Mind if my MVC T4 template changes your code a bit?
Update: Please see this post for what came out of this ‘poll’, and for a pointer to the newest T4 template on CodePlex.
When working on my MVC T4 template, I was not able to use reflection to discover the Controllers and Actions, because the code that the template generates is itself in the same assembly as the controllers. So that causes a bit of a chicken and egg problem.
Instead, I had to get out of my element and learn something I was not familiar with: the Visual Studio File Code Model API. It’s very different from using reflection, because instead of working at the assembly level, you work at the source file level.
You have to first locate the source file you want to look into. You can then ask for the namespaces that it contains, and the classes that they contain, and finally the various members in those classes. To be honest, I find this API quite ugly. It’s a COM interop thing with a horrible object model that looks like it grew organically from version to version rather than having been designed with usability in mind. So all in all, I used it because I had to, but the whole time I was wishing I could use reflection instead.
But then I made an important realization. Ugly as it is, this object model supports something that would never be possible with reflection: it lets me modify the source code!
If you look at my previous post, I wrote “But to make things even more useful in the controller, you can let the T4 template generate new members directly into your controller class. To allow this, you just need to make you controller partial”. And I have logic in the template that tests this, and does extra generation if it is partial, e.g.
if (type.ClassKind == vsCMClassKind.vsCMClassKindPartialClass) { ... }
But instead, I have now realized that I can turn this check into an assignment, and change the class to partial if it isn’t already!
type.ClassKind = vsCMClassKind.vsCMClassKindPartialClass;
Likewise, I have scenarios where I can do cool things if the Controller actions are virtual, and I can just change them to be with a simple line:
method.CanOverride = true;
To be clear, those statements actually modify the original source file, the one that you wrote. While this is certainly powerful and opens up some new doors, it also raises a big question which is the main purpose of this post:
Do you mind if the T4 template makes these small changes to your code?
We’re only talking about pretty harmless things (making classes partial and methods virtual), but I know developers can get nervous if even small changes magically happen in their source files.
So please tell me how you feel about this, e.g. is it more:
- It’s harmless, go for it if it makes the template more useful
- Undecided. I don’t really like it, but maybe I’ll put up with it.
- No way I’ll use this template if it messes with my files in any way. I may even sue you!
Tell me where you stand, and please don't sue me.