Development assistance for mixed-language sources

• US 20030028364A1
• Filed: 07/10/2002
• Published: 02/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CodeGear (Idera, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Borland Software Corporation (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Chan, Ken, Bronkhorst, Campegius L., Boen, Hin, Johnson, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 6,799,718 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/33 Intelligent editors

Abstract

Development assistance for a program comprising code in more than one language, is provided appropriately for each language in an integrated development environment. The assistance can include syntax highlighting, structure analysis, error reporting, completion assistance and/or context-sensitive help. The language of the subject element of code is determined and the appropriate assistance processes are applied. If the code is in a supplementary language, routines associated with the supplementary language are invoked to provide the assistance. When needed, information from other parts of the program file is provided to determine the appropriate assistance for the element of code.

Claims

1. A method for providing syntax indication of a code element in a mixed-language file, comprising the steps of:

a. determining whether the code element in the mixed-language file is in a primary language;

b. if the code element is determined to be of the primary language, identifying a syntax of the code element using a primary scanner;

c. otherwise identifying the syntax of the code element using a supplemental scanner;

d. applying generic style rules to the identified syntax of the code element; and

e. generating the syntax indication for the code element in the mixed-language file in accordance with the applied generic style rules.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining step comprises the steps of:

a. identifying a marker in the mixed-language file associated with the code element;

b. determining whether the code element is in the primary language or the supplemental language according to the associated marker.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of modifying the primary scanner to include the function of determining whether the code element is in the supplemental language.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining step is performed using the primary scanner, the method further comprising the steps of:

a. determining whether the code element is in the supplemental language using the primary scanner; and

b. activating the supplemental scanner to identify the code element.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprises the steps of:

a. modifying the primary scanner to recognize the supplemental language;

b. modifying the supplemental scanner to recognize the primary language;

c. when the primary scanner determines that the section of code is in the supplemental language, activating the supplemental scanner; and

d. when the supplemental scanner determines that the section of code is in the primary language activating the primary scanner.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating syntax indication further comprises the step of displaying the code element in at least one of a color, boldface, italic, and underlined, as determined by the applied generic style rules.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

a. modifying the primary scanner to recognize at least one supplementary language; and

b. when the primary scanner determines that the section of the code is in at least one supplementary language, activating the supplementary scanner.

8. A method for providing syntax indication for a program containing code in a primary language and one or more supplementary languages, the method comprising the steps of:

a. using a primary scanner to determine the language of a code element in the program;

b. if the code element is in the primary language, determining the syntax of the code element using the primary scanner;

c. if the code element is in one of the supplementary languages, invoking a supplementary scanner associated with the determined supplementary language; and

determining the syntax of the code element using the invoked supplementary scanner; and

d. generating the syntax indication for the code element in the program according to the determined syntax.

9. A method for providing structural representation for a mixed-language file comprising the steps of:

a. identifying at least one section of the code as being in a primary language and at least one section of code as being in a supplemental language;

b. parsing the section of code in the primary language using a primary parser generating code structure information;

c. parsing the section of code in the supplemental language using a supplemental parser generating code structure information;

d. integrating the code structure information generated by the primary parser with the code structure information generated by the supplemental parser; and

e. displaying the structural representation of the mixed-language file in a uniform format based on the integrated code structure information.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of:

a. determining primary-language errors, if any, in the section of code in the primary language using the primary parser; and

b. displaying a representation of the primary-language errors in the uniform format.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of integrating the display of the primary-language errors with the display of the structural representation of the mixed-language file.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:

a. associating each of the primary-language errors to a position in the section of code in the primary language in the mixed-language file where the primary-language errors occurred; and

b. displaying a representation of the position associated with each of the primary-language errors in the uniform format.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of:

a. determining supplemental-language errors, if any, in the section of code in the supplemental language using the supplemental parser; and

b. displaying a representation of the supplemental-language errors in the uniform format.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of integrating the display of the supplemental-language errors with the display of the structural representation of the mixed-language file.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of:

a. associating each of the supplemental-language errors to the position in the section of code in the supplemental language in the mixed-language file where the supplemental-language errors occurred; and

b. displaying a representation of the position associated with each of the supplemental-language errors in the uniform format.

16. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of:

a. determining whether the section of code in the supplemental language is self-contained;

b. if the section of code is self-contained, accumulating the section of code in the supplemental language separate from the mixed-language file; and

c. maintaining an association between the accumulated section of code and a position of the section of code in the supplemental language within the mixed-language file.

17. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of:

a. determining whether the section of code in the supplemental language is self-contained;

b. if the section of code is not self-contained, converting the section of code in the supplemental language into a converted section of code that is self-contained, using a supplemental converter; and

c. maintaining an association between the converted section of code and a position of the section of code in the supplemental language within the mixed-language file.

18. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of providing a link between the structural representation of the section code and the section of code in the mixed-language file wherein triggering the link toggles between the displayed structural representation and the displayed mixed-language file.

19. A method for providing structural representation for a mixed-language file comprising the steps of:

a. determining whether a section of code is in a primary language or a supplemental language;

b. for the section of code in the supplemental language;

determining whether the supplemental language is designated for conversion;

c. for the section of code in the supplemental language that is designated for conversion;

(i) converting the section of code using a converter generating a self-contained section of code and (ii) parsing the self-contained section of code using a first supplemental parser to generate the code structure information;

d. for the section of code in the supplemental language that is not designated for conversion;

parsing the section of code using a second supplemental parser to generate the code structure information;

e. for the section of code in the primary language, parsing the section of code using a primary parser to generate code structure information;

f. integrating the code structure information from the primary parser, first supplemental parser and second supplemental parser into a common display; and

g. displaying the structural representation of the mixed-language file in a uniform format based on the integrated code structure information.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

a. mapping the code structure information generated by the primary parser to the section of code in the primary language in the mixed-language file;

b. mapping the code structure information generated by the first supplemental parser to the section of code in the supplemental language that is designated for conversion in the mixed-language file;

c. mapping the code structure information generated by the second supplemental parser to the section of code in the supplemental language that is not designated for conversion in the mixed language file; and

d. combining the code structure information from the primary parser, first supplemental parser and second supplemental parser using the mapping for the mixed-language file.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of indicating in the structural representation any errors detected by the primary parser, the first supplemental parser or the second supplemental parser.

22. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of a. identifying a marker in the mixed-language file associated with the section of code;

b. determining whether the section of code is self-contained according to the associated marker.

23. A method for providing context-sensitive help information for a mixed-language file, comprising the steps of:

a. receiving a request for help relating to a code element of the mixed-language file;

b. determining whether the code element is in a primary language or a supplementary language;

c. determining a context of the code element in accordance with the determined language;

d. if the section of code is in the primary language, selecting help information in accordance with the code element and the context of the code using a resource associated with the primary language; and

e. if section of code is in the supplementary language, selecting help information in accordance with the code element and the context of the code using a resource associated with the supplementary language.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the step of determining the context of the code further comprises the steps of

a. referencing definition-type information contained in any portion of the mixed-language file;

and

b. determining the context of the code based on the referenced definition-type information.

25. A method for providing completion assistance for a mixed-language file, comprising the steps of:

a. determining the language at the position in the section of code where an entry is being made;

b. detecting a partial code element in the section of code;

c. selecting a completion engine associated with the determined language;

d. collecting one or more suggested code elements that satisfy the partial code element, using the selected completion engine; and

e. displaying the one or more suggested code elements.

26. The method of claim 25, where in the further comprising the steps of:

a. referencing definition-type information contained in any portion of the mixed-language file; and

b. determining the one or more suggested code elements in accordance with the referenced definition-type information.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a selection from the one or more suggested code elements; and

updating the partial code element to reflect the selection from the one or more suggested code elements.

28. A method for providing development assistance in an integrated development environment for a program file containing source code in more than one language, the method comprising the steps of:

a. scanning the source code to identify the language;

b. if the identified language is a primary language, determining a syntax of the source code in accordance with the primary language

c. if the identified language is not the primary language, invoking a scanner designated for the identified language; and

determining a syntax of the source code in accordance with the identified language using the scanner designated for the identified language;

d. applying generic style rule to determine a style-format for displaying the determined syntax; and

e. displaying the source code in the style determined by the applied generic style-format rule.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising the steps of:

a. if the identified language is the primary language, parsing the code to determine the structure of the code in accordance with the primary language using a parser designated for the primary language;

b. if the identified language is not the primary language, invoking a parser designated for the identified language and parsing the code to determine the structure of the code in accordance with the identified language using the parser designated for the identified language; and

c. displaying a representation of the structure of the code as determined by the parser.

30. An integrated development system that provides assistance for program files containing code in a primary language and at least one supplemental language, the system comprising:

a. a primary scanner that provides syntax indication for the code in the file that is in the primary language; and

b. at least one supplemental scanner that provides syntax indication for the code in the file that is in at least one supplemental language.

31. The system of claim 30 further comprising a text editor and user interface integrated with the primary scanner and the at least one supplemental scanner.

32. The system of claim 30 wherein the primary scanner further operates to invoke at least one supplementary scanner upon determination that the code is in at least one supplementary language.

33. The integrated development system of claim 30 further comprising:

a. a primary parser that provides a representation of the structure of the code in the file that is in the primary language; and

b. at least one supplemental parser that provides the representation of the structure of the code in the file that is in at least supplemental language.

34. The integrated development system of claim 30 further comprising:

a. a context-sensitive help engine associated with the primary language; and

b. a context-sensitive help engine associated with the supplementary language.

35. The integrated development system of claim 30 further comprising:

a. a completion assistance engine associated with the primary language and

b. a completion assistance engine associated with supplementary language.

36. A computer readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method for providing development assistance in an integrated development environment for a program file containing source code in more than one language, the method comprising:

a. scanning the source code to identify the language;

b. if the identified language is a primary language, determining a syntax of the source code in accordance with the primary language

c. if the identified language is not the primary language, invoking a scanner designated for the identified language; and

determining the syntax of the source code in accordance with the identified language using the scanner designated for the identified language;

d. applying generic style rule to determine a style-format for displaying the determined syntax; and

e. displaying the source code in the style-format determined by the applied generic style rule.

37. An apparatus for providing structural representation of a mixed-language file through a computer comprising a processor;

and a memory in operative connection with the processor for storing processing instructions enabling the processor to;

a. identify at least one section of the code as being in a primary language and at least one section of code as being in a supplemental language;

b. parse the section of code in the primary language using a primary parser generating code structure information;

c. parse the section of code in the supplemental language using a supplemental parser generating code structure information;

d. integrate the code structure information generated by the primary parser with the code structure information generated by the supplemental parser; and

e. display the structural representation of the mixed-language file in a uniform format based on the integrated code structure information.

38. A method for providing completion assistance for a mixed-language file, comprising the steps of:

a. determining the language at the position in the section of code where an entry is being made;

b. detecting a partial code element in the section of code;

c. selecting a completion engine associated with the determined language;

d. collecting one or more suggested code elements that satisfy the partial code element, using the selected completion engine; and

e. displaying the one or more suggested code elements.