Re: UML Code Generator for Pascal

[Hans Breuer <hans breuer org>]

At 21.02.2009 13:54, Johann Glaser wrote:
> 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.
Reminnds me on http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=519162

>  - 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
That todo list is just too long to convince me to commit your patch right 
away. At least some things should be very low hanging fruits.

        Hans

-------- Hans "at" Breuer "dot" Org -----------
Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to
get along without it.                -- Dilbert