Certiv Analytics

Certiv Analytics

Innovative Legal Analysis Tools

Location: Home » Projects » AntlrDT

AntlrDT

An Eclipse plugin that contributes ANTLR ™ V3.2+ grammar and StringTemplate editors to the Eclipse platform.

Incremental ANTLR grammar builder using ANTLR 3.2

Features

  • Antlr Editor and Outline View -- syntax-assisted editor
  • Antlr Grammar Formatter (Version 1.2+)
    • Hybrid formatter - capable of formatting of all Antlr grammar and Java elements
    • Antlr elements handled using custom formatter
    • Java elements are handled using the JDT platform formatter
    • Formatting of native code blocks can be disabled to allow formatting of just Antlr elements
  • StringTemplate Editor -- syntax-assisted editor
  • Grammar Builder -- incremental Lexer/Parser generator
  • Grammar Launcher -- launch and run generated Lexer/Parser
  • LauncherView -- view-based suite of launch configurations
  • Visualization -- detailed visualization of actual execution paths
  • AST View -- views of actual parser built AST, token stream and parse errors

Screen Shot

AntlrDT and StringTemplate editors

AntlrDT screen shot StringTemplate screen shot

Visualization View

Visualization

This example shows the actual execution path of a parser (simpleCalc.g) processing a short input text (DataFile.txt).

Grammar AST View

Specification subtab AST Structure subtab

        Select grammar and input text                     The dynamically generated AST

Tokenssubtab Errors subtab

        The live token stream                                 Actual AST production Errors

Development State

  • The syntax-directed editors are specific to ANTLR 3.2 and StringTemplate 3.2
  • Static syntax analysis is performed using the reference ANTLRv3.g grammar with validation errors being reported by editor problem markers
    • marker hovering is supported
  • the Outline View depends on the grammar being parseable -- the tree will not be displayed or, rarely, be shown out-of-sync if the grammar is not reasonably valid
  • The incremental Builder performs code gen on grammar save actions. Preference support is provided for disabling the builder and defining the grammar build path.
  • Preference options are provided for
    • auto-formatting of the generated code
    • auto-import resolution
    • auto-detection of the generation directory from grammar embedded package statements
    • choice of output directory selection method on per-project basis

Use

General Use

  • The Grammar Editor is automatically associated with ANTLR 3.2 grammar files (".g" extension)
  • The StringTemplate Editor is automatically associated with ANTLR 3.2 group files (".stg" extension preferred)
  • The editors are available in any project - grammar files need not be on the project's build path.
  • The Grammar Builder is enabled from the AntlrDT preference page
  • The grammar build path can be modified from the project's AntlrDT property page

Formatter Use (for Version 1.2+)

    Caution: while the formatter should not modify anything other than whitespace, be careful - ctrl-z will undo changes

  • Invoke using standard platform format command (ctrl-shift-f)
  • Formatting of selected blocks is not supported/untested
  • Generally, all formatting is performed in one pass (one press of ctrl-shift-f); may require multiple presses to fully adjust indenting of native code

Visualization View Use

  • Visualization is enabled from the Launch configuration main tab. The visualization view will open automatically, as needed.
    • Hover over a node: shows node type dependent details
    • Double-click on token related nodes: opens the input text file and highlights the actual content of the token
    • Double-click on (most) rule related nodes: opens the grammar and highlights the corresponding rule element
  • Configuration options:

Antlr ASTView Use

  • Preliminaries:
    • The grammar must be set with options { output=AST; }
    • Likely to only work for Java code gen
    • The grammar and code gen output directory, must be on the project build path and under the workspace root
    • Superclass and any helper classes referenced from the generated code must be in the code gen output directory or otherwise on the project build path - the AST is build using a full live execution of the parser
  • Operation:
    • To build an AST, the corresponding grammar must be in the active editor
    • If the AST View is not linked to the active editor, press the Load button to force focus
    • Choose a start rule for parsing; defaults to the first listed rule
    • Choose a source file to be parsed, and press the Build button
    • In the Token Stream and Errors lists, a double-click will open, select and reveal the corresponding portion of the source file.

Installation & Requirements

Please report any problems getting Eclipse to recognize and run the AntlrDT plugins to .

To install, just download and unzip the plugin jars to the "<eclipse_home>/dropins" directory. See, Supported dropins formats

  • Version 1.2.0
    • Eclipse 3.5.1 on Java 6+ VM
    • Eclipse DLTK 1.0.1 Core Framework (current Galileo release)
    • Eclipse Zest Visualization Toolkit 1.1.1 (current Galileo release)
  • Version 0.9.2
    • Eclipse 3.4 on Java 5+ VM
    • Eclipse DLTK 0.95.2 (standard Ganymede release)
    • Eclipse GEF/Zest Visualization Toolkit 1.0 (standard Ganymede release)