¿ Understanding the structure of .NET code-generation solutions and best practices for architecting them

•¿ Creating Visual Studio add-ins that quickly integrate code generation into day-to-day activities

•¿ Using objects and methods to add or remove project components

•¿ Using text insertion to generate code using any tool--even standard string handling functions

•¿ Working with the specific features of C#, Visual Basic .NET, and ASP.NET

•¿ Generating more concise code with .NET’s new Text Template Transformation Toolkit (T4)

•¿ Building code-generation solutions with Visual Studio templates, attributes, and custom tools

•¿ Distributing code-generation solutions

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Sample Content

Table of Contents

Foreword . . . xiv

Preface . . . xvi

Acknowledgments . . . xx

About the Author . . . xxi

Chapter 1 Introducing Code Generation . . . 1

Repetitive Code: Your History . . . 2

Copy-and-Paste . . . 2

General-Purpose Code . . . 3

Benefits of Code Generation . . . 4

When to Use Code Generation . . .7

Best Practices in Code-Generation Solutions . . . 10

Code-Generation Process . . . 11

Code-Generation Tools . . .12

Model-Driven Architecture, Declarative Programming, and Code Generation . . . 14

Model-Driven Architecture . . . 14

Declarative Programming . . . 17

PART I: TOOLS . . . 19

Chapter 2 Integrating with Visual Studio . . . 21

Design-Time Integration . . .22

Starting Your Visual Studio Add-In . . . 23

Laying the Foundation . . . 24

Integrating with Visual Studio . . . 27

Writing a Generation Class in Visual Studio . . . 30

Working with COM . . .31

Debugging Issues in Visual Studio 2005/2008 . . . 32

The OnConnection Method . . .34

Removing Add-In Menus . . . 35

Creating a Menu-Driven User Interface . . . 36

Extending Your Menus . . . 36

Adding Additional Menus . . . 37

Finding the Menu . . . 38

Adding the Menu Item . . . 40

Supporting Multiple Menu Items . . . 42

Creating Submenus . . .43

Adding Submenus . . . 44

Context Menus . . . 44

Accessing the Context . . . 46

Working with Visual Studio Windows . . . 49

Using the Task List Window . . .49

Retrieving Selected Items . . . 50

Writing Messages to the Output Window and the TaskList . . . 51

AutoNavigate in Visual Studio 2005 . . .55

Final Touches . . . 57

Responding to Events . . . 58

Simple Events . . . 58

Filtered Events . . . 60

Working with Document Events . . . 61

Extracting Event Packages . . . 63

Finishing Events . . . 64

Accepting Input . . . 65

Options . . . 65

Creating a Dockable Window . . .  65

Saving Input Values . . .69

Adding an Options Tab . . . 71

Accessing and Saving Option Properties . . . 73

Integrating with Visual Studio . . . 76

Chapter 3 Manipulating Project Components . . . 77

The Code Model . . . 78

Code Model Caveats . . . 79

Managing Projects and Solutions . . . 80

Creating Projects . . . 80

Referencing the Project Items Collection . . . 82

Adding Folders to a Project . . .83

Adding Files . . . 84

Copying Boilerplate Code . . . 86

Generating Code . . . 86

Introducing CodeModel and FileCodeModel . . . 86

Generating Code . . . 89

Modifying and Analyzing Components . . .110

Finding Projects and Project Items . . . 110

Reading Project Properties . . .113

Removing Items . . . 113

Checking for Changes . . . 114

Processing Components in a File . . . 114

Processing All the Components in a File . . . 114

Retrieving Components by Name . . . 116

Retrieving Components by Location . . .117

Working with Retrieved Elements . . . 118

Determining If an Element Can Be Modified . . . 118

Writing Language-Specific Code . . . 119

Using CodeElement with the Position Parameter . . . 119

Choosing Interfaces . . . 120

The CodeEvent Object . . . 121

Working with the CodeType Objects . . . 121

Finding Components with CodeType . . .121

Simple CodeType Options . . .124

Working with Comments and Documentation Comments . . . 124

Working with Related Classes . . . 125

Storing Information . . . 126

Storing Strings in the Globals Object . . . 127

Working with Project Components . . . 128

Chapter 4 Modifying Code in the Editor . . . 129

Opening and Closing Documents and TextDocuments . . . 130

Accessing the Document/TextDocument . . . 130

Making the Document Available to the Developer . . . 131

Closing the Document . . .132

Backing Out Changes . . .133

Creating and Finishing a Context . . . 133

Getting Information on the Context . . . 135

Creating EditPoints to Access Text . . . 135

Retrieving EditPoints with the TextDocument . . . 136

Retrieving EditPoints with the FileCodeModel . . . 136

Retrieving CodeElements from Text . . . 138

Retrieving Information . . .139

Document and TextDocument Objects . . . 139

Document Object Only . . . 140

EditPoint . . .140

Accessing Text with an EditPoint . . . 140

Retrieving Text . . . 141

Relocating the EditPoint . . . 143

Finding Text . . . 144

Finding Text with Regular Expressions . . . 146

Working with Bookmarks . . . 147

Creating Bookmarks . . . 147

Inserting, Replacing, and Formatting Text . . . 149

Inserting and Deleting Text . . .149

Replace Selected Text . . . 150

Bulk Insertions . . . 151

Cleaning Up after Insertions . . .  151

Bulk Replacements . . .152

Controlling the Text Being Displayed . . .153

Formatting Code . . . 154

Smart Formatting . . . 154

Controlled Indenting . . . 154

Inserting and Reading Text . . . 155

Chapter 5 Supporting Project-Specific Features . . . 157

Introducing the VSLangProj Libraries . . . 158

Working with Projects . . . 160

Reference Objects . . .170

Managing a “Projectless” Website . . . 170

Working with the Website . . .171

Adding New Components . . .172

Working with Website Items . . . . 179

Project-Specific Features . . .. . . 180

Chapter 6 Generating Language-Neutral Code . . . 181

A Comprehensive Example . . . 182

The Code to Be Generated . . . 183

Using Variables, Data Types, and Literals . . . 184

Creating Namespaces and Classes . . .185

Adding Methods with Parameters . . . 186

Adding Statements to Methods . . . 187

Generating Code . . . 188

Declarations . . . 189

Local Scalar Variables . . . 190

Arrays . . . 193

Delegates . . . 195

Defining Classes . . . 197

Inheritance and Interfaces . . .198

Generics and Partial Classes . . . 199

Class Members . . . 200

Fields . . . 200

Methods . . . 201

Parameters . . . 205

Events . . . 206

Constructors . . . 211

Entry Points . . . 213

Properties . . . 214

Creating an Indexer . . . 216

Statements and Expressions . . . 216

Expressions . . . 217

Statements . . . 224

Code Structures . . . 228

If...Then . . . 228

For Loops . . . 229

Try...Catch . . . 232

When All Else Fails: Code Snippets . . . 235

Snippet Expressions and Statements . . .236

Compile Units . . . 237

Other Code Features . . . 238

Generating Valid Names . . . 238

Adding Comments . . . 239

Adding Custom Attributes . . . 240

Using Directives to Organize Code into Regions . . . 241

UserData (Option Strict and Option Compare) . . . 242

Code Providers . . . 243

Generating Code . . . 243

Generating Partial Code . . . 246

Compiling Code . . . 246

Generating Code . . . 247

Chapter 7 Generating Code from Templates with T4 . . . 249

T4 in Visual Studio . . . 251

T4 Code-Generation Strategies . . . 252

Options for Extending T4 . . . 253

The T4 Process . . . 253

Creating a T4 Template . . . 254

Escape Characters . . . 257

Directives . . . 258

Adding Helper Methods . . . 261

Generating Errors and Warnings . . . 263

Review . . . 264

Accessing the Generated Code . . .  264

Controlling Code Indentation . . .  264

Extending T4 . . . 265

Creating a New Base Class . . .  265

Defining Custom Directives . . .  267

Invoking Templates from Code . . .  270

Configuring the Project . . . 271

Invoking the Template Using the Visual Studio Host . . . 272

Invoking the Template with a Custom Host . . . 273

Defining a Custom Host . . .274

Adding Custom Methods to the Host . . .280

Passing Parameters to a Template . . . 281

Supporting Custom Directives . . . 282

Leveraging Templates . . .283

Chapter 8 Other Tools: Templates, Attributes, and Custom Tools . . . 285

Item Templates . . . 286

Using the Wizard . . . 287

Template Components . . . 290

Modifying/Creating a Template Control File . . . 293

Attributes . . . 305

Introducing Attributes . . . 306

Creating a Custom Attribute . . . 308

Processing Attributes with Reflection . . . 311

Documenting with Attributes . . . 315

Generating Code from Custom File Formats . . . 315

Setting Up the Project . . . 316

Integrating Custom Tools . . . 323

Reviewing the Tools . . . 329

PART II: CASE STUDIES . . . 331

Chapter 9 Case Study: Generating a Connection String Manager . . . 333

Defining the Problem . . . 334

A Model Solution . . . 335

Supporting Customization . . . 337

Setting Up the Add-In . . . 337

Defining the Add-In . . . 337

Creating the Menu . . . 338

Calling the Solution . . . 342

Creating the Code Generator . . . 343

Finding the Project . . . 344

Does Anything Need to be Done? . . . 345

Segregating Generated Code . . . 346

Adding the Template . . . 349

Customizing the Template . . . 350

Fixing the Namespace . . . 352

Modifying the Class . . . 353

Adding a Reference . . . 355

Generating Code . . . 355

Reading Input . . . 356

Processing the Configuration File . . . 357

Adding Property Code . . . 358

Notifying the Developer . . . 359

Defining the Output Utility . . . 359

Handling the Task List . . . 360

Using the Output Method . . . 361

Supporting Customization . . . 362

Customizable Code . . . 362

Accepting Input . . . 363

Defining the Options Dialog . . . 363

Saving Developer Choices . . . 364

Option Manager Class . . . 365

Creating the User Control . . . 366

Implementing the User Control Interface . . . 367

Integrating with the Add-In . . . 369

Generating Custom Code . . . 370

Adding Custom Code . . . 371

Tying Generation to Events . . . 371

Integrating with Builds . . . 372

Integrating with Documents . . . 373

Generating a Simple Class . . . 375

Chapter 10 Case Study: Generating Validation Code . . . 377

Defining the Problem . . . 378

The Dedicated Code Solution . . . 378

The Generalized Code Solution . . . 380

The Generated Code Solution . . . 380

Creating the Validator . . . 382

The EventArgs Parameter . . . 386

Creating Other Code-Generated Validators . . . 387

Adding the Validator to the Toolbox . . .387

Starting the Code-Generation Project . . . 388

Wiring Up the Add-In . . .389

Creating a Submenu . . . 390

Handling Multiple Documents in Events . . . 392

Starting the Generation Utility . . . 395

Responding to the Add-In . . .395

Defining a Template . . . 397

Generating Code . . . 400

Starting the Process . . . 400

Managing the Code-Generation Process . . . 402

Utility Methods . . . 404

Processing the Validators . . . 407

Inserting Code . . . 410

Specifying Code with the CodeDom . . . 411

Generating the Lookup Methods . . . 412

Generating Code in the Target Language . . . 421

Supporting “Projectless” Websites . . . 421

Adding Code . . . 422

Handling Errors . . . 425

Building a Complete Code-Generation Solution . . . 426

Chapter 11 Case Study: Generating Data-Conversion Code . . . 427

Defining the Problem . . . 428

Creating the Designer . . .432

Building the Designer . . . 435

Adding Items to Your Designer . . . 439

Adding Domain Properties . . . 440

Adding an Enumerated Data Type . . . 441

Adding Relationships to Support Connections . . . 441

Adding Graphical Items . . . 442

Adding Toolbox Items . . . 446

Validation, Generation, and Test . . . 447

Enhancing Model Validation . . .450

Enabling Validation . . . 450

Adding Validation Code . . . 452

Other Options . . . 454

Generating Code . . . 454

Configuring the Template . . . 455

Distributing Your Designer . . . 458

Converting the Template to a Custom Tool: Visual Studio 2005/2008 . . .459

Preloading the Custom Tool Property . . .462

Create a Deployment Project: Visual Studio 2005/2008 . . . 464

Deploying: VS2010 . . .465

Visual Studio 2010 Additions . . .  465

Capturing Inputs . . . 466

PART III: APPENDIXES . . . 467

Appendix A Generating Menu Names . . .468

Appendix B Options Dialog Categories, Subcategories, and Properties . . . 469

Appendix C A Code-Generation Add-In . . . 470

Integrating Code-Generation Classes . . . 470

Adding the Submenu Button . . . 471

Responding to Events . . . 475

Responding to the Menu Button . . . 479

An Extensible Solution . . . 479

Appendix D Distributing Code-Generation Solutions . . . 481

Creating the .vscontent File . . . 481

Adding Add-Ins . . . 482

Adding Templates . . . 482

Adding a Toolbox Control . . .484

Adding Files . . . 484

A Complete Example . . .485

Installing the Solution . . .486

Index . . . 487

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