Roslyn Generators

This is a project contains some supporting classes for creating Roslyn-based single file code generators as Visual Studio extensions, and includes an example generator for asynchronous WCF service interfaces.

For more information on Roslyn, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/roslyn

Usage

• Install the custom generator

  • Build all
  • Locate AsyncGenerator.vsix in the output of the AsyncGenerator project and double-click it

• Use the custom generator

  • Open a new instance of VisualStudio and create/open a synchronous WCF service contract interface
  • Select properties on the interface file and enter 'AsyncGenerator' in the 'Custom Tool' field
  • A file containing a corresponding asynchronous version of the interface should be generated
  • Make a change to the original file and save it
  • The generated file should update immediately

• Create a new Roslyn-based generator

  • Drop RoslynGeneratorTemplate.zip into [UserDirectory]\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#
  • Open the RoslynGenerators solution file in Visual Studio
  • Add a new project from the template (note that the name of your generator class will default to the project name)
  • Open source.extension.vsix manifest in the XML Editor (not the Designer) and set the description, author etc. as desired
  • Implement ComputeNewRootNode to perform the desired Syntax tree transformation
  • When ready to test in Visual Studio, follow the instructions above for installing and using the AsyncGenerator, adapting them to your generator where necessary

• Hints for writing your custom generator

  • Familiarise yourself with the extension methods in RoslynGeneratorSupport, in case they can be helpful
  • Consider writing a test like the one in AsyncGenerators.Tests to help you debug

Description

This project contains three class libraries:

RoslynGeneratorSupport

Supporting classes for creating a code generator using Roslyn.

• Makes use of most of the single file generator boilerplate from http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/sfgdd
• Adds some useful extension methods for dealing with Roslyn syntax tress.
• Provides an abstract RoslynGenerator base class with a single abstract method to override, for converting from one syntax tree to another

AsyncGenerator

An example extension for generating an async WCF service interface from the corresponding synchronous interface at design time.

AsyncGenerator.Tests

A very simple test for the AsyncGenerator. Makes use of the public GenerateCodeAsString test hook method in the RoslynGenerator abstract base class.