C# support (was: Re: objc)

[Alexander Dymo]

Any language support should be written as a kdevelop part and implement
KDevLanguageSupport interface (lib/interfaces).
Implementing methods:
    virtual Features features();
    virtual KMimeType::List mimeTypes();
should be enough for a language support to start working.

You could look at parts/rubysupport for a simple language support
implementation. For a compilable language support consult parts/adasupport
or parts/pascalsupport (they are not so complex as cppsupport).

Language support can offer additional features:
new class wizard:	
	virtual void addClass();
add method dialog:	
	virtual void addMethod(const QString &className);
add attribute dialog:
	virtual void addAttribute(const QString &className);

If there is a Qt bindings for your language and there is a possibility
to use QtDesigner ui files (i think something available to c#)
you could implement ui subclassing feature:
    virtual QStringList subclassWidget(const QString& formName);
    virtual QStringList updateWidget(const QString& formName, const QString&
	fileName);

If you write (or have) a language parser, your language support can have:
class store (a database containing the information about scopes, classes
and methods - their names, names of source files, location in source files,
etc.). Class store libraries can be found at lib/catalog and lib/sourceinfo.
KDevelop provides class browsers that extract information from a class store
and display it in a tree view and toolbar selectors of scopes, classes and 
methods.

Catalog is the new persistant class store for KDevelop written by Roberto
Raggi and everybody is highly encouraged to use it. Take a look
at parts/cppsupport for an example of using catalog. parts/pascalsupport
will be based on a catalog (check it out within a two weeks). Catalog is
stored on disk in the database file (Berkeley db) If you use catalog, your
class browser will be parts/classbrowser.

Sourceinfo is the deprecated class store. Look at parts/adasupport
(especially interesting is ada.store.g grammar file) to find out how it is
filled by a parser with information. This class store can't be saved onto a
disk. The class browser for a sourceinfo based stores is parts/classview.

Class store enables you to write a code completion for the language.
At the moment, code completion is available only to cppsupport so
take a look at it for an example.

In general, class stores can be filled with information without specialized 
and complex language parsers (take a look at parts/pythonsupport that have
a very simple python parser) but your language support will surely benefit
from having such. There is a hand-written c/c++ parser (lib/cppparser) in
KDevelop that might be used for a objective-c language. Other (not so complex
as c++) languages can be parsed by ANTLR based parsers (library is in
lib/antlr). Consult www.antlr.org for a ANTLR documentation and look at
parts/javasupport, parts/adasupport and parts/pascalsupport for an example of
using such parsers. AFAIK there is an ANTLR based c# parser at www.antlr.org.

If you have a language parser, you can implement "problem reporter"
functionality for your language. The problem reporter catches errors
reported by a parser and displays it in a problem reporter view.
parts/javasupport, parts/adasupport, parts/pascalsupport and
parts/cppsupport have problem reporters.



The language support is important, but it is unusable without a project
manager that can manage projects written on this language. KDevelop 
currently provides several project managers. They are:
Automake manager		parts/autoproject
QMake manager		parts/trollproject
Custom project manager	parts/customproject
	(works with custom makefiles, also has ant support)
Script project manager	parts/scriptproject
	(the generic project manager for all scripting languages).
Also available parts/pascalproject and parts/adaproject (they are the
project managers for a compiled language with main source file concept).
Choose your project manager and if the existing project managers don't fit
in, you can modify parts/customproject to use a specific build tool or help us
to develop "generic project manager" suitable for every language and build
tool (there are some ideas which haven't been implemented yet).


Application wizard templates should be also written. Appwizard templates are
simple to create - consult parts/appwizard/README and look at
parts/appwizard/rubyhello, parts/appwizard/pascalhello or
parts/appwizard/adahello.


Another thing to do is to create filecreate templates. They are prototypes 
for a source files of your language. These prototypes are placed in 
parts/filecreate/file-templates dir and have names equal to the extensions
of language source files. The description of the prototypes is placed
in parts/filecreate/template-info.xml. Consult parts/filecreate/README
for further information.


KDevelop has a support for code abbrevations so you can add some predefined
abbrevations to your language support. Take parts/cppsupport/cpptemplates
as an example.


To edit source files KDevelop uses any editor that supports KTextEditor
interface. In case none from the editors support advanced editing of sources
written on your language (like code folding, syntax highlighting, line
indentation) you can improve QEditor included in KDevelop (parts/qeditor).
By creating QEditorIndenter and QSourceColorizer descendants you can
provide the support for an automatic indentation and syntax highlighting
that will be available for sure in KDevelop. c# colorizer is already available
(parts/qeditor/cs_colorizer.h/cpp).


To obtain source formatter functionality (that is already available to
c-based languages) you can improve astyle library (lib/astyle) that is used
by KDevelop to format sources.


The last thing to have a complete language support in KDevelop is to
write a debugger support. KDevelop already provides GDB support
(parts/debugger) and JDB (java debugger) support (parts/javadebugger).
Take a look at them to get inspiration;).


See also HACKING file for an information on how to create a generic KDevelop
plugin and how to manage project and global configuration information.

-- 
Alexander Dymo
Ukrainian State Maritime Technical University, IT Department


-
to unsubscribe from this list send an email to kdevelop-request at kdevelop.org with the following body:
unsubscribe »your-email-address«