Need to construct a XML representation for C# code

Question

Hi,

I need to convert C# code to an equivalent XML representation.
I plan to convert the C# code (C# 2.0 code snippets, no generics or nullable types) to an AST and then convert the AST to XML. Looking for a simple lexer/parser for C# which outputs an AST.
Any pointers on converting C# code to an XML representation (which can be converted back to C#) would also be very helpful.

Kind regards,

Answer 1

MinosseCC: a lexer/parser generator for C#

Also SO questions:

Parser-generator that outputs C# given a BNF grammar? which suggests using ANTLR

Translate C# code into AST?

C# String to Expression Tree

Developing a simple parser

Answer 2

As Mitch says, Antlr can be your solution. You can transform Antlr's AST output depending on your needs and then serialize it with xstream. That's the approach I'm using in my bs project, If anyone knows a better way It'll be great for me aswell.

You can find csharp grammar samples like for example http://www.antlr.org/grammar/1127720913326/tkCSharp.g or http://www.antlr.org/grammar/1151612545460/CSharpParser.g but you might have to adapt it to ANTLRV3 or to your own needs.

Answer 3

The DMS Software Reengineering Toolkit is an ecosystem for building code analyzers and transformers. DMS is parameterized by a language definition, and has language definitions for C#, Java, C++, C, PL/SQL, PHP, JavaScript, COBOL and a variety of other langauges. When DMS parses according to a langauge definition, it automatically builds an AST. An AST library provided by DMS can print the tree in Lisp-like parenthesized form, or in XML format. Rather than convert XML back into source code, DMS can regenerated the source code directly from the AST. DMS also provides source-to-source transformations to allow manipulation of the AST.