# 15 Minutes Tutorial - Extended

After you have developed you first own DSL, the question arises, how the behavior and the semantics of the language can be customized. Therefore a couple of mini-tutorials are available, that illustrate common use cases when crafting an own DSL.

These lessons are independent from each other. Each of them will be based on the language that was build in the first domain model tutorial.

That is, the syntax and the grammar for the language look like this:

package java.lang {
datatype String
}
package my.company.blog {
import java.lang.*
import my.company.common.*
entity Blog {
title: String
many posts: Post
}
entity HasAuthor {
author: String
}
entity Post extends HasAuthor {
title: String
content: String
many comments: Comment
}
entity Comment extends HasAuthor {
content: String
}
}

grammar org.example.domainmodel.Domainmodel with
org.eclipse.xtext.common.Terminals
generate domainmodel "http://www.eclipse.org/xtext/example/Domainmodel"
Domainmodel:
(elements += AbstractElement)*
;
PackageDeclaration:
'package' name = QualifiedName '{'
(elements += AbstractElement)*
'}'
;
AbstractElement:
PackageDeclaration | Type | Import
;
QualifiedName:
ID ('.' ID)*
;
Import:
'import' importedNamespace = QualifiedNameWithWildcard
;
QualifiedNameWithWildcard:
QualifiedName '.*'?
;
Type:
DataType | Entity
;
DataType:
'datatype' name=ID
;
Entity:
'entity' name = ID
('extends' superType = [Entity | QualifiedName])?
'{'
(features += Feature)*
'}'
;
Feature:
(many ?= 'many')? name = ID ':' type = [Type | QualifiedName]
;

## Writing a Code Generator With Xtend

As soon as you generate the Xtext artifacts for a grammar, a code generator stub will be put into the runtime project of your language. Let's dive into Xtend and see how you can integrate your own code generator with Eclipse.

In this lesson you will generate Java Beans for entities that are defined in the domain model DSL. For each Entity, a Java class is generated and each Feature will lead to a private field in that class and public getters and setters. For the sake of simplicity, we will use fully qualified names all over the generated code.

package my.company.blog;
public class HasAuthor {
private java.lang.String author;
public java.lang.String getAuthor() {
return author;
}
public void setAuthor(java.lang.String author) {
this.author = author;
}
}

First of all, locate the file DomainmodelGenerator.xtend in the package org.example.domainmodel.generator. This Xtend class is used to generate code for your models in the standalone scenario and in the interactive Eclipse environment.

package org.example.domainmodel.generator
import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.resource.Resource
import org.eclipse.xtext.generator.IGenerator
import org.eclipse.xtext.generator.IFileSystemAccess
class DomainmodelGenerator implements IGenerator {
override void doGenerate(Resource resource, IFileSystemAccess fsa) {
}
}

Let's make the implementation more meaningful and start writing the code generator. The strategy is to find all entities within a resource and trigger code generation for each one.

1. First of all, you will have to filter the contents of the resource down to the defined entities. Therefore we need to iterate a resource with all its deeply nested elements. This can be achieved with the method getAllContents(). To use the resulting TreeIterator (src) in a for loop, we use the extension method toIterable() from the built-in library class IteratorExtensions (src).

   class DomainmodelGenerator implements IGenerator {
   override void doGenerate(Resource resource, IFileSystemAccess fsa) {
   for(e: resource.allContents.toIterable.filter(Entity)) {
   ...
   }
   }
   }

2. Now let's answer the question, how we determine the file name of the Java class, that each Entity should yield. This information should be derived from the qualified name of the Entity since Java enforces this pattern. The qualified name itself has to be obtained from a special service that is available for each language. Fortunately, Xtend allows to reuse that one easily. We simply inject the IQualifiedNameProvider (src) into the generator. @Inject extension IQualifiedNameProvider This allows to ask for the name of an entity. It is straightforward to convert the name into a file name:

   override void doGenerate(Resource resource, IFileSystemAccess fsa) {
   for(e: resource.allContents.toIterable.filter(Entity)) {
   fsa.generateFile(
   e.fullyQualifiedName.toString("/") + ".java",
   e.compile)
   }
   }

3. The next step is to write the actual template code for an entity. For now, the function Entity.compile does not exist, but it is easy to create it:

   def compile(Entity e) '''
   package «e.eContainer.fullyQualifiedName»;
   public class «e.name» {
   }
   '''

4. This small template is basically the first shot at a Java-Beans generator. However, it is currently rather incomplete and will fail, if the Entity is not contained in a package. A small modification fixes this. The package-declaration has to be wrapped in an IF expression:

   def compile(Entity e) '''
   «IF e.eContainer != null»
   package «e.eContainer.fullyQualifiedName»;
   «ENDIF»
   public class «e.name» {
   }
   '''

   Let's handle the superType of an Entity gracefully, too by using another IF expression:

   def compile(Entity e) '''
   «IF e.eContainer != null»
   package «e.eContainer.fullyQualifiedName»;
   «ENDIF»
   public class «e.name» «IF e.superType != null
   »extends «e.superType.fullyQualifiedName» «ENDIF»{
   }
   '''

5. Even though the template will compile the Entities without any complains, it still lacks support for the Java properties, that each of the declared features should yield. For that purpose, you have to create another Xtend function that compiles a single feature to the respective Java code.

   def compile(Feature f) '''
   private «f.type.fullyQualifiedName» «f.name»;
   public «f.type.fullyQualifiedName» get«f.name.toFirstUpper»() {
   return «f.name»;
   }
   public void set«f.name.toFirstUpper»(«f.type.fullyQualifiedName» «f.name») {
   this.«f.name» = «f.name»;
   }
   '''

   As you can see, there is nothing fancy about this one. Last but not least, we have to make sure that the function is actually used.

   def compile(Entity e) '''
   «IF e.eContainer != null»
   package «e.eContainer.fullyQualifiedName»;
   «ENDIF»
   public class «e.name» «IF e.superType != null
   »extends «e.superType.fullyQualifiedName» «ENDIF»{
   «FOR f:e.features»
   «f.compile»
   «ENDFOR»
   }
   '''

The final code generator looks pretty much like the following code snippet. Now you can give it a try! Launch a new Eclipse Application (Run As -> Eclipse Application on the Xtext project) and create a dmodel file in a Java Project. Now simply create a new source folder src-gen in the that project and see how the compiler will pick up your sample Entities and generate Java code for them.

package org.example.domainmodel.generator
import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.resource.Resource
import org.eclipse.xtext.generator.IGenerator
import org.eclipse.xtext.generator.IFileSystemAccess
import org.example.domainmodel.domainmodel.Entity
import org.example.domainmodel.domainmodel.Feature
import org.eclipse.xtext.naming.IQualifiedNameProvider
import com.google.inject.Inject
class DomainmodelGenerator implements IGenerator {
@Inject extension IQualifiedNameProvider
override void doGenerate(Resource resource, IFileSystemAccess fsa) {
for(e: resource.allContents.toIterable.filter(Entity)) {
fsa.generateFile(
e.fullyQualifiedName.toString("/") + ".java",
e.compile)
}
}
def compile(Entity e) '''
«IF e.eContainer != null»
package «e.eContainer.fullyQualifiedName»;
«ENDIF»
public class «e.name» «IF e.superType != null
»extends «e.superType.fullyQualifiedName» «ENDIF»{
«FOR f:e.features»
«f.compile»
«ENDFOR»
}
'''
def compile(Feature f) '''
private «f.type.fullyQualifiedName» «f.name»;
public «f.type.fullyQualifiedName» get«f.name.toFirstUpper»() {
return «f.name»;
}
public void set«f.name.toFirstUpper»(«f.type.fullyQualifiedName» «f.name») {
this.«f.name» = «f.name»;
}
'''
}

If you want to play around with Xtend, you can try to use the Xtend tutorial which can be materialized into your workspace. Simply choose New -> Example -> Xtend Examples -> Xtend Introductory Examples and have a look at Xtend's features. As a small exercise, you could implement support for the many attribute of a Feature or enforce naming conventions, e.g. field names should start with an underscore.

## Unit Testing the Language

Automated tests are crucial for the maintainability and the quality of a software product. That is why it is strongly recommended to write unit tests for your language, too. The Xtext project wizard creates a test project for that purpose. It simplifies the setup procedure both for the Eclipse agnostic tests and the UI tests for Junit4.

This tutorial is about testing the parser and the linker for the Domainmodel. It leverages Xtend to write the test case.

1. First of all, a new Xtend class has to be created. Therefore, choose the src folder of the test plugin, and select New -> Xtend Class from the context menu. Provide a meaningful name and enter the package before you hit finish. The core of the test infrastructure is the XtextRunner (src) and the language specific IInjectorProvider (src). Both have to be provided by means of class annotations:

   import org.eclipse.xtext.junit4.XtextRunner
   import org.example.domainmodel.DomainmodelInjectorProvider
   @InjectWith(DomainmodelInjectorProvider)
   @RunWith(XtextRunner)
   class ParserTest {
   }

2. The actual test case is pretty straight forward with Xtend. The utility class org.eclipse.xtext.junit4.util.ParseHelper allows to parse an arbitrary string into a Domainmodel. The model itself can be traversed and checked afterwards. A static import of Assert leads to concise and readable test cases.

   import org.eclipse.xtext.junit4.util.ParseHelper
   import static org.junit.Assert.*
   ...
   @Inject
   ParseHelper<Domainmodel> parser
   @Test
   def void parseDomainmodel() {
   val model = parser.parse(
   "entity MyEntity {
   parent: MyEntity
   }")
   val entity = model.elements.head as Entity
   assertSame(entity, entity.features.head.type)
   }

3. After saving the Xtend file, it is time to run the test. Select Run As -> JUnit Test from the editor's context menu.

## Creating Custom Validation Rules

One of the main advantages of DSLs is the possibility to statically validate domain specific constraints. This can be achieved by means of static analysis. Because this is a common use case, Xtext provides a dedicated hook for this kind of validation rules. In this lesson, we want to ensure that the name of an Entity starts with an upper-case letter and that all features have distinct names across the inheritance relationship of an Entity.

Try to locate the class DomainmodelValidator in the package org.eclipse.xtext.example.validation. It can be found in the language plug-in. Defining the constraint itself is only a matter of a few lines of code:

@Check
def void checkNameStartsWithCapital(Entity entity) {
if (!Character::isUpperCase(entity.getName().charAt(0))) {
warning("Name should start with a capital",
DomainmodelPackage$Literals::TYPE__NAME);
}
}

Any name for the method will do. The important thing is the @Check (src) annotation that advises the framework to use the method as a validation rule. If the name starts with a lower case letter, a warning will be attached to the name of the Entity.

The second validation rule is straight-forward, too. We traverse the inheritance hierarchy of the Entity and look for features with equal names.

@Check
def void checkFeatureNameIsUnique(Feature f) {
var superEntity = (f.eContainer() as Entity).getSuperType();
while (superEntity != null) {
for (other : superEntity.getFeatures()) {
if (f.getName().equals(other.getName())) {
error("Feature names have to be unique", DomainmodelPackage$Literals::FEATURE__NAME);
return;
}
}
superEntity = superEntity.getSuperType();
}
}

The sibling features, that are defined in the same entity, are automatically validated by the Xtext framework. Therefore, they do not have to be checked twice.