CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

re: CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

sjnaughton — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:55:49 GMT

Great post David, I've much about T4 but had no rela idea what it was but your post has given me that essential boost and I think I shat give T4 a go.

Steve :D

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CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

What's New — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:30:13 GMT

There are many scenarios where the need to generate source code arises.  The MVC helpers I introduced

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re: CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

Gabriel — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:20:51 GMT

I have used codeDom and it is very verbose and not easy .

T4 looks easy however as soon as you want to do something a bit more complicated , you have todo lot of work.

How do you pass multiple parameters at runtime?

Suppose you have a form with a user choosing fields to generate a class how do you pass it to T4.

I have not seen any example where somebody used a windows form ,passed some parameters to T4 and generated code.

It still looks sort of incomplete.

Am I missing something may be?

thanks a lot for your post

David Ebbo's blog : CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

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re: CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

MIchael Washington — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:49:29 GMT

Vary good article. You explain a difficult subject in a way that is easy to follow. I think CodeDom beats T4 because it is actually "Clean". Once someone explains the rules you simply follow them. In the end it's just code. Code always follows a finite set of rules or it wont compile.

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David Ebbo's blog — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:52:08 GMT

Earlier this week, I wrote a post on using a BuildProvider to create ActionLink helpers .  That

re: CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

Donald — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:55:20 GMT

I like the simpleness of this article... now how do I get my values into the template?

re: CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

davidebb — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:25:49 GMT

Donald: you wrote "how do I get my values into the template?". Not exactly sure what you mean. Could you elaborate on your question? Thanks!

re: CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

Donald — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:27:53 GMT

T4 is new to me and I have no idea where to start. Looks like this article is showing us the middle.

I can see where the value for <#= i #>"); comes from... it is the for statement. This part I understand.

Apart from doing it in the template... how do I extract data from some external source like a database or xml file so that the template can use it?

re: CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

davidebb — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:16:48 GMT

Donald, indeed my post is not a great first introduction to T4. The answer to your question is multi-part. First, since your T4 code is standard managed code, you can do anything you want, including open arbitrary files. Then, there is the concept of a T4 host. When the T4 file is run directly by VS, there is a VS host from which you can get services. But you can also write a custom host that can feed arbitrary data to the template. You can look at my June 4 post for an example of that. Of course, there is much more to say about T4, and there are some good blogs around that discuss it (like http://www.olegsych.com/).

re: CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

Donald — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:52:07 GMT

I checked out the post. Seems quite involved.

Would like something like:

1. here include these .dlls in your program.

2. call these methods to pass you data to the template.

3. then compile your program.

4. attach as vs.net addin.

Just hoping.

re: CodeDom vs T4: two approaches to Code Generation

Donald — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:16:08 GMT

Can using the T4 way be easier than creating a managed addin that?:

1. pops up a form

2. takes input from a user

3. inserts the values into a vb9 xml literal type template.

4. saves the document(s)

Or should I just continue to do it this way?