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in: Source Code, Delphi IDE

Live Templates Technical Info

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General Structure[]

A Live Template looks like this: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<codetemplate xmlns="http://schemas.borland.com/Delphi/2005/codetemplates" version="1.0.0">
  <template name="NameOfTemplate" invoke="none|auto|manual">
    <description>Description goes here</description>
    <author>Author OfTheTemplate</author>
    <point name="NameOfPoint">
      <text>default text here</text>
      <hint>hint for the user</hint>
    </point>
    
      <![CDATA[
The actual content goes here.
]]>
    
  </template>
</codetemplate>


Elements[]

  • codetemplate
    • template
      • description - the text displayed in the template viewer
      • author - the author of the template
      • point* - 0..n place holders for text
        • text - the default text
        • hint - a hint to be displayed to the user
      • code - the actual template
        • <![CDATA[ .... ]]>
      • script - this can apparently be added anywhere

template element[]

The template element is the main element containing all the others. It has the following attributes:

Attribute Required Type Default Description
name yes string - shortcut name of template
inplace no boolean "true" expansion template
surround no boolean "false" template that is allowed

to surround text (also does UI filtering)

invoke no enum "none" template invocation kind

Values for invoke:

  • auto - invoked by pressing SPACE or TAB
  • manual - invoked by pressing TAB
  • none - invoked by using CTRL+J, CTRL+SPACE, or using the template viewer

description element[]

The description element contains some descriptive text and apparently has no attributes.

author element[]

The author element contains the name of the template's author (this is free text, so it probably can contain anything, maybe an email address too?)

point element[]

A point element describes a place holder for text. It has the following attributes:

Attribute Required Type Default Description
name yes string - id of the point
default no boolean "false" if true, this point is the

first selected point

editable no boolean "true" if false, this point can

not be navigated to

There are some predefined points:

  • $selected$ - a non editable point that contains the text that is currently selected in the code editor
  • $end$ - marks the cursor position after the template has been executed
  • $*$ - An indentation based upon the current source options indentation settings (Equivalent to a single CTRL + SHIFT + I indentation level with the default keybinding)

script element[]

Attribute Required Type Default Description
language yes string - name of the script engine

to use for execution

onvalidate no boolean "false" if true, the script is

executed before the template is inserted

onenter no boolean "true" if true, the script is

executed when the template/point is entered

onleave no boolean "false" if true, the script is

executed when the template/point is [successfully] left

There is also an "onexit" attribute described in CodeTemplateApi.pas, but it seems to never be used in the existing templates.

The following function calls are available in script elements (from existing templates):

  • language="Delphi":
    • InvokeClassCompletion
    • InvokeCodeCompletion (see delphi\trycf.xml)
    • PopulateCase(|expression|) (see delphi\case.xml)
    • DeclareVariable(|variable|) (see delphi\trycf.xml)
    • RemoveTemplate (see delphi\inlinevar.xml)
    • ValidateForTemplate (see delphi\fors.xml)
  • language="C":
    • invoke_code_completion (see c\whiles.xml)
    • populate_case($expr$); (see c\switch.xml)
  • language="DelphiExample" (see link below)
    • GetClipboardContents (see clippy.xml)
    • VarDeclToAssignment (see var.xml)

code element[]

Attribute Required Type Default Description
language yes string - language this template is

for. Used for editor source option mapping

delimiter no string "$" jump point positional

delimiter

context no enum "any" visibility context of

this template

  • language - one of (List can be extended, see links below)
    • Delphi
    • C
    • CSharp
    • VB
    • Jsharp (why is that written with a lower case "s"?
    • HTML
    • XML
    • IDE
    • SQL
    • IDL
    • JavaScript
    • CSS
    • INI
    • PHP

context can have the following values ("|" marks the place it describes):

  • memberdecl - TFoo = class(TComponent) | end;
  • methoddecl - procedure |
  • decl - var |
  • typedecl - type |
  • methodbody - begin | end;
  • page - reserved for future use
  • file - reserved for future use
  • any - any context

According to CodeTemplateApi.pas there are the following additional values, which are probably not supported:

  • None - ?
  • Comment - inside a comment ?
  • StringLiteral - inside a string literal ?

The default delimiter is "$", but since that may conflict with valid Delphi code like in 

s := 'line'#$0a'feed';

it can be changed (most seem to use "|"). The delimiter is used in the code in front and after a placeholder point name.

Links[]

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