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by Jonathan Crossland.
Original Post: Code Snippets should have Context
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One of the most common Code Generation tools involve databases and are called O/R Mappers. This is going to change with the likes of OSLO and DSL's. But historically, Object-Relational Mappers have been the predominant force in CodeGen and they are usually CRUD based. (create, read, update delete) They come in various flavors and I have not used one before now that I still use today. That is, I could never find one that gives me enough freedom to design and implement my project the way I need to, and very quickly I leave them behind. Most have limitations, and don't actually do what it says on the tin.
For example, more than most try to sell you the idea, that it removes the database from you, you can talk to it via the objects, however, I have never found one, that I have not had to go âunder-the-hoodâ to modify a Stored procedure or some aspect of the generated code. So if you do choose to use an O/R mapper, you must be sure, that you can make changes deeper down in the generated code. CodeGen is not good enough yet, to be a black-box tool
But thats one flavor of CodeGen. Other flavors involve Wrappers, Code Snippets, Designer Tools, and general utilities that can generate entire projects and/or layers and everything in between.
This post, I would like to concentrate on Visual Studio .NET Code snippets.
Visual Studio.NET Code Snippets currently have a few problems.
No editing tool, no built-in way of designing snippets easily.
It is one way. It injects the snippet into the Editor and when done, forgets everything about the Expressions.
The Refactoring Engine and the Snippet are not friends. They do not communicate.
Code Snippets Solution applied to all code files, LIVE
A Code Snippet should not âloseâ knowledge of the parameters/expressions. Anytime, I click on an Expression (example: PropertyName) that was inserted with a Code Snippet or NOT, it should still understand it. Refactoring would be automatic. Why should it be two separate tasks? Have you ever changed a Property Name, without wanting to change where its referenced?
Consider adding the âpropâ Code Snippet. It asks you for Field and PropertyName. Now I believe that this is âkind-ofâ there for Visual Studio 2010.
But the key missing ingredient, is having our code âalways awareâ, especially of âexpressionsâ.
If you click on a Field it should highlight and as you make the rename change, it should alter your references automatically.
But a Code Snippet is only a small utility, but I wanted to use it as a small example of how code snippets need to keep context and knowledge of its injection, and in the same way Code generation in general has to be able to do this too.
If you generate a class for my person table in a database, and I change the class name, it should, by means of Code Snippet Expressions, Refactoring Engine, understand and align the change across to the database and the the code that references it.
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