Domain Specific Development using T4

Use T4 to applyDomain Specific Development
Joubin Najmaie (@joubin)
Senior Solution Architect
PageFragments.com
joubin.najmaie@gmail.com

Agenda
Domain Specific Development – quick concepts
Quick story behind it all
Project overview
Break
Review and Recap
T4 overview

All Resources and Links
http://www.joubin.ca

60,000 Foot View
Our typical project iterations

50,000 Foot View
Domain Specific Development approach
(If applicable)

40,000 Foot View
Work in terms of the problem space
Makes it more accessible
people not familiar with the problem space
Models - more verifiable and updatable
Business knowledge is captured once
DSL could be updated

30,000 Foot View
Framework
DSL – variable

20,000 foot view
Domain-specific languages (DSLs)
Text-based
Code, XML, sql, wsdl, documentation etc.
Graphical
Flowcharts, ERDs, state diagrams, Venn diagrams

10,000 foot view
T4
Engine to create text-based DSLs
Visual Studio
2005 - GAT toolkits
2008 - Downloadable DSL toolkit
2010 - Integrated part

5000 foot view
Generates code from described models
Models could be
Metadata
Configuration
Database

One Story Behind our Project
Our“suit” calls a meeting
Empower the business users
Give control over their own content
Decentralize responsibilities
Take “work” out
By giving control over their content

Run Back to Your Desk

Content Analysis and Req’tGathering

Code and Code more

Moment of Realization
You’re doing the same thing every time you want to be able to content manage a portion of the site

Project WalkthroughPageFragments

Review & Recap
Create a Special Purpose Language
Capture of Domain knowledge
Accessible to more developers
Ability to build upon models
Model is verifiable
Domain Specific API for easy manipulation
Flexibility: DSL could be in any language

What is T4?
Text Template Transformation Toolkit
A templated text generation engine

T4 Usage In Visual Studio
ASP.NET MVC
Visual Studio Item templates
Visual Studio Project templates

T4 Structure
An overview of the T4 anatomy
Processing a Template

Text-template
Extension: .tt
Item templates:
Text Template
Preprocessed text template
Default transformation tools in Visual Studio
TextTemplatingFileGenerator
TextTemplatingFilePreprocessor
In order to deploy/publish
Build Action: Content

Anatomy of a Text-Template

How a Text-Template is Processed

Generate Class Based On an XSD

Let’s Get Into The T4 Syntax
An overview of the T4 syntax
Processing directives
T4 various blocks

Processing Directives
Similar to ASPX or ASCX directive syntax
<#@ and end with #>
Directives
template
assembly
import
output
include

Processing Directive - template
<#@ template debug="true" language="C#" #>
Parameters
debug
language
inherits
hostspecific

Processing Directive - assembly
<#@ assembly #>
Parameter
name
could be an assembly in the GAC
<#@ assembly name=“System.Data” #>
or absolute path to the assembly
<#@ assembly name=“c:projectsproj1bindebugproj1.dll” #>

Processing Directive - import
<#@ import #>
Parameter
namespace
<#@ import namespace=“System.Collections.Generic” #>

Processing Directive - include
<#@ include #>
Parameter
file
<#@ include file=“includefile.tt” #>

Processing Directives

T4 Syntax
Processing directives
T4 various blocks

Text Blocks
Non-programmatic text

Statement Blocks
Delineated using <# #>

Expression Blocks
Delineated using <#= #>

Class Feature Blocks
Delineated using: <#+ #>
Used to add any class level construct
Helper functions
Fields
Constants
Properties

Code Blocks

Debugging a Text Template

Compile and Generate Assembly

Visual Studio – support tools
Plug-in by Tangible Engineering *
http://bit.ly/dfFhEi
T4 Editor by Clarius
http://bit.ly/cHfGRn

Call to action
Try out the Text Template item template
Start thinking of scenarios where you can apply Domain Specific Development
Look at other solutions that have used this development pattern
Many on Codeplex

Resources
All resource links: http://www.joubin.ca
T4 Templates: A Quick-Start Guide for ASP.NET MVC Developers
http://bit.ly/cVKYp5
Code gen + text template: http://bit.ly/VYsFf
Glossary of terms: http://bit.ly/9gZosy
Oleg’s blog: http://bit.ly/cq13qq

Resources
Language Oriented Programming: The Next Programming Paradigm:
http://bit.ly/bVqYoG
Book: Domain-Specific Development with Visual Studio DSL Tools
ISBN: 0321398203

Evaluations and Feedback
Please fill out your evaluations!

Thank you!And thanks to our sponsors

Send T4 questions to:
Joubin Najmaie
Twitter: @joubin
Email: joubin.najmaie@gmail.com
Blog: http://joubin.ca

Domain Specific Development using T4

by Joubin Najmaie on Nov 26, 2010

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 293

Statistics

Domain Specific Development using T4 — Presentation Transcript