acceleo code generation

Gaël Blondellegael.blondelle@obeo.fr

AcceleoCode Generation

From the modelto the Android app

Stéphane Bégaudeaustephane.begaudeau@obeo.fr

Goals of the tutorial

Goals of the tutorial

Beginners See a simple concrete case study

Acceleo addicts Discover new killing features

Android experts Learn enough to build a full fledged generator

I 'm I 'm notnot

an Android an Android development expertdevelopment expert

1.

Acceleo:A new code generator

A long history...A long history...

Version 3.0 is part of the Eclipse Helios release train

From Acceleo.org in 2006...

...to Eclipse.org in 2009

A long history...A long history...

Acceleo 2

Acceleo 3

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Metamodel and templates based

technology

Implementation of the Model To

Text OMG standard (MTL)

Eclipse Modeling / M2T Project

Tooling to help starting a new generator from

scratch

A new code generation language

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Acceleo Runtime (Compiler + Engine)

Acceleo Development Tools

+=

Eclipse independant: can be run anywhere (plain old Jar,

OSGi, Eclipse...)

The Acceleo SDK

2.

Prototype based

approach

Let's have a look at the Android prototype

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Unlock the power of your models

Java UI Java DB

XML Properties

Different kinds of source

artifacts to be generated

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One kind of file to be

generated...

...one MTL file to be created

Good Practice

Manifest, database adapter,

properties file, edition page,

edition page layout...

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A little bit of syntax

Header

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Body

A little bit of syntax

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A little bit of syntax

Queries can return any kind of objects

Templates are better for generating text and return a string

You can call Java services from a template or a query

The result of a query is stored in a cache.

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The workflow file

The MTL file calling the other

ones

@main annotation

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Initialize the generation project

1. Create new Acceleo project

2. Use the wizard(update file paths)

3. Create a workflow file

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3... 2... 1...

Launch configuration

Anything that can

launch Java...

Generated Java Main

Standalone

Same VM as Eclipse

Standalone Standalone

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Ignition

1. Launch the generator

(launch config as Eclipse plugin)

From a static generator...

… to a onedynamic

3.

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Quick replacement

Select a text section in the

template, then hit "Content

Assist" hotkeys

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Hierarchy Tree

Select a text section in the template, then right-click

"Source > As For/If"

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"As For/If" is quick but dirty...

...use template

Good Practice

polymorphism instead!!

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Generation patterns

Use the Generation

Patterns View

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Extract as

template

Select a text section in the

template, then right click

"Refactor > Extract as template"

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Refactoring

Alt + Shift + R

Launch the generator- open the Result view- launch config as Eclipse plugin- activate the Traceability

Have a look at the Result view

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4.

Make the Android App run

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Debug your templates

Thanks to Acceleo

debugger

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Configure the Android Development Kit

Create a new Android Virtual Device - AVD

Set the path to the

SDK location

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Turn on the phone

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5.

A generic Android App generator

Create a fresh new model

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Android Apps

Generate new

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6.

A new App in a few

clicks

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Packaging and deploying

Generate an Eclipse UI plugin

Add an action on right-click on models

Create a builder Synchronize your code and your model

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Packaging settings

Filename pattern of the model

Target folder of the generation

Warning Eclipse specific

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Workout

1. Create new Acceleo UI project

2. Use the wizard

3. Launch a 2nd Eclipse Runtime and test

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7.

Override specific behavior

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Static overriding

Dynamic overriding

Overriding existing generators

Eclipse-only

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Module B

Template MT

Module A

Template MT

Extendsoverr

ides

Module CImports

C invokes MT, B.MT

will be executed

Overriding behavior

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A common problem with code generators...

if you change the generated code...

your modifications are lost during the next generation.

Lost code

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Protected area

Will not be erased after re-generation

Dont forget the

comments marks...... and the ID

@Generated

Acceleo also uses JMerge

You can protect a whole block with a simple comment

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8.

The next step: Acceleo 3.1

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Documentation

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UI Improvements

Thank you for your attention!

Questions?