I'm developing a TypeScript code generator that will use custom attributes on C# classes to generate TypeScript definitions and code files.
I'm considering two options for TypeScript code generation / source file analysis:
Reflection on compiled assemblies
Roslyn CTP
The tool would use custom attributes on properties and methods to generate a TypeScript file. Right now I'm not planning to convert the C# method body to JavaScript, but in the future this may be done. So for this reason I am seriously considering Roslyn. However to simply generate the outline of my TypeScript classes I think I could use reflection and custom attributes.
I am wondering:
a) Does Roslyn provide functionality that is impossible with Reflection? My understanding is that I cannot get method bodies with Reflection.
b) Would the Roslyn CTP license prevent my from distributing the tool under an open source license? This is not clear to me after reading the license
I just did something along these lines - works great for creating your datamodel in Typescript from your c# classes. I built it to generate a single AMD-module with an interface which mimics the basic data of your Models. Also supports Generics, and creates a class with Knockout properties, including a toJS() method and an update(data:Interface) method to update your class.
The whole thing is just a single T4 template. If anyone finds this and is interested: http://spabuilder.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/generating-typescript-from-c/
Also honors [KeyAttribute] and [Timespan] attributes for data models if you are using data annotations.
I've been messing around with generating js, and I'm finding Reflection to be a better tool for this. I'm basically pointing my generator at the bin folder of the project which the metadata comes from. There might be some difficulties with loading all the needed assemblies, and caveats with versions of assemblies in the bin folder, and versions of the same assemblies that your generator project references. But once you get over all of this, which I did with minimal difficulty, Reflection is a lot easier to use, and more reliable.
With Roslyn, you are basically just parsing c#. Roslyn does this very well, but I'm hesitant to switch to it from Reflection. With reflection, you get metadata more reliably.
Let's say you want the Prefix property of a RoutePrefixAttribute that decorates a controller class. If you're parsing c#, you may have:
[RoutePrefix("stringliteral")] or [RoutePrefix(constantString)]. So, you have to worry about whether it's a literal or a constant expression, then find out how to get the value of a constant expression, worry about all the different ways in which you can pass parameters to an atatribute (for example, will this break your code: [RoutePrefix(Prefix="literal")]...
Once you're dealing with the actual runtime objects with reflection, everything is just easier. You have a nice RoutePrefixAttribute object, and you can go routePrefix.Prefix to get, reliably, the value of the prefix.
This is just one example of how doing things with Reflection is easier. It's the difference between gathering metadata from a set of c# objects in a type-safe way, and scraping data from c# code, albeit with a really nice scraping tool.
EDIT: Since writing this answer, I've bit the bullet and switched to Roslyn. It's fairly powerful once you get the hang of it, and I did find one big advantage: you can get a reference to the workspace from a visual studio plugin, and easily do all kinds of stuff within the plugin.
Update Nov, 2018
The accepted answer is valid because it's dated in Aprl,2013
Now roslyn is distributed under Apache License Version 2.0
excerpt from the license:
Redistribution.
You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You meet the following conditions:...
Roslyn have a number of nuget packages
Doesn't the license only forbid you personally from distributing the binaries? It doesn't forbid you from adding a dependency from your NuGet package to the Rosyln CTP NuGet package. You personally cannot deliver the bits, but you can have NuGet pull in Roslyn automatically.
So just avoid checking Rosyln source or binaries into your version control.
The Roslyn website not clearly states that:
The current license is for evaluation and preview purposes only and
does not allow redistribution of the Roslyn binaries. Sharing of
sample projects built on the Roslyn APIs is permitted, but sample
users must have either the Roslyn CTP or the Roslyn NuGet package
installed in order to build and run.
I wouldn't use the current Roslyn CTP - simply because there will be new versions in 2014 and those will bring many breaking changes for sure. So you might end up with totally deprecated code.
(There recently was a blog post on this by a MS team member, but I'm afraid I currently don't have the link at hand.)
EditThere's a good chance that Roslyn then will get a license that also permits for commercial use...
Update - July 2015
Roslyn is still in CTP, but their FAQ on GitHub is much more to the point:
For sample code or learning purposes, the recommended way to redistribute the Roslyn DLLs is with the Roslyn NuGet package: [url:Microsoft.CodeAnalysis|http://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis].
So it appears that you still cannot redistribute the DLLs in finished products. The project will need to be open sourced and the solution will need a reference the NuGet package.
Original Answer (November 2012)
I don't believe you can distribute under open source.
6.DISTRIBUTABLE CODE. The software contains code that you are permitted to distribute in programs you develop if you comply with the
terms below.
6.c Distribution Restrictions you may not modify or distribute the source code of any Distributable Code so that any part of it becomes
subject to an Excluded License. An Excluded License is one that
requires, as a condition of use, modification or distribution,
the code be disclosed or distributed in source code form; or item
others have the right to modify it.
At first it sounds like you could do it if you just include the Roslyn binaries, but the Distributable Code definition specifically says "The software contains code..." and I believe that is what everything after is referring to.
To your other question, Roslyn isn't fully finished and is still Beta. I don't know exactly if it is currently in a state that allows it to handle your needs. That's something you may just want to spend a couple of hours tinkering with. I wouldn't think it had more functionality than what .NET currently allows. You can see what they recently added in September here and what is currently not implemented here.
For my experience using T4 generations based on reflection, as TypeLite does, is somehow simpler but has some drawbacks, like once the project depends on the classes that have been generated, regenerating them with a breaking change (renamed a class) will lead to a non compiling project so running the template again will output a blanck file and the user will have an hard time making everything compile again.
So, having the same need, i started experimenting with Roslyn, and it seems very promising, but i have many doubts on how to use it properly...
You can take a look at what i'm doing and maybe help me here: https://github.com/TrabacchinLuigi/RoslynExporter
What tool I can use for .Net/C# project to capture run-time dependencies between classes ? I found this question to be very useful but the suggested tools capture a static dependency graph. I simply want to see graph of instantiations of classes.
I'm using VS 2008 (but can install other version if needed).
UPD: My goal is this. I have huge old codebase. It has (for example) 500 classes but because DB-driven workflow has changed over the years only (for example) 100 class are used now. That's why static dependency analysis will be too overwhelming to digest.
CLRProfiler can capture/display CallGraph: http://www.scribd.com/doc/3376247/CLRProfiler.
The file format is documented, so you can add your own analisys.
ANTS lets you visualize the call graph. Not precisely what you're looking for, but it might help. They have a 14 day trial and if you decide to buy it, it's well worth the money for profiling your .NET apps.
The .NET Memory Profiler lets you view instance graphs as well. A bit less spendy than ANTS and might do what you need to do.
Not a call graph but a call list but IntelliTrace in VS can tell you the call history. If you filter for calls to constructors you probably can get most of the way there.
Doxygen is a free tool that can also generate call graphs along with some basic documentation.
I am developing an API for some application. And I need to attach there a script engine to make it possible to invoke API from script.
It would be quite nice to have autocomplete, syntax highlight and debug in scripts.
I have found this solution: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/27744/Net-Script-Editor-C-Vb-net-Mini-IDE
But there are a lot of bugs.
Does anybody have any ideas of alternative solution?
LinqPad has many of the features you are looking for - some of them cost a small extra fee, but it's probably worth the fee!
http://www.linqpad.net/
Snippet Compiler is a nice tool.
You don't mention which language your scripts are in, but based on your other question about debuggers I'll assume you are using IronPython.
The most complete (free/open source) option that I've been able to find is SharpDevelop. It includes all of the features you've mentioned for IronPython as well as a debugger. It is open source and includes many useful extensibility points, so it should provide a good starting point to fix bugs and add additional language support if needed (provided your use conforms to its license terms).
If your situation requires use beyond what is provided by the LGPL then the best choice (though not standalone or free) is to extend Visual Studio (there's already an extension for IronPython though I'm unsure if it supports debugging).
It doesn't sound like you're looking to do much, if any, development of your own for this but if I'm misreading your question then there are some editor controls available that provide the features listed (and then some) for .NET (not exhaustive):
Scintilla.Net
AvalonEdit (used by SharpDevelop)
An example of a project that uses Scintilla.Net is Peter.
You can try with SharpDevelop .
I am trying to go through inherited code and find find out what objects are not being used anywhere so I can safely delete them. Is there a tool in VS 2010 Pro that enables this? I have been just doing a Find, but I find that this at times may be misleading.
JetBrains ReSharper can do this for you. You'll still need to be intelligent about removing classes, though. If you're using and DI containers or configuration through external files I've seen it think things are not used, when in fact they are.
Here's an example of how it reports this in a file (there's also solution-wide analysis that can be run):
Resharper has this feature - if you turn on solution wide analysis, any member of a class that is not used will have its name grayed out.
You do need to be careful if you use an IoC container of some sort, as it may be using a member at runtime but static analysis of the code base will not be able to discover this usage.
Is there some software for visual studio to automatically group c# class members?
Resharper does that, amongst loads of other things.
Regionerate can do that, and I think GhostDoc too (not sure). Both Visual Studio add-ons are free.
I wrote this plugin for Visual Studio that displays a grouped view. You can choose what groupings to apply, what order they're applied in, and write your own.
http://ora.codeplex.com/
It has some issues if you ever use VB.NET, but some people have posted workarounds.
If you have a live-updated view like this, you don't need to manually maintain the ordering in the file, or spread a lot of silly nested regions around in your source. Regions (like comments) shouldn't be used to redundantly repeat information that is already in the code. It just gets out of sync.
http://www.usysware.com/dpack/
DPack includes various browser tools that allow the developer to quickly find solution files, types, particular type members, methods or properties for instance, or quickly find and reference standard .NET framework types.