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RichString in Xbase [message #1691867]

Fri, 10 April 2015 08:45

Boris Brodski

Messages: 112
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

Hello,

I desperately need RichString support in Xbase (with or without FOR and IF features). Smile

))

Are there any change, that it will come in one of the consequent Xtext releases?

If no, the only alternative is to copy all the stuff from Xtend Sad

Am I right?

Thank you!

Cheers,
Boris

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Re: RichString in Xbase [message #1691905 is a reply to message #1691867]

Fri, 10 April 2015 11:48

Sebastian Zarnekow

Messages: 3118
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

Hi Boris,

currently we don't have planse to pull that up directly into Xbase since
it adds a lot of complexity to the grammar and the editor implementation.
Which aspect of template expressions do you need?

Best,
Sebastian
--
Looking for professional support for Xtext, Xtend or Eclipse Modeling?
Find help at http://xtext.itemis.com or xtext(@)itemis.com
Blog: zarnekow.blogspot.com
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Re: RichString in Xbase [message #1691918 is a reply to message #1691905]

Fri, 10 April 2015 13:02

Boris Brodski

Messages: 112
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

Hello Sebastian,

thank you for the quick reply!

I'm working on porting Jnario from "extending Xtend" to "extending Xbase" (https://github.com/sebastianbenz/Jnario/issues/160)

Theoretically in Jnario we need full support for the template expressions, so it possible to just copy any Xtend code and paste it into Jnario Spec and it just works.
But since the porting process is complicated and slow, we agreed on a partial support for the template expressions (or even no support at all) for the first time.

But may be there are some compromise solutions, like:

- Add RichString* EMF classes, generator and ui support to the Xbase, but no RichString grammar part. A user may than add it to the DSL-grammar by himself.
- Write a workflow-generator to optionally add this feature directly to the user project
- Add simplified template expressions (triple quote multiline strings + guillemet placeholders), but no embedded IF and FOR operators
- Provide an example project (New/Other -> Examples/Xtext Examples/Xtext RichString Example) with this feature implemented

In my personal opinion, rich strings are a great feature of the Xtend and I can think of multiple use cases within all kinds of Xbase-DSLs.

Cheers,
Boris

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Re: RichString in Xbase [message #1691933 is a reply to message #1691918]

Fri, 10 April 2015 13:46

Sebastian Zarnekow

Messages: 3118
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

Hi Boris,

the EMF classes and the respective 'support' impl for these are exactly
the things that I wouldn't want to add to Xbase since they introduce a
lot of complexity and have a poor API. I understand your point though:
it's sometimes nice to have template expressions in other languages,
too. None of the options that you mentioned sound appealing to me
unfortunately. A workflow component that dumps literally 1000s and 1000s
of lines of code spanning various services into an Xtext project is not
going to happen. Also all the support code is unlikely finding a new
home in Xbase itself in the foreseeable future (for API / maintenance
effort reasons). Such an example project would mean basically the same
effort for us. Right now I don't see an option besides putting the
burdon onto your shoulders. That is: you implement one of these options
for jnario. Sorry for the bad news :(

Best,
Sebastian
--
Looking for professional support for Xtext, Xtend or Eclipse Modeling?
Find help at http://xtext.itemis.com or xtext(@)itemis.com
Blog: zarnekow.blogspot.com
Twitter: @szarnekow
Google+: https://www.google.com/+SebastianZarnekow

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