Practical code generation in .NET : covering Visual Studio 2005, 2008, and 2010 / Peter Vogel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vogel, Peter, 1953-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Microsoft Visual studio.

Code generators.

Microsoft .NET Framework.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 344 p.) : ill.

Edition:

1st edition

Place of Publication:

Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Addison-Wesley, c2010.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

“Once this skill is within your everyday comfort zone, it will give your productivity a boost and increase your value to your team. I encourage you to add the techniques outlined in this book to your toolset and to use them to develop your own workbench of generative tools. In doing so, I’m confident you’ll improve your capabilities, and what’s more, have fun doing so.” –From the Foreword by Gareth Jones, Developer Architect, Visual Studio ® , Microsoft Enlist Visual Studio’s Built-in Code Generation Tools to Write Better Software Faster Automatic code generation can dramatically increase your productivity, improve code quality and maintainability, promote reuse, and help you extend best practices throughout your development organization. .NET and Visual Studio contain many powerful, code-generation tools--and this book shows you how to succeed with all of them. With Practical Code Generation in .NET , spend less time writing monotonous, repetitive code--leaving more time to address troublesome areas! Microsoft MVP Peter Vogel covers code generation with Visual Studio 2010, 2008, and 2005, as well as all recent versions of .NET, including .NET 4.0. You’ll learn when enlisting code generation makes sense and how to design solutions that build on the skills and resources you already have. Writing for experienced programmers, Vogel shows how to generate reliable code using procedural code, Visual Studio add-ins, XML, configuration files, and more--including Microsoft’s innovative CodeDOM technology for generating code in multiple languages. He brings everything together in three complete, chapter-length case studies. Coverage includes • Understanding the structure of .NET code-generation solutions and best practices for architecting them • Creating Visual Studio add-ins that quickly integrate code generation into day-to-day activities • Using objects and methods to add or remove project components • Using text insertion to generate code using any tool--even standard string handling functions • Working with the specific features of C#, Visual Basic .NET, and ASP.NET • Generating more concise code with .NET’s new Text Template Transformation Toolkit (T4) • Building code-generation solutions with Visual Studio templates, attributes, and custom tools • Distributing code-generation solutions

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Chapter 1 Introducing Code Generation

Repetitive Code: Your History

Copy-and-Paste

General-Purpose Code

Benefits of Code Generation

When to Use Code Generation

Best Practices in Code-Generation Solutions

Code-Generation Process

Code-Generation Tools

Model-Driven Architecture, Declarative Programming, and Code Generation

Model-Driven Architecture

Declarative Programming

PART I: TOOLS

Chapter 2 Integrating with Visual Studio

Design-Time Integration

Starting Your Visual Studio Add-In

Creating a Menu-Driven User Interface

Working with Visual Studio Windows

Responding to Events

Accepting Input

Integrating with Visual Studio

Chapter 3 Manipulating Project Components

The Code Model

Managing Projects and Solutions

Generating Code

Modifying and Analyzing Components

Processing Components in a File

Working with Retrieved Elements

Working with the CodeType Objects

Storing Information

Working with Project Components

Chapter 4 Modifying Code in the Editor

Opening and Closing Documents and TextDocuments

Backing Out Changes

Creating EditPoints to Access Text

Retrieving Information

Accessing Text with an EditPoint

Working with Bookmarks

Inserting, Replacing, and Formatting Text

Inserting and Reading Text

Chapter 5 Supporting Project-Specific Features

Introducing the VSLangProj Libraries

Managing a "Projectless" Website

Project-Specific Features

Chapter 6 Generating Language-Neutral Code

A Comprehensive Example

Declarations

Defining Classes

Class Members

Statements and Expressions

Code Structures

When All Else Fails: Code Snippets

Other Code Features

Code Providers

Generating Code.

Chapter 7 Generating Code from Templates with T4

T4 in Visual Studio

T4 Code-Generation Strategies

Creating a T4 Template

Extending T4

Invoking Templates from Code

Leveraging Templates

Chapter 8 Other Tools: Templates, Attributes, and Custom Tools

Item Templates

Attributes

Generating Code from Custom File Formats

Reviewing the Tools

PART II: CASE STUDIES

Chapter 9 Case Study: Generating a Connection String Manager

Defining the Problem

Setting Up the Add-In

Creating the Code Generator

Customizing the Template

Reading Input

Notifying the Developer

Supporting Customization

Tying Generation to Events

Generating a Simple Class

Chapter 10 Case Study: Generating Validation Code

Starting the Code-Generation Project

Wiring Up the Add-In

Starting the Generation Utility

Defining a Template

Specifying Code with the CodeDom

Generating Code in the Target Language

Supporting "Projectless" Websites

Handling Errors

Building a Complete Code-Generation Solution

Chapter 11 Case Study: Generating Data-Conversion Code

Creating the Designer

Enhancing Model Validation

Distributing Your Designer

Visual Studio 2010 Additions

Capturing Inputs

PART III: APPENDIXES

Appendix A: Generating Menu Names

Appendix B: Options Dialog Categories, Subcategories, and Properties

Appendix C: A Code-Generation Add-In

Integrating Code-Generation Classes

Appendix D: Distributing Code-Generation Solutions

Creating the .vscontent File

A Complete Example

Installing the Solution

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9786612568879

9780321617606

0321617606

9780321606785

0321606787

9781282568877

1282568876

OCLC:

608313226