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Difference between revisions of "Xtext/GettingStarted"

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= Refining =
 
= Refining =
To learn more about Xtext and the modeling process, refine your DSL and your model by going through the generation processes again. This time you could add some rules in the grammar, define constraints for the model (''MyDslChecks.chk'') and play around with the template and the workflow files (''.mwe''). Color Coding and Content Assistance will help you, in [[Xtext/Documentation|the documentation]] everything is explained in detail.
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To learn more about Xtext and the modeling process, refine your DSL and your model by going through the generation processes again (cleaning your projects after changing your DSL). This time you could add some rules in the grammar, define constraints for the model (''MyDslChecks.chk'') and play around with the template and the workflow files (''.mwe''). Color Coding and Content Assistance will help you, in [[Xtext/Documentation|the documentation]] everything is explained in detail.

Latest revision as of 10:21, 3 April 2010

Presented below are a few steps to gain a first impression of how Xtext works. We are assuming that you already set up your Eclipse IDE (version 3.5 (Galileo) required) and dropped in the plugins from our download page or installed the whole distribution.

Getting started

Let us start with using the wizard to create projects which represent the example we will go through. Choose File > New > Other... and then Xtext > Xtext Project to open the wizard. Here you can enter the main project name, the name of your domain-specific language (DSL) you are about to design, and the default extension for DSL files. As a start, just leave the given values (assumed below). Additionally, you could uncheck the creation of the generator project. Since in most cases a generator is needed, you usually have to leave it checked. So do now and press Finish.

Open Wizard (click to enlarge) Choose Xtext Project (click to enlarge) Enter Values (click to enlarge)

Project Overview

In the Package Explorer you can see three new projects. In org.xtext.example.mydsl you can define the grammar of your DSL, in org.xtext.example.mydsl.generator you will be able to create instances of your DSL – the so-called model –, and into org.xtext.example.mydsl.ui editor classes for your DSL will be generated. It is good to be clear and unambiguous whether the code is generated or is to be manipulated by the developer. Thus, the generated code should be seperated from the manual code. We follow this pattern by giving a folder src and a folder src-gen in each project. Keep in mind not to make changes in the src-gen folder. They would be overwritten in the next generation process.

Projects with src and src-gen folders

Grammar

If everything went well, the example grammar file MyDsl.xtext from the first project is opened with the Xtext Editor. This grammar has two purposes. First, it describes the concrete syntax of text files that can be processed by the tools of your new DSL. Second, it equates the meta level, i.e. the model which describes your model.

Example Grammar

As you can see, a working example is already given. Besides the grammar’s name declaration (grammar...) and the declaration of the further generation process (generate...) you find parser rules for Model, Import, and Entity. If you are curios about what these rules will do for you and how you can extend them, please read the documentation of the grammar language.

DSL Generation

In the same directory you find GenerateMyDsl.mwe which is a workflow configuration for the Modeling Workflow Engine. Right-click this file in the Package Explorer and choose Run As > MWE Workflow. You can observe the generation process so triggered in the console view. After it, files are added in all of your three DSL projects. You are almost ready to design your model that follows the DSL.

Run 1st Workflow Logging in Console View Project Explorer After Generation

Deployment

There are (at least) two kinds of developers that use Xtext to create and work with DSLs. The tool smith designs the language (and generator templates) before he delivers his work to the modeller. The "work" such a tool smith produces are Eclipse plug-ins that can be installed on an Eclipse installation of the modeller.

For the moment, we are both tool smith as well as modeller. Therefore, we have to deliver our work to ourself in order to model with our DSL in the next step. Choose File > Export... and Plug-in Development > Deployable plug-ins and fragments, select all three plug-ins and choose the Eclipse directory as destination. Press Finish and restart Eclipse. You are now acting as modeller.

Export as Plugin Choose Deployable Plug-Ins and Fragments Choose Plugins and their Destination

And, tool smith, please remember to deploy your plug-ins again each time you change the grammar.

Model

To use the DSL editor which was generated in the last step open generator project’s MyModel.mydsl with the MyDsl editor. This example model already comes with two class definitions from which one extends the other. Also, you find the package templates which contains an Xpand template and Xtend extensions. The former is used to define the files you want to generate according to the model, the latter supports the template definitions by providing functions which can be called.

Open MyDSL Editor MyDSL Editor

Content Generation

To see your template in action locate workflow > MyDslGenerator.mwe, right-click it and choose Run as > MWE Workflow. You can see the generator running and logging into the console view. The result will be stored in src-gen > output.txt.

Run Second Workflow See Output File

Refining

To learn more about Xtext and the modeling process, refine your DSL and your model by going through the generation processes again (cleaning your projects after changing your DSL). This time you could add some rules in the grammar, define constraints for the model (MyDslChecks.chk) and play around with the template and the workflow files (.mwe). Color Coding and Content Assistance will help you, in the documentation everything is explained in detail.

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