ESV

The Editor SerVice (ESV) language is a declarative meta-language for configuring the editor services of a language. For example, the following ESV code fragment configures the syntax highlighting for a language, based on the types of tokens:

module color

colorer

  keyword    : 153 51 153
  identifier : black
  string     : 177 47 2
  number     : 17 131 22
  operator   : black
  layout     : 63 127 95 italic

We now look at how an ESV file is structured.

Structure

Each ESV file starts by defining a module for the file. Module identifiers must be unique. Modules can be imported with an import statement. For example, the following code fragment defines an ESV file with module Main and imports module Syntax and Analysis:

module Main

imports

  Syntax
  Analysis

Importing modules means importing all the sections and definitions from that module.

The rest of the ESV file can contain sections for configuring editor services and other aspects of a language. Sections can be defined multiple times. For example, the following code fragment defines an ESV file with several sections:

module Main

language

  extensions : ent

colorer

  keyword    : 153 51 153
  identifier : default

language

  line comment  : "//"

It sets the extension in a language section, adds coloring rules in a colorer section, and sets the line comment to use in a language section again.

Configuration Sections

Since editor services are a cross-cutting concern, ESV has a lot of cross-cutting configuration for these concerns. We now describe each configuration section in detail.

File Extension

The file extension of your language are set with the extensions option under the language section:

language

  extensions : ent

Multiple extensions can be set with a comma-separated list:

language

  extensions : ent, entity, entities

This registers the given extensions with Spoofax, which can then identify files to your language based on extensions. This is used to open an editor for your language in an IDE setting, and to process files of your language in a command-line setting.

Syntax

The SDF parse table file, and which start symbols to use, are set as follows:

language

  table         : target/metaborg/sdf.tbl
  start symbols : Start

Multiple start symbols can be set with a comma-separated list:

language

  start symbols : Start, Program

The parse table of your language is set with the table option. By default, the parse table of an SDF specification is always produced at :file:`target/metaborg/sdf.tbl`. It is only neccessary to change this configuration when a custom parse table is used. The start symbols option determine which start symbols to use when an editor is opened. This must be a subset of the start symbols defined in the SDF3 specification of your language.

The syntax for comments are set as follows:

language

  line comment  : "//"
  block comment : "/*" "*/"

The line comment option determines how single-line comments are created. It is used by editors to toggle the comment for a single line. For example, in Eclipse, pressing Ctrl-/ (Cmd-/ on macOS), comments or uncomments the line. The block comment option determines how multi-line comments are created. It is used similarly, but when a whole block needs to be commented or uncommented. A block comment is determined by two strings denoting the start and end symbols of the block comment.

Fences for bracket matching are set as follows:

language

  fences : [ ] ( ) { }

The fences options determines which symbols to use and match for bracket matching. A single fence is defined by a starting and closing symbol. Multiple fences can be set with a space-separated list. Fences are used to do bracket matching in text editors.

Warning

Fences can contain multiple characters, but some implementations may not handle bracket matching with multiple fence characters. For example, Eclipse does not handle this case and ignores multi-character fences.

Syntax Highlighting

Token-based syntax highlighting is configured in a colorer section. Such a section can contain style definitions and styling rules.

Style definitions bind an identifier to a style with syntax identifier = style for reuse later. A style is a foreground (text) color, optional background color, and optional font attributes. For example, the following style definitions bind the red, green, and blue colors:

colorer

  red   = 255 0 0
  green = 0 255 0
  blue  = 0 0 255

A color is denoted by its RGB values, with values ranging from 0 to 255. An optional background color can be set by adding another RGB value:

colorer

  redWithGreenBackground = 255 0 0 0 255 0

Optional font attributes can be used to make the font bold or italic:

colorer

  redWithBold   = 255 0 0 bold
  redWithItalic = 255 0 0 italic
  redWithGreenBackgroundWithBoldItalic = 255 0 0 0 255 0 bold italic

Style rules assign styles to matched tokens with syntax matcher : styleOrRef. The left hand side of style rules match a token, whereas the right hand side assigns a style by referring to a previously defined style definition, or by directly assigning a style. For example, the following matches a token type and references a style definition:

colorer

  operator : black

whereas the following matches a token with a sort and constructor, and directly assigns a style:

colorer

  ClassBodyDec.MethodDec : 0 255 0

The following matchers on the left-hand side are supported:

Matching on built-in token types. The following types are supported:
- identifier - matches identifiers, found by lexical non-terminals without numbers
- string - matches strings, found by lexical non-terminals that include quotation marks
- number - matches numbers, found by lexical non-terminals with numbers
- keyword - matches keywords, found by terminals in the syntax definition
- operator - matches operations, found by terminals that contain just symbols (no characters)
- layout - matches layout, such as whitespace and comments, found by layout definition
- unknown - matches tokens which the parser was unable to infer a type for
For example, the following code defines a simple highlighting with token types:
```
colorer

  keyword    : 153 51 153
  identifier : black
  string     : 177 47 2
  number     : 17 131 22
  operator   : black
  layout     : 63 127 95 italic
```

Matching on sorts of tokens. For example:

colorer

  ID       : darkblue
  TYPEID   : blue
  JQTYPEID : blue
  PQTYPEID : blue
  FUNCID   : 153 51 0
  JFUNCID  : 153 51 0
  STRING   : 177 47 2

Matching on sorts of tokens, and the constructor of the term that was created using the token. This uses the Sort.Constructor syntax. For example:
```
colorer

  ClassBodyDec.MethodDec : yellow
  ClassBodyDec.FieldDec  : red
```

Matching on the constructor only. This uses the _.Constructor syntax. For example:

colorer

  _.Str     : blue
  _.StrCong : blue
  _.QStr    : blue
  _.QDollar : blue
  _.QBr     : gray

Menus

Menus are used to bind actions of your language, such as transformations, to a menu in the IDE. Menus are defined under a menus section:

menus

  menu: "Generate"

This adds a submenu titled Generate to the menu of your language. Submenus can be nested under menus, and submenus can be nested as well:

menus

  menu: "Generate"
    submenu: "To Java"
      submenu: "Abstract"
      end
      submenu: "Concrete"
      end
    end

Actions (sometimes called builders) are defined under a menu or submenu with syntax action: "Name" = strategy modifiers:

menus

  menu: "Generate"
    action: "To normal form" = to-normal-form (source)
    submenu: "To Java"
      action: "Abstract" = to-java-abstract (openeditor)
      action: "Concrete" = to-java-concrete
    end

An action has a name which is displayed in the menu, an identifier to a Stratego strategy, and optional modifiers. The following modifiers are supported:

(source) - indicates that the action is performed on the parsed AST, not the analyzed AST
(openeditor) - indicates that the result of the action should be shown in a new text editor

The Stratego strategy that an action refers to has a defined signature. It must take as input a 5-tuple (_, _, ast, path, projectPath), and must produce either None() or (filename, output) when the action produces a file. The 5-tuple has wildcards which are not used by Spoofax any more, but are kept in the signature for compatibility reasons. The following Stratego code is an example of a strategy that implements this signature:

j2m-action:
  (_, _, ast, path, projectPath) -> (outputFile, result)
  with
    outputFile := $[[projectPath]/[<remove-extension> path].mod]
  ; result     := <j2m-main> ast

Modifiers can also be used on menus and submenus, which mean that all nested actions inherit those modifiers. For example, in:

menus

  menu: "Generate" (source) (openeditor)
    action: "To normal form" = to-normal-form
    submenu: "To Java"
      action: "Abstract" = to-java-abstract
      action: "Concrete" = to-java-concrete
    end

all actions inherit the (source) and (openeditor) modifiers on the menu.

Outline

An outline is a summary of a file that is shown in a separate view next to a textual editor. An outline is created by a Stratego strategy, but is configured in ESV under the views section:

views

  outline view: editor-outline
    expand to level: 3

This configures the editor-outline Stratego strategy to be used to create outlines, and that outline nodes should be expanded 3 levels deep by default.

.. todo:: Describe input and output signature of the outline strategy.

Hover Tooltips

Hover tooltips show a textual tooltip with extra information, when hovering part of the text. Hover tooltips are created by a Stratego strategy, but are configured in ESV under the references section:

references

  hover _ : editor-hover

The identifier after the colon refers to the Stratego strategy that creates the hover tooltip. The Stratego strategy takes an AST node, and either fails if no tooltip should be produced, or returns a tooltip string.

The string may contain a few simple HTML tag to style the output. The following tags are supported:

  - line break
text - bold
text - italics
<pre>code</pre> - preformatted (code) text

Compiler

The compiler strategy (frequently called the on-save handler) is used to transform files when they are saved in an editor. In an IDE setting, when a new project is opened, the compiler strategy is also executed on each file in the project, as well as when files change in the background. In a command-line batch compiler setting, it is used to transform all files.

The compiler strategy is configured in ESV with the on save option:

language

  on save : compile-file

The identifier after the colon refers to the Stratego strategy that performs the transformation. This strategy must have the :ref:`exact same signature as the one for actions <esv-action-signature>`.

Analyzer and Context

The analyzer strategy is used to perform static analyses such as name and type analysis, on the AST that a parser produces. An analysis context provides a project-wide store to facilitate multi-file analysis and incrementality. There are four ways to configure the analysis, which set the analyzer strategy with option observer and context with option context.

No analysis. This disables analysis completely. Do not set an observer and set the context to none:
```
language

  context : none
```
Stratego-based analysis. This allows you to implement your analysis in Stratego:
```
language

 context : legacy
 observer : editor-analyze
```
The identifier after the colon refers to the Stratego strategy that performs the analysis. It must take as input a 3-tuple (ast, path, projectPath). As output it must produce a 4-tuple (ast, error*, warning*, note*). The following Stratego code is an example of a strategy that implements this signature:
```
editor-analyze:
 (ast, path, projectPath) -> (ast', errors, warnings, notes)
 with
 ast' := <analyze> ast
 ; errors := <collect-all(check-error)> ast'
 ; warnings := <collect-all(check-warning)> ast'
 ; notes := <collect-all(check-note)> ast'
```
NaBL/TS based analysis. This uses the :ref:`NaBL and TS <nabl-index>` meta-languages for name and type analysis. Your project must have been generated with NaBL+TS as the analyzer. It will produce the following ESV configuration:
```
language

 context : taskengine
 observer : editor-analyze (multifile)
```
NaBL2 based analysis. This uses the :ref:`NaBL2 <nabl2-index>` meta-language for name and type analysis. Your project must have been generated with NaBL2 as the analyzer. It will produce the following ESV configuration:
```
language

 observer : editor-analyze (constraint)
```
By default, the NaBL2 analyzer works in single-file mode and does not consider multi-file name resolution. To enable that, add the (multifile) modifier:
```
language

 observer : editor-analyze (constraint) (multifile)
```

Reference Resolution

Reference resolution takes an AST node containing a reference, and tries to resolve it to its definition. The resolution is performed by a Stratego strategy, but is configured in ESV under the references section:

references

  reference _ : editor-resolve

The identifier after the colon refers to the Stratego strategy that performs the resolution. The Stratego strategy takes an AST node, and either fails if it could not be resolved, or returns an AST node that has an origin location pointing to the definition site.

If you use the :ref:`NaBL and TS <nabl-index>` or :ref:`NaBL2 <nabl2-index>` meta-language to implement name and type analysis, the provided editor-resolve strategy implements resolution generically.

Stratego

The JAR and CTree files that will be loaded into the Stratego runtime for your language can be configured with the provider option:

language

  provider : target/metaborg/stratego.ctree

The extension of the provider should match the format in the :file:`metaborg.yaml` file of your language.

Multiple files can be set by setting the option multiple times:

language

  provider : target/metaborg/stratego.ctree
  provider : target/custom1.jar
  provider : target/custom2.ctree

Main File

ESV currently does not have a configurable main file. The main ESV file of your language must be located at :file:`editor/Main.esv` or :file:`editor/main.esv`. Every ESV file that is (transitively) imported from the main ESV file is used.

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