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Declarative Codesnippet Automation with T4 Templates

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20 Apr 2011CPOL15 min read 56.8K   1.4K   36  
This article describes a technique for automating codesnippets which are associated with a class via attributes. This results in a declarative approach to the generation of boiler-plate code.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
    <ProductVersion>8.0.50727</ProductVersion>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{3CB693DC-341B-4FB8-9F0E-8E15CD60C8D0}</ProjectGuid>
    <ProjectTypeGuids>{A1591282-1198-4647-A2B1-27E5FF5F6F3B};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
    <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
    <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
    <RootNamespace>CodeSnippetAutomation</RootNamespace>
    <AssemblyName>CodeSnippetAutomation</AssemblyName>
    <TargetFrameworkIdentifier>Silverlight</TargetFrameworkIdentifier>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.0</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <SilverlightVersion>$(TargetFrameworkVersion)</SilverlightVersion>
    <SilverlightApplication>true</SilverlightApplication>
    <SupportedCultures>
    </SupportedCultures>
    <XapOutputs>true</XapOutputs>
    <GenerateSilverlightManifest>true</GenerateSilverlightManifest>
    <XapFilename>CodeSnippetAutomation.xap</XapFilename>
    <SilverlightManifestTemplate>Properties\AppManifest.xml</SilverlightManifestTemplate>
    <SilverlightAppEntry>CodeSnippetAutomation.App</SilverlightAppEntry>
    <TestPageFileName>CodeSnippetAutomationTestPage.html</TestPageFileName>
    <CreateTestPage>true</CreateTestPage>
    <ValidateXaml>true</ValidateXaml>
    <EnableOutOfBrowser>false</EnableOutOfBrowser>
    <OutOfBrowserSettingsFile>Properties\OutOfBrowserSettings.xml</OutOfBrowserSettingsFile>
    <UsePlatformExtensions>false</UsePlatformExtensions>
    <ThrowErrorsInValidation>true</ThrowErrorsInValidation>
    <LinkedServerProject>
    </LinkedServerProject>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <!-- This property group is only here to support building this project using the 
       MSBuild 3.5 toolset. In order to work correctly with this older toolset, it needs 
       to set the TargetFrameworkVersion to v3.5 -->
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(MSBuildToolsVersion)' == '3.5'">
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v3.5</TargetFrameworkVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>Bin\Debug</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE;SILVERLIGHT</DefineConstants>
    <NoStdLib>true</NoStdLib>
    <NoConfig>true</NoConfig>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>Bin\Release</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE;SILVERLIGHT</DefineConstants>
    <NoStdLib>true</NoStdLib>
    <NoConfig>true</NoConfig>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="mscorlib" />
    <Reference Include="System.Windows" />
    <Reference Include="system" />
    <Reference Include="System.Core" />
    <Reference Include="System.Net" />
    <Reference Include="System.Windows.Controls, Version=2.0.5.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35, processorArchitecture=MSIL" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
    <Reference Include="System.Windows.Browser" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Compile Include="App.xaml.cs">
      <DependentUpon>App.xaml</DependentUpon>
    </Compile>
    <Compile Include="CodeGen\EnvDTE.cs">
      <AutoGen>True</AutoGen>
      <DesignTime>True</DesignTime>
      <DependentUpon>EnvDTE.tt</DependentUpon>
    </Compile>
    <Compile Include="CodeGen\GenerateObjects.cs">
      <AutoGen>True</AutoGen>
      <DesignTime>True</DesignTime>
      <DependentUpon>GenerateObjects.tt</DependentUpon>
    </Compile>
    <Compile Include="CodeGen\Includes.cs">
      <AutoGen>True</AutoGen>
      <DesignTime>True</DesignTime>
      <DependentUpon>Includes.tt</DependentUpon>
    </Compile>
    <Compile Include="CodeGen\Snippets\inpc.cs" />
    <Compile Include="CodeGen\Snippets\prop_inpc.cs" />
    <Compile Include="CodeGen\Util.cs">
      <AutoGen>True</AutoGen>
      <DesignTime>True</DesignTime>
      <DependentUpon>Util.tt</DependentUpon>
    </Compile>
    <Compile Include="MainPage.xaml.cs">
      <DependentUpon>MainPage.xaml</DependentUpon>
    </Compile>
    <Compile Include="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs" />
    <Compile Include="SomeOtherViewModel.cs" />
    <Compile Include="SomeOtherViewModel_Generated.cs" />
    <Compile Include="SomeViewModel.cs" />
    <Compile Include="SomeViewModel_Generated.cs" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <ApplicationDefinition Include="App.xaml">
      <SubType>Designer</SubType>
      <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
    </ApplicationDefinition>
    <Page Include="MainPage.xaml">
      <SubType>Designer</SubType>
      <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
    </Page>
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <None Include="CodeGen\EnvDTE.tt">
      <Generator>TextTemplatingFileGenerator</Generator>
      <LastGenOutput>EnvDTE.cs</LastGenOutput>
    </None>
    <None Include="CodeGen\GenerateObjects.tt">
      <Generator>TextTemplatingFileGenerator</Generator>
      <LastGenOutput>GenerateObjects.cs</LastGenOutput>
    </None>
    <None Include="CodeGen\Includes.tt">
      <Generator>TextTemplatingFileGenerator</Generator>
      <LastGenOutput>Includes.cs</LastGenOutput>
    </None>
    <None Include="CodeGen\Util.tt">
      <Generator>TextTemplatingFileGenerator</Generator>
      <LastGenOutput>Util.cs</LastGenOutput>
    </None>
    <None Include="Properties\AppManifest.xml" />
    <None Include="CodeGen\Snippets\inpc.snippet" />
    <None Include="CodeGen\Snippets\prop_inpc.snippet" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Service Include="{508349B6-6B84-4DF5-91F0-309BEEBAD82D}" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="CodeGen\SnippetToAttribute.xslt" />
    <Content Include="TextFile1.txt" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup />
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\Silverlight\$(SilverlightVersion)\Microsoft.Silverlight.CSharp.targets" />
  <!-- To modify your build process, add your task inside one of the targets below and uncomment it. 
       Other similar extension points exist, see Microsoft.Common.targets.
  <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
  </Target>
  <Target Name="AfterBuild">
  </Target>
  -->
  <ProjectExtensions>
    <VisualStudio>
      <FlavorProperties GUID="{A1591282-1198-4647-A2B1-27E5FF5F6F3B}">
        <SilverlightProjectProperties />
      </FlavorProperties>
    </VisualStudio>
  </ProjectExtensions>
</Project>

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License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Architect Scott Logic
United Kingdom United Kingdom
I am CTO at ShinobiControls, a team of iOS developers who are carefully crafting iOS charts, grids and controls for making your applications awesome.

I am a Technical Architect for Visiblox which have developed the world's fastest WPF / Silverlight and WP7 charts.

I am also a Technical Evangelist at Scott Logic, a provider of bespoke financial software and consultancy for the retail and investment banking, stockbroking, asset management and hedge fund communities.

Visit my blog - Colin Eberhardt's Adventures in .NET.

Follow me on Twitter - @ColinEberhardt

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