Building ClassCreator

To automatically copy the template directory to the build directory an additional building step has to be added in Qt Creator:

1. Open Build Settings (Projects tab on the left side)
2. Select the wanted Build-Configuration: Debug / Release
3. Select Add Build Step -> Make
4. Add for the Make arguments: install

Creating Templates for ClassCreator

In this documentation the template creation for Car4Tegra ClassCreator will be explained.

Overview

A ClassCreator template can consist of these four files:

• XML Configuration

• Header Template (optional)

• Source Template (optional)

• CMake Template (optional)

In the following sections the XML Configuration file and the available tokens for the template files will be described in detail.

XML Configuration File

The XML configuration file contains all information about the template. The parent node ist shown below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<template name="" headerfile="" sourcefile="" cmakefile="" classNameProperty="" sysPathVar=""> 

   <!-- Insert nodes here -->
   
</template>

Some of the attributes of the parent node are optional and could be omitted if not neccessary:

• name

  Contains the name of the template, which is shown in the selection combo box (e.g. "Example Class").

• headerfile (optional)

  Contains the file name of the header template file (e.g. example_header.template).

• sourcefile (optional)

  Contains the file name of the source template file (e.g. example_source.template).

• cmakefile (optional)

  Contains the file name of the CMake template file (e.g. example_cmake.template).

• classNameProperty

  Contains the identifier of the property which contains the name of the class (e.g. CLASS_NAME).

• sysPathVar (optional)

  Contains the name of the environment variable which should be used for auto detection of the output path (e.g. CVHAB_FILE_DIR).

There are five different node types:

Node filepath

There has to be a filepath node for each template file used (header / source / CMake). The nodes for unused template files could be omitted.

<filepath file="header" path="\header" />
<filepath file="source" path="\source" />
<filepath file="cmake"  path="\cmake" />

• file

  Refers to the corresponding template file type (not the template file name itself!).

• path

  Contains the template for the output path for this file relative to the main output path. It could be written directly as shown above or by using tokens as shown below.

<filepath file="header" path="$HEADER_PATH$$@USE_SUB_DIR$\$SUB_DIRECTORY$$USE_SUB_DIR@$" />

Node directory

The directory node allows to create directories, also if there is no file inside.

<directory path="/templates" />
<directory path="/modules/$MODULE_NAME_L$/source" />

• path

  Contains the template for the directory path relative to the main output path. It could be written directly or by using tokens.

Node property

The property nodes represent the settings for this template. From this nodes the tokens for template parsing are created (see token section below). There are three types of property nodes:

<property name="" identifier="" type="bool"       default=""           info="" group="" />
<property name="" identifier="" type="string"     default="" format="" info="" group="" />
<property name="" identifier="" type="stringlist" default="" values="" info="" group="" />

• name

  Name of the property for visualization (e.g. "Class Name")

• identifier

  Identifier of the property for token generation (e.g. CLASS_NAME)

• type

  Type of the property

  • bool for block token
  • string for text edit
  • stringlist for selection box

• default

  Default value for the property. Valid values depends on the property type:

  • bool: TRUE or FALSE
  • string: any string
  • stringlist: 0 based index

• format (only string type)

  Regular expression for this string type to limit input possibilities (e.g. [A-Z].[a-zA-Z0-9_]*)

• values (only stringlist type)

  Values for selection in combo box, separated by , (e.g. Value 1,Value 2,Value 3)

• info

  Help text which is shown at mouse over.

• group (optional)

  Name of the group the property is corresponding to (e.g. "Example Group")

Node filepathproperty

The filepathproperty node is the same as the property node above but it is highlighted in green in the property browser of the GUI. It should be used for properties which only have an impact on filepath templates but not on the content of the template files.

<filepathproperty name="" identifier="" type="bool"       default=""           info="" group="" />
<filepathproperty name="" identifier="" type="string"     default="" format="" info="" group="" />
<filepathproperty name="" identifier="" type="stringlist" default="" values="" info="" group="" />

Node postprocessing

The postprocessing node is not tested yet!!!
The postprocessing node allows to run commands after file generation. They are selectable in the property browser of the GUI (highlighted in red).

<postprocessing name="Auto CMake" command="cmake" params="param1 param2 param3" info="Runs cmake for project after generate." />

• name

  Name of the post processing command, visible in the GUI (e.g. "Run Command")

• command

  Command which should be processed (e.g. cmd)

• params

  Additional parameters for the command, separated by space (e.g. param1 param2 param3)

• info

  Help text which is shown at mouse over.

Tokens

There are two different tokens: Text tokens (string / stringlist properties) and block tokens (bool properties):

Text Tokens

Text tokens (for string / stringlist type properties) are represented by $IDENTIFIER$ as shown below:

class $CLASS_NAME$
{
   // Constructor
   $CLASS_NAME$();
   
   // Destructor
   ~$CLASS_NAME$();
}

There is also generated automatically an $IDENTIFIER_U$ for upper case and an $IDENTIFIER_L$ for lower case for each text token.

Block Tokens

A block token (for bool type properties) starts with an $\@IDENTIFIER$ token and ends with an $IDENTIFIER\@$ token. The code between this two tokens will be removed if IDENTIFIER is FALSE.

class $CLASS_NAME$
{
   // Constructor
   $CLASS_NAME$();
      
   $@HAS_DESTRUCTOR$
   // Destructor
   ~$CLASS_NAME$();
   $HAS_DESTRUCTOR@$
}

There is also generated automatically a negated pair of tokens $\@!IDENTIFIER$ and $!IDENTIFIER\@$ (note the ! sign).

Global Tokens

Beside the tokens generated by the properties specified in the XML configuration file, there are a few other global tokens which are influenced by the user settings:

• $AUTHOR$

  Name of the author as specified in the user settings

• $HEADER_FILE_NAME$

  Name of the output header file (including file extension)

• $SOURCE_FILE_NAME$

  Name of the output source file (including file extension)

• $CMAKE_FILE_NAME$

  Name of the output CMake file (including file extension)

• $IFNDEF_MACRO$

  Include macro for header file (e.g. __NAMESPACE_SUBNAMESPACE_FILENAME_HPP__)

• $DATE$

  Current date formated as specified in the user settings

• $INDT$

  Indent spacing is empty if there is no HAS_NAMESPACE property or HAS_NAMESPACE is false otherwise it has the ident spaces as specified in the user settings

• $SUB_INDT$

  Indent spacing has the same value as $INDT$ if there is no HAS_SUBNAMESPACE property or HAS_SUBNAMESPACE is false otherwise it has twice the ident spaces as specified in the user settings

Note:
The $IFNDEF_MACRO$ / $INDT$ / $SUB_INDT$ tokens are searching for HAS_NAMESPACE / HAS_SUBNAMESPACE / NAMESPACE / SUB_NAMESPACE identifiers during parsing. To use these tokens, you have to add properties with these identifiers to your configuration XML. For the $IFNDEF_MACRO$ token, the HAS_NAMESPACE / HAS_SUBNAMESPACE identifiers are optional.

License

The program and all of its files are under MIT license (see LICENSE.md for details)!