patrick

Introduction

patrick is a software engineering support utility.

Its purpose is to facilitate the conversion of source code containing hard-coded string literals into a form compatible with most resource management approaches.

It can be used to prepare projects for multilingual support and/or centralization of string resources.

Specifically, patrick:

parses source code
identifies candidate string literals
generates a substitute resource token
outputs converted source code
outputs resource files

Note: Currently, only Go source code parsing is explicitly supported. However, other closely-related languages (e.g. Java/C#) may also work. Support for other languages is feasible, and may be expanded in future releases.

Who was Patrick?

This tool is named in honor of J. Patrick Desbrow, one of my closest friends, who introduced me to the world of professional-grade software product engineering.

One of Patrick's many marquee achievements was the systematic globalisation and localisation of TSER (Treasury Services Evaluation and Reporting) from hard-coded US English to Japanese (and, indeed, any written language). He achieved this by writing a tool that parsed approximately 2M lines of C++ source code, identified and tokenized string literals, and generated resource files suitable for inclusion in the Borland C++ build system used by TSER (and for which he also ported the OWL library from 16- to 32-bit as a party trick). Quite the achievement in 1995.

Sadly, Patrick passed away suddenly in September, 2018. I still miss him.

Sample output

Input: in/mypackage/myfile.go

This original source file contains two hardcoded string literals.

func (cfg *Service) CreateOrUpdateAnalysisConfig(conf AnalysisConfig) {

	runtime.LogDebugf(cfg.ctx, "Saving analysis config: %+v", conf)
	fullKey := cfg.analysisConfigFullKey(conf.Key)
	runtime.LogDebugf(cfg.ctx, "Config key: %s", fullKey)

	...

Output: out/mypackage/mypackage.resource

The literals have been identified, extracted, and associated with resource tokens.

Resource_00010001 = "Saving analysis config: %+v"
Resource_00010002 = "Config key: %s"

Output: out/mypackage/myfile.go

The new output source file contains resource lookup function calls, which reference the appropriate resource token.

func (cfg *Service) CreateOrUpdateAnalysisConfig(conf AnalysisConfig) {

    runtime.LogDebugf(cfg.ctx, util.ResourceLookup(mypackage.Resource_00010001), conf)
    fullKey := cfg.analysisConfigFullKey(conf.Key)
    runtime.LogDebugf(cfg.ctx, util.ResourceLookup(mypackage.Resource_00010002), fullKey)

    ...

Useful features

define a list of excludable files
template strings to customize output resource file format
start point and format parameters for sequential resource token numbering
specify the form of a substitute resource lookup function e.g. util.Resource(<token goes here>)

Command examples

General

Flags for inputDir and outputDir should be obvious.
File format for the excludesFile is like this (e.g. one unqualified filename per line):

resource.go
resources.go
types.go
constants.go
.DS_Store

patrick will ignore any file matching any of the above filenames in the excludeFiles file as it traverses the inputDir directory tree.

A log file (patrick.log) will be output to the current working directory, with detail level driven by logLevel.

List

Allows you to get a listing of the files that would be processed. Useful to test your input directory / exclusions configuration.

./patrick list --help                                                                                                                                                                                                                          feature/implement-convert ● ? ↑1

Lists all files that will be targeted for processing, taking into account inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Usage:
  patrick list [flags]

Flags:
  -h, --help   help for list

Global Flags:
      --excludeFiles string   file containing base filenames to exclude - one per line
      --inputDir string       input directory
      --logLevel string       log level (debug,info,warn,error,fatal) (default "info")

./patrick list --inputDir=/Users/Anewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input --excludeFiles=/Users/Anewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/exclude.list
================================================================================
Input directory               : /Users/Anewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input
Output directory              : 
Overwrite output              : false
Exclude files                 : /Users/Anewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/exclude.list
Log level                     : info
Package identifier            : package
Resource file prefix          : 
Resource file delimiter       :  = 
Resource file suffix          : 
Resource index start          : 10000
Resource index zero pad       : 8
Resource token prefix         : Resource_
Resource function template    : 
String delimiter              : "
Single line comment delimiter : //
Block comment begin delimiter : /*
Block comment end delimiter   : */
Import keyword                : import
Import block delimiters       : import ( ... )
Const keyword                 : const
Const block delimiters        : const ( ... )
================================================================================
Files to process
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: /Users/Anewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/config/config.go
Processing file: /Users/Anewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/config/defaults.go
Processing file: /Users/Anewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/docker/docker.go
Processing file: /Users/Anewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/util/smoke.go
Processing file: /Users/Anewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/util/util.go
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Convert

Processes files according to inputDir and excludesFile, as described above.

It identifies string literals and substitutes them in the output file with tokens recorded in the corresponding package-specific resource file.

./patrick convert --help 

Processes the identified list of files and:

- identifies and tokenizes string literals
- outputs converted source files
- outputs associated resource files

Usage:
  patrick convert [flags]

Flags:
  -h, --help                              help for convert
      --outputDir string                  output directory
      --overwriteOutput                   replace contents of outputDir
      --resourceFileDelimiter string      text to be written between resource identifier and value in resource file (default " = ")
      --resourceFilePrefix string         text to be written before resource identifier in resource file
      --resourceFileSuffix string         text to be written after value in resource file
      --resourceFunctionTemplate string   resource function to be substituted into source code in place of each identified string literal. Must include %%RESOURCE_TOKEN%%, which will be the placeholder for the generated resource token
      --resourceIndexStart uint           starting value for sequentially-numbered resource tokens (default 10000)
      --resourceIndexZeroPad uint8        width of zero-padded resource token index number (default 8)
      --resourceTokenPrefix string        prefix string to be prepended to resource tokens (default "Resource_")

Global Flags:
      --excludeFiles string   file containing base filenames to exclude - one per line
      --inputDir string       input directory
      --logLevel string       log level (debug,info,warn,error,fatal) (default "info")

Run with defaults

The built-in defaults produce a resource file format, usable in a variety of contexts:

./patrick convert --inputDir=/Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input \
--outputDir=/Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/output --overwriteOutput=true \
--excludeFiles=/Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/exclude.list \
--resourceFunctionTemplate="PKG.utilSvc.Resource(PKG.%%RESOURCE_TOKEN%%)"
====================================================================================================
Configuration
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Input directory               : /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input
Output directory              : /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/output
Overwrite output              : true
Exclude files                 : /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/exclude.list
Log level                     : info
Resource file prefix          : 
Resource file delimiter       :  = 
Resource file suffix          : 
Resource index start          : 10000
Resource index zero pad       : 8
Resource token prefix         : Resource_
Resource function template    : PKG.utilSvc.Resource(PKG.%%RESOURCE_TOKEN%%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source code-specific
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Package identifier            : package
String delimiter              : "
Single line comment delimiter : //
Block comment begin delimiter : /*
Block comment end delimiter   : */
Import keyword                : import
Import block delimiters       : import ( ... )
Const keyword                 : const
Const block delimiters        : const ( ... )
====================================================================================================
====================================================================================================
Files to process
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/config/config.go
Processing file: /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/config/defaults.go
Processing file: /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/docker/docker.go
Processing file: /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/util/smoke.go
Processing file: /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/util/util.go
====================================================================================================

cat /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/output/config/config.resource

Resource_00010001 = "Saving analysis config: %+v"
Resource_00010002 = "Config key: %s"
<snip/>
Resource_00010061 = "Removing analysis subkey from config : %s"
Resource_00010062 = "Analysis map (after prune) : %v"
Resource_00010063 = "Resetting config"

Advanced use cases

However, it is also possible to generate a wide variety of resource file formats:

./patrick convert --inputDir=/Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input \
--outputDir=/Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/output --overwriteOutput=true \
--excludeFiles=/Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/exclude.list \
--resourceFunctionTemplate="PKG.utilSvc.Resource(PKG.%%RESOURCE_TOKEN%%)" \
--resourceFilePrefix="{" --resourceFileDelimiter=", " --resourceFileSuffix="}," \
--resourceTokenPrefix=Res#  --resourceIndexStart 1000 --resourceIndexZeroPad 6
====================================================================================================
Configuration
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Input directory               : /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input
Output directory              : /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/output
Overwrite output              : true
Exclude files                 : /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/exclude.list
Log level                     : info
Resource file prefix          : {
Resource file delimiter       : , 
Resource file suffix          : },
Resource index start          : 1000
Resource index zero pad       : 6
Resource token prefix         : Res#
Resource function template    : PKG.utilSvc.Resource(PKG.%%RESOURCE_TOKEN%%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source code-specific
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Package identifier            : package
String delimiter              : "
Single line comment delimiter : //
Block comment begin delimiter : /*
Block comment end delimiter   : */
Import keyword                : import
Import block delimiters       : import ( ... )
Const keyword                 : const
Const block delimiters        : const ( ... )
====================================================================================================
====================================================================================================
Files to process
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/config/config.go
Processing file: /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/config/defaults.go
Processing file: /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/docker/docker.go
Processing file: /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/util/smoke.go
Processing file: /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/input/util/util.go
====================================================================================================

cat /Users/acanewby/Dropbox/scratch/patrick/output/config/config.resource

{Res#001001, "Saving analysis config: %+v"},
{Res#001002, "Config key: %s"},
{Res#001003, "%s.%s"},
<snip/>
{Res#001061, "Removing analysis subkey from config : %s"},
{Res#001062, "Analysis map (after prune) : %v"},
{Res#001063, "Resetting config"},

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 81 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
cmd/patrick		cmd/patrick
internal		internal
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
go.mod		go.mod
go.sum		go.sum
main.go		main.go

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patrick

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