Copyright 2012-2013 Matthew Harvey
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
Boilermatic is C++ code generation tool with a lightweight graphical user interface. It is intended to automate some of the tasks associated with writing a new class in C++11, both to save time, and to reduce the chance of programmer error. It would be of most use to developers who have a command line based workflow, and would like certain repetitive tasks to be automated, without having to commit to a full-blown IDE.
Boilermatic assumes that each class will have its own header and (optionally) source file.
Boilermatic requires:
- A Tcl interpreter
- Tk
- Ttk
Boilermatic has been tested with tclsh8.5 only; however, it is likely to work with other Tcl interpreters.
Tk and Ttk are Tcl packages that are likely to be available on most systems on which tclsh8.5 is installed.
On Unix-like systems:
cd into the source directory, and enter the following sequence of commands:
chmod +x install.tcl
sudo ./install.tclThis will install Boilermatic to /usr/local/bin. To install it to a different location, open install.tcl in a text editor and change the install_destination variable to the desired location.
On Windows:
Manually copy the file boilermatic.tcl to a directory of your choosing. Add this directory to your PATH if it is not there already.
You may need to associate the boilermatic.tcl file with wish or another Tcl interpreter. You should then be able to run it either by entering boilermatic at the command line, or by double-clicking the script's icon in Windows Explorer.
To run the application, enter boilermatic at the command line. It is generally most convenient if you run it from within the root directory of your C++ project, as the suggested location for the generated C++ files will default to the current working directory (.), or to ./include or ./src if these directories exist, for saving the generated header and source file, respectively.
The application will display a GUI dialog containing several text boxes and other controls. These are intended to be reasonably self-explanatory for someone who is familiar with C++11.
Starting at the top, enter into the Class name box the name of the class you want to create. The Filename stem and Header guard boxes will then be automatically populated based on the class name you entered.
The Filename stem box will provide the name of the generated C++ file(s), with .hpp and .cpp extensions added for the header and "source" file, respectively.
If you just want the files created but with no class declaration, you can leave Class name blank and just populate Filename stem direclly. A suggested header guard will still be generated based on the filename stem you enter.
The Header guard box provides the macro to be used in the header guard. By default this is based on the filename stem, and has a pseudo-random number appended to virtually eliminate the possibility of clashes with other macros.
You can manually change both the filename stem and header guard to almost any other string (although Boilermatic will reject some strings on the basis that, e.g. they are not valid C++ identifiers).
By default, both a .hpp and a .cpp file will be generated. You can tell Boilermatic to produce only a header, by unchecking Create source file?
Next choose the directories in which to save the generated header and source file (or leave the default directories unchanged).
The next part of the GUI deals with the C++ special member functions (default constructor, copy constructor etc.). For each special member function, decide whether you want to declare it explicitly, and if so, whether you want to append = default or = delete, or whether you want write the function body yourself ("custom"). You can also select whether to make the function public, protected or private. This area of the GUI is intended to serve not only as a keystroke-saving device, but also as a sort of checklist, so that when creating a new class, it becomes an easy exercise to run through the special member functions in turn, deciding for each one whether/how that function should be declared.
By default, the destructor will be declared virtual; you can uncheck Make destructor virtual to make it non-virtual.
If you want to declare the class within one or more namespaces, enter the namespace names one row at a time in the Enclosing namespaces box.
If you want to add a legal notice at the top of each generated C++ file, check Generate legal notice. However this option is only enabled if there is a file named legal_notice in the configuration directory. (See Configuring the legal notice.)
You can then select your preferred indentation style.
If you want to run either git add or svn add, passing each of the newly generated files to this command in turn, check the corresponding box.
Finally, click Cancel to abort, or Generate to generate C++ files based on your selections. A message box will display a summary of actions taken.
Configuration options should be stored in a directory named .boilermatic. Boilermatic must be able to find this directory either directly in the directory from which it was invoked, or else in its parent directory, or else in its grandparent, or etc.. Boilermatic will continue looking higher in the directory tree until either it finds a directory containing a directory named .boilermatic, or else can go no further due to having reached a root directory (like / or C:\).
Currently there is only one configuration option available, namely the text of the legal notice that is placed at the top of the generated files when Generate legal notice is checked. This text should be placed in plain text form in a file named legal_notice, within the .boilermatic directory. The text in this file should not be commented out using // or /* or etc.. Boilermatic will add characters to comment out the legal notice as required, when it generates the C++ files.
In future versions, there may be additional configuration options available. It is expected that any such options will be managed within the .boilermatic directory.