Here is a sample of these classes:ĭatabaseSchema This class allows programmatic discovery of a database schema. The SchemaExplorer classes can extract many types of information from a database. In CodeSmith there is a very useful class library for this: SchemaExplorer. Let's say we want to script the creation of the Customer table, where this is its structure generated by Microsoft SQL Query Analyzer:ĬONSTRAINT PK_Customers PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED The easiest way to build a template is to start with a fully functional sample of code. Let's take a closer look at each of these steps. To start from scratch, here are the necessary steps to get our first generated output:
#Codesmith generator code
If we use C# code instead of HTML tags in the original template, the output will look like a C# source code. The output looks like an HTML file just because this is what the original template looks like. It takes an ASPX source file as a template, requests some optional data inputs from a query string or a post and merges all these information together and produces an HTML output.
#Codesmith generator generator
ASP.NET is no more than a code generator itself. If you think about it carefully this is clever. As a matter of fact, CodeSmith uses the same technique as ASP.NET to generate its output. You can use server tags ( ) as if you were building a web page. The syntax of a template is almost the same as an ASP.NET Web Form. Template can be written in C#, VB.NET and J#. What makes CodeSmith so easy to use? The main advantage over other code generators is that CodeSmith is based on languages your already know and probably use a lot. By combining different outputs, you can use it as an important part of your architecture. You can use it to generate simple code snippets, like properties declaration or entire business objects structure right from your database structure. Even though it is a fairly simple code generator it can create code of almost any complexity level. It is also common to see some of them bundled with an Object Relational Mapper (ORM) to generate the mapping files.ĬodeSmith takes place in this middle set of code generators. Some of them are specialized in database stored procedure generations, other in data access layers or in user interfaces.
In the middle you have all other simple and flexible code generators that use templates to generate specific parts of your application. Although their creators are saying that their templates can be modified to suit any needs, there are always some limitations you have to live with or you will end up rewriting the whole thing. The big problem here is that you are stuck with the proposed architecture of the designer of this code generator. These programs generate a very complex mix of user interface, business logic and data access code. When you add or modify properties in the property grid while in design mode, Visual Studio generates code in a hidden region and reads it back when you open the source file later.Īt the opposite you have code generator that builds an entire application right from an existing database structure. Visual Studio even uses some kind of by-directional code generation. It only gives you a structure to start with. This kind of template is useful but it doesn't do much.
When you start a new project in Visual Studio, it gives you an empty class ready to put your code. In their simplest form they are static templates of code where you can put your real logic in. There are hundreds of code generators available today. Have you ever dream of the day you will just have to press a button to build an entire application? Well this is not for now but today we have many of the tools that we will need to accomplish just that and CodeSmith is one of them.
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