Example‐4

This example shows how to parse multiple Describe source files in strings to multiple Unfolds and then translate the unfolds to XML documents. Unlike Example-3, we are using filenames here as well.

1. Add a reference

You can either download the Visual Studio project or the compiled dll file from the last release from here, and reference it in your .Net project.

2. Create log handlers

Create handler methods that are used for logging data. This is how we are going to get logs from the parser. In the example below, we are creating methods that will log data to the console in different colors.

//log text
private static void ConsoleLog(string text)
{
    Console.WriteLine(text);
}

//log info gray
private static void ConsoleLogInfo(string text)
{
    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.DarkGray;
    Console.WriteLine(text);
    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
}

//log errors red
private static void ConsoleLogError(string text)
{
    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
    Console.WriteLine(text);
    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
}

//log parser data green
private static void ConsoleLogParseInfo(string text)
{
    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Green;
    Console.WriteLine(text);
    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
}

3. Construct and set the compiler

The constructor for the compiler takes verbosity and log handlers as optional arguments, so that the user does not need to set them one by one. Some or all of log handlers can be omitted and corresponding output won't be logged.

DescribeCompiler.DescribeCompiler compiler =
	new DescribeCompiler.DescribeCompiler(
		LogVerbosity.High,
		Messages.ConsoleLog,
		Messages.ConsoleLogError,
		Messages.ConsoleLogInfo,
		Messages.ConsoleLogParseInfo);

//settings
compiler.LanguageVersion = DescribeVersionNumber.Version10;

4. Compile

The Describe compiler will populate a DescribeUnfold structure with data.

List<SourceCode> sources = new List<SourceCode>(); 
foreach (string source in sourceArray)
{
	SourceCode sc = new SourceCode();
	sc.FileName = "SomeFileName.ds";
	sc.SourceText = source;
	sources.Add(sc);
}
List<DescribeUnfold> unfolds;
bool result = compiler.ParseStrings(sources, out unfolds);

5. Translate

Construct a translator of a desired type and translate the populated DescribeUnfold structure. If result is not null then the translation process was successful, so save the resulted string to file.

XmlBasicTranslator translator = 
	new XmlBasicTranslator(
		ConsoleLog,
		ConsoleLogError,
		ConsoleLogParseInfo);

if(unfolds != null && unfolds.Count > 0)
{
	for(int i = 0; i < unfolds.Count; i++)
	{
		string? result = translator.TranslateUnfold(unfolds[i]);
		if (result != null)
		{
			// Construct the file path with the index
            		string filePath = @$"C:\result\path\output{i + 1}.xml";
            		File.WriteAllText(filePath, result);
		}
	}
}