VEBuild.ProjectGenerator 1.0.3

ve.build.projectgenerator

🚀 STATUS: v1.0.0 RC. Project Generation Abstraction Layer for VEBuild.

ve.build.projectgenerator defines the interfaces and base logic for generating IDE (Integrated Development Environment) project files.

It acts as a factory and dispatcher: it allows you to register a specific generator (e.g., for Visual Studio) and automatically creates a standard generate task that iterates through all defined projects to create configuration files for them.

⚠️ Important

This package does not contain implementations for specific IDEs. To generate .vcxproj or .sln files, you must install a corresponding implementation package alongside this one:

• Visual Studio: Install ve.build.vcxprojgenerator
• Others (VS Code, Makefiles): (In development)

📦 Installation

dotnet add package ve.build.projectgenerator

⚙️ Architecture

This package introduces the IProjectGenerator concept. This is the contract that must be implemented by any system wishing to export the ve.build configuration to an external format.

Interface

public interface IProjectGenerator
{
    // Unique name of the generator (used in CLI: --generator=Name)
    string Name { get; }

    // Determines the output path for the project file based on project settings
    string projectFile(IProjectBuilder projectBuilder);

    // Main generation logic: writes content to the file
    Task<ActionResult> generateProjectFiles(
        IBuildContext ctx, 
        IProjectBuilder projectBuilder, 
        File[] files, 
        IEnumerable<IProjectBuilder> dependencies
    );

    // Hooks for additional setup (e.g., Solution generation)
    void setupProject(string file);
    void finalStep(ITaskBuilder taskBuilder);
}

💻 Usage

Typically, you do not use this package directly but rather reference a specific implementation (e.g., useVcxprojGenerator()).

However, if you are writing your own generator (e.g., for CLion or Makefile), you can use this package as a base.

Example: Registering a Custom Generator

using ve.build.core;
using ve.build.core.projects;
using ve.build.core.tasks;
using ve.build.projectgenerator;
using File = ve.build.core.files.File;

// 1. Implement the interface
class MyCustomGenerator : IProjectGenerator
{
    public string Name => "MyGen";

    public string projectFile(IProjectBuilder projectBuilder)
    {
        // Define where the project file will be created
        return Path.Combine(projectBuilder.IntermediateDir, $"{projectBuilder.Name}.myproj");
    }

    public async Task<ActionResult> generateProjectFiles(IBuildContext ctx, IProjectBuilder projectBuilder, File[] files, IEnumerable<IProjectBuilder> dependencies)
    {
        // Write your generation logic here
        // ...
        return ActionResult.SUCCESS;
    }

    public void setupProject(string file) { /* Optional hook */ }
    
    public void finalStep(ITaskBuilder taskBuilder) 
    { 
        // Optional hook to add solution generation tasks or post-processing
    }
}

// 2. Register in HostBuilder
return await new HostBuilder()
    .project("my_app", ...)
    
    // Register your generator instance
    .setupProjectGenerator(new MyCustomGenerator()) 
    
    .build()
    .run(args);

🛠️ CLI Command

Once this package (and an implementation) is registered, a new command becomes available in your CLI:

# Runs the generation process for all projects
dotnet run -- generateProjectFiles

License

© 2025 VassalStudio. All rights reserved.