Re: UML Code Generator for Pascal

[Johann Glaser <Johann Glaser gmx at>]

Hi!

Am Samstag, den 21.02.2009, 11:00 +0100 schrieb Slavko:
> it is good idea for me.
>
> have you tested it with Lazarus code?

Yes, I did. I implemented the export code so that I don't have to type
all the classes, fields and methods by hand.

There are a few downsides of using this approach:
 - The order of the exported classes and the fields and methods within a
   class is random, so you have to sort everything by hand.
 - You have to follow some "drawing guidelines" and "naming conventions"
   so that the exporter can do its job.

Little documentation attempt:
 - Use "UML - Generalization" arrows for class inheritance.
 - Use "UML - Realizes" arrows when implementing an interface.
 - Inheriting from one class and implementing multiple interfaces is
   supported.
 - Set a class to be "abstract" to denote it is an interface definition.
 - Comments for methods ("Operations") are supported. They are put in
   the line before the method declaration with a '///' style comment
   (Doxygen-like).
 - Method parameter directions are supported (-> 'Var', 'Out').
 - Method parameter default values are supported.
 - 'Function' and 'Procedure' are automatically recognized by whether a
   return type exists or not.
 - Inheritance type is supported: set to "abstract" for 'virtual;
   abstract;' methods, set to "virtual" for 'virtual;' methods.
 - Array fields are automatically recognized. If the name ends with "[]"
   an 'Array of' is used. If the name uses a number with "[1234]", an
   'Array[0..1233] of' is used. If the name uses a constant with
   "[MaxEntries]" an 'Array[0..MaxEntries-1] of' is written.

TODO:
 - Automatically use the keyword "override" instead of "virtual" in
   descendant classes.
 - Support inheriting from classes which are not drawn (e.g. LCL/VCL
   classes)
 - Print a list of forward declarations of all classes at the beginning
   to avoid declaration order problems.
 - Print all classes, fields and methods in a "smart" order (e.g. sort
   alphabetically, while this is not really smart, at least sorting
   everything by hand is easier).
 - Automatically define 'Properties'. Unfortunately the UML standard
   doesn't support this and so the Dia dialog has no option to specify
   this. So a "code" has to be used.
 - Write comments for fields.
 - Write comments for method parameters (e.g. by using a big doxygen
   comment '(** ... *)' before the method)
 - Use "Packages" to split the classes in separate 'Unit's.
 - Beautify and comment the export code. Using arrays with "magic number
   indexes" for certain fields is bad and tedious to work with.
 - Support defining global constants.
 - Support defining global types (especially for enums, arrays,
   records, ...).
 - Apply some sanity checks to the UML diagram:
    - multiple inheritance is forbidded
    - if implementing an interface, all required methods must be
      implemented; alternative: just put all methods there, so the UML
      drawer doesn't have to write them twice
    - visibility for all methods of an interfaces must be "public"
    - don't write the visibility specifier 'public' for interfaces
    - no "Attributes" for interface definitions, but properties are
      allowed
    - default values for method parameters must be the last parameters

Bye
  Hansi