MacGen Syntax

Macro Generator Language (MGL) Syntax

MGL language is used to create templates (macros) for NewGen generator
MGL template is a text file containing string literals, generator variables, generator constants and generator commands.

Generator commands are "active" elements of MGL. They are used to contol the process of generation.
String literals are inserted into the generated output as is.
In place of variables generator puts their values. Variables represents properties of class model elements.
In place of constants generator puts their values. Constants, unlike variables, represents special character codes and some information about generator and generation time.

Syntax format convention used in this document

Normal font is used for regular text
Bold font is used for MGL keywords, example - <for>
Bold and italic font is used for MGL constants and variables, example - %ver%
Italic font is used to show other elements of commands syntax, example - param1

Generator commands

Command	Description	Syntax
CALL	"CALL" command is widely used to avoid duplications in template. It actually inserts referencing template at point of execution. Call can be parametrized.	Syntax1 %call<macro> Syntax2 <call>macro[<,>param1<,>param2<,>...]<endcall> where macro - name of macro file param1 - will replace variable <1> in called template, etc. Example Main template Class T%.name% <for>y attributes<begin><call>attr.mac<,> F<,>: <,>;<cr><end> Generated result Class TBankAccount FNumber: string; FUser: string; FBalance: float;
DECODE	"DECODE" command generates output code based on comparison of 1st parameter with set of alternative values. Generator compares 1st parameter to each value one by one. If expr is equal to a value, generator returns the corresponding result. If no match is found, generator returns default, or, if default is omitted, returns nothing. Command syntax has two forms	Syntax1 %decode<value:variant1:result1:variant2:result2:...:variantN:resultN:default result> Syntax2 <decode>value<,>variant1<=>result1<,>variant2<=>result2<,>...<,>variantN<=>resultN<,>default result<enddecode> Example To generate correct string conversion function use the following code (note - generator constant <\> is used for template formating purpose only) <decode>%.type%<,><\> string<=>%.name%<,><\> integer<=>IntToStr(%.name%)<,><\> float<=>FltToStr(%.name%)<,><\> /ERROR - unsupported type %.type%/<\> <enddecode>
GET	"GET" command returns single text tocken from input text delimited by specified separator.	Syntax <get>text<,>index<,>separator<endget> returns index token of the text string delimited by separator Example ?
FOR	"FOR" is the most useful generator command. It is widely used to browse hierarchical structure of class model.	Syntax <for>variable iterator[@objname]^{boolean_expression}^divider^wrap<begin>body<endfor> for each element in iterator collection of objname object matching filter expression generates code based on body expression variable - name (or names connected by ".") of variable(s) used to denote current element iterator - name (or names connected by ".") of collection, depends on {objname} object type can be the following packages classes attributes methods parameters associations associations1 association.types = associations + type type refattribute parent objname - optional, name of object - owner of collection, by default it is current object boolean expression divider - expression inserted between generated codes of different elements wrap - expression iserted in the middle of the generated code if length of the line exeeds 100 characters body - expression generated for each elemant of collection matching the filter Example of usage. To show list of classes in a UML package use the following code <for>x classes<begin>Class %.name% <endfor>
IF	Command of conditional generation "IF".	Command syntax - <if>boolean_expression<begin>body<endif> boolean_expression = element<and>\|<or>\|<not>element ... element = boolean_element\|simple filter boolean_element = p1 operation p2 p1, p2 - parameters operation - compare operation, can be "=", "~", "<", ">" (ignore double quote) simple_filter - can contain the next elements, always starts with "+" or "-" + ("plus sign") - positive (including) filter - ("minus" sign) - negative (excluding) filter, "NOT" operator ! - distinct modificator <N, <T, <P - sort by name/type/parent # - all attributes/methods/associations/parameters, overrides all other filters D - derived attributes S - simple type attributes R - ref key attributes C - attributes of class type K - key E - enumeration attribute M0, M1 - mapped attributes b - boolean 1 - "one" or "zero-one" role cardinality * - "zero-many" or "one-many" or "many" role cardinality a - role aggregates .1 - "one" or "zero-one" opposite role cardinality .* - "zero-many" or "one-many" or "many" opposite role cardinality .a - opposite role aggregates P - include parent attributes/methods/associations V - void parameters X - collection classes I - item roles A - class of aggregated stereotype X - class of collection stereotype (obsolete)
NVAL	"NVAL" command allowes you to use named values. MapTool uses named values to store mapping information.	Syntax <nval>...<endnval> name formats used by MapTool (0 means Oracle mapping, 1 means ODBC mapping) m0name and m1name - name of mapped column for name attribute t0name and t1name - type of mapped column for name attribute v0name and v1name - mapping values for name attribute

Generator variables

There are two variable formats - %.xxx% and %y.xxx%. The 1st one returns "xxx" value of current object and the second one returns "xxx" value of the object identified by variable "y".

Variable name	Applicability
%.name%
%.name1%	associations
%.uname%	packages and classes
%.version%	packages and classes
%.phase%	packages and classes
%.parent%	classes
%.stereotype%	classes
%.attrCount%	classes
%.allAttrCount%	classes
%.type%	attributes and associations
%.type1%	associations
%.iskey%	attributes
%.ref%	attributes
%.reftarget%	attributes
%.map0%	classes, attributes
%.mapval0%	attributes
%.maptype0%	attributes
%.load0%, %.add0%, %.del0%	roles
%.map1%	classes, attributes
%.typecode%	attributes and roles
%.return%	methods
%.const%	parameters
%.dir%	parameters
%.amap0%	associations (not supported yet)
%.index%	can be used only inside of <FOR> body

Generator constants

%ver%	version of generator
%time%	time of generation
%\%	"Line continuation". At the end of the line removes following "caridge return"; in any other place is ignored.
%cr%	caridge return
%p%	% character
%g%	> character
%l%	< character
%ct%	^ character
%col%	: character