CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xtextsyntax-checking
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Reputation: 1971

Suitable Scenario to Handle with XText & XTend?

I need to provide and IDE with a syntax checker and validator for a very simple DSL.

The DSL's interpreter already exists so there is no need for another one. The DSL is suitable for xtext & xtend except that it allows one to escape to javascript, which I have heard is quite a messy language.

Is XText suitable for this scenario? I have heard that it is extremely difficult to adapt xtext to javascript and I haven't seen an open source xtext javascript project that I could easily link to or extend.

Thanks!

EDIT: The dsl I am working with is the nools rule language. It looks like this:

rule "rule report to user" {
    when{
        $ctr: Counter $ctr.count % 1000 == 0 {count: $count}
    }
    then{
        console.log("Progressing...");
        modify($ctr, function(){this.count = $count + 1;});
    }
}

JavaScript appears in the pattern in each statement in the when clause. In this example the pattern is "$ctr.count % 1000 == 0"). There are a limited number of non-javascript substitutions in the patterns e.g. to support a regex operator '=~'.

The entirety of the then clause is JavaScript, except that aliases defined in the when appear as variables in the then clause. In this example $ctr is such an alias.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 87

Answers (1)

Stefan Oehme
Stefan Oehme

Reputation: 457

If

  • the syntax unambiguously separates "normal code" and "Javascript escapes"
  • you don't care about editor support for the Javascript parts

then you could create an Xtext grammar that parses the Javascript parts verbatim.

I can't give much more specific advice without seeing the DSL and knowing its use cases.

Upvotes: 1

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