I'm writing a desktop application. It would need to generate c# code on client machines.
I thought of using CodeDOM (complex) or simple string manipulations (fragile). What else? Which way is recommended?
AFAIK I'm not allowed to redistribute it, is it still the case?
Yaron Naveh
2010-09-09 20:47:47
@Yaron, what wouldn't you be allowed to distribute?
Bertvan
2010-09-09 20:50:48
T4 can be used to generate classes from a template that in turn generate files are runtime, making this a possible option. See this link for more detail http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee844259.aspx.
Chris Taylor
2010-09-09 20:52:14
If you're talking about runtime code generation, you might want to take a look at the ILGenerator class (IL.Emit()) http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.reflection.emit.ilgenerator(VS.95).aspxHowever, I'm not very familiar with that myself, so won't be able to help you any further than the link :)
Bertvan
2010-09-09 20:53:04
I need to generate code at customer environment, not at design time. Does T$ fit this scenario, both technically and legaly?
Yaron Naveh
2010-09-09 20:53:22
I need to generate C# not IL
Yaron Naveh
2010-09-09 20:56:18
T4 is design time, AFAIK
Bertvan
2010-09-09 21:00:27
Ah, apparently you could feed the T4 engine at runtime, but then the client/user needs Visual Studio Installed. Although, there seems to be a MONO alternative as well: http://anonsvn.mono-project.com/viewvc/trunk/monodevelop/main/src/addins/TextTemplating/ .
Bertvan
2010-09-09 21:06:07
With VS 2010 T4 can be redistributed http://blogs.msdn.com/b/garethj/archive/2008/11/11/dsl-2010-feature-dives-t4-preprocessing-rationale.aspx
Yaron Naveh
2010-09-09 21:48:40
A:
If you mean run dynamic code, then: CS-Script is the most mature solution. With CS-Script you could even roll your own template based, custom code generator, like the scripting used by MyGeneration.
Keith Blows
2010-09-10 06:31:08