Architecture of a plugin for XML attribute value validation

We will provide more "out-of-the-box" converters, please watch https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-166505

It says "No suggestions" even that getVariants() returns a non empty array.

Most probably TextRange(s) not matching?

I cannot judge from seeing some excerpt from your DOM :) Yes, you will need to register tags with their corresponding @Namespace and/or make sure the DomFileDescription namespace registration(s) does the right thing. To verify, add a dummy boolean attribute in your DOM and see if you get proper validation/completion.

Hi Yann,

Thank you for your help.

Currently I am using the DOM API and I created all the interfaces that inherit from DomElement to get to the tag `activity:formProperty` from above. I added an attribute to get access to my fqdn in that XML tag.

@Attribute("default")
GenericAttributeValue<PsiClass> getAttributeDefault();

Next I implemented a simple version of 

BasicDomElementsInspection<DomElement>

Where I override only checkDomElement.

And I registered an extension for localInspection

<localInspection language="XML" implementationClass="DomFileInspection" enabledByDefault="true"
                 shortName="ActivitiXMLInspection" level="ERROR" displayName="Activiti XML inspection"/>

Now IDEA will do check if my fqdn are valid in the project's context and highlight any errors.

My next step is take attribute 

id="companyDetails"

And somehow to use it for later code inspection. For example this attribute value is used in other XML tags like this:

<activiti:formProperty id="companyName" expression="#{companyDetails.companyName}"
                       required="true"></activiti:formProperty>

How should I go next and do code inspection for 

companyDetails.companyName

Please see DOM tutorial linked above, Section "Resolving", 2nd paragraph (@NameValue + GenericAttributeValue<YourDomClass>)

There's also some OSS plugins using DOM API linked on the bottom of the page for further references.

HTH,

 Yann

Thanks @Yann, I'm working with the XML DOM API in front of me. Trying to figure out how to get the type of an attribute based on another attribute from the same tag.

All the best,

George

Hi Yann,

Unfortunately I didn't manage to do much progress using XML DOM API so I went and extended 

XmlRecursiveElementVisitor

In my extension I override 

visitXmlAttribute

and I do all the checks by hand. For example for an attribute like `expression` 

<activiti:formProperty id="companyName" expression="#{companyDetails.companyName}" required="true"></activiti:formProperty>

I split the String by hand and try to find PsiClass, PsiMethod and PsiVariable by hand, using JavaPsiFacade or PsiShortNamesCache. If I cannot find any of the above then I add a ProblemDescriptor for that XmlAttribute. Is this the right approach for my case, or is there a more elegant solution provided by the IntelliJ's APIs?

Thanks,

George

I assume you're referring to

#{companyDetails.companyName}

?

You can provide "normal" PsiReference by implementing additionally com.intellij.util.xml.CustomReferenceConverter for this DOM attribute's converter and return corresponding PsiReference(s) for elements (split on ".").

Yes, I'm referring to 

#{companyDetails.companyName}

I will give it a try using your suggestion. 

Thanks

Hi Yann,

I've created a CustomReferenceConverter with signature

public class ExpressionReferenceConverter extends Converter<PsiReference> implements CustomReferenceConverter<PsiReference> {
    @NotNull
    @Override
    public PsiReference[] createReferences(GenericDomValue genericDomValue, PsiElement psiElement, ConvertContext convertContext) {

And inside this method I try to get references for a Java class. Using PsiShortNamesCache I search for class "CompanyDetails" and I get a not null PsiClass object called myPsiClass. That means that my class exists in my project. In order to enable syntax highlight and code completion I need to create a PsiReference that will make my string "companyDetails" to be a PsiReference to the "myPsiClass"?

Thanks,

George

Hello George,

please check out com.intellij.util.xml.converters.ClassValueConverterImpl it should serve as good inspiration :)

Thanks @Yann, I didn't update my question recently, so now I am able to create references. I extend the

com.intellij.util.xml.PsiClassConverter

class and I override the createReferences method to do the String manipulation that I need. So far so good, but the string now is highlighted with red and it complains that "Cannot resolve class xxx".

Further on I extended 

com.intellij.util.xml.ResolvingConverter<PsiClass>

and here I override the method fromString and if I have a valid PsiClass I will return it, otherwise null. With this converter active, my string is not red anymore and Ctrl + click works, so I have navigation to declaration. This method doesn't provide code completion though.

How does IntelliJ provide code completion and syntax highlight for an XML attribute of this type?

<tag default="com.example.MyAwesomeClass"></tag>

Because in my interface that extends DomElement I declared this attribute as 

@Attribute("default")
GenericAttributeValue<PsiClass> getDefaultAttr();

and IntelliJ does everything for me: package navigation, syntax highlight, code completion. That is the type of functionality I'm looking to achieve with my other xml attributes.

Many thanks,

George

Completion is provided by the PsiReferences you return. Please investigate that you return correct TextRange(s) for all references.

Do you mean by the

public Collection<PsiReference> getVariants(ConvertContext context) 

method from ResolvingConverter?

Thanks @Yann

no, the variants returned via com.intellij.psi.PsiReference#getVariants. you wouldn't need ResolvingConverter when you use CustomReferenceConverter

Hi @Yann,

So far I tried 2 options in order to return an instance of PsiReference:

1. I create a new PsiJavaCodeReferenceElement for a string between two dots. Eg myClass.myMethod(): I create the reference element for myClass. This is what I use in method createReferences() when I override it from CustomReferenceConverter. With this method I get the text highlighted with red if the class doesn't exist.

PsiJavaCodeReferenceElement classReferenceElement =
        JavaPsiFacade.getElementFactory(project)
            .createReferenceElementByFQClassName(
                beanClass.getQualifiedName(),
                GlobalSearchScope.projectScope(project));

2. I try to use MyCustomReference to override getVariants() to return variants. An object of this class I use instead of the above in the createReferences() of my CustomReferenceConverter. So far I don't have much progress on this variant.

class MyCustomReference extends PsiReferenceBase<PsiElement>

Which of the two approaches is more suitable in my case?

Many thanks,

George

I would strongly suggest to re-use existing class reference provider, e.g. via com.intellij.psi.impl.source.resolve.reference.impl.providers.JavaClassReferenceSet

Or maybe extend 

package com.intellij.util.xml.PsiClassConverter

because this has most of what I am after?

Thanks @Yann

That's another possibility of course.

@Yann,

As a side note, very impressive the response time and the details. Sorry for being such a noob in this area.

Many thanks :)

You're welcome, we try to help as much as possible :)

Hi @Yann,

I went with 

public class ExpressionReferenceConverter extends Converter<PsiReference> implements CustomReferenceConverter<PsiReference> {

and in this class when createReferences() is called I return an instance of 

protected class MyLocalReference extends PsiReferenceBase<PsiElement>{}

MyLocalReference matches a PsiClass from first class name in attribute value. Now IDEA highlights values that contain an invalid PsiClass and also provides Go to declaration. Go to declaration happens on the whole value of the attribute, not only on the part where the class is. Eg "companyDetails" bellow.

This is an XML tag with attribute in question

<activiti:formProperty id="companyName" expression="#{companyDetails.companyName}" required="true"></activiti:formProperty>

And here is declared in an interface for tag <activiti:formProperty/>

@Nullable
@Attribute("expression")
@Convert(ExpressionReferenceConverter.class)
GenericAttributeValue<PsiReference> getAttributeExpression();

Next I try to provide autocompletion. I tried to return an Object[] from getVariants() in MyLocalReference but the editor doesn't show anything. It says "No suggestions" even that getVariants() returns a non empty array.

What is your advice in this matter?

Thanks again,

George

Hi @Yann,

I hope you had a good holiday break. While my plugin makes progress, I hit a blockage. In my interface that describes an XML Tag, I have an attribute called 

activiti:expression

The problem with this attribute is that when I declare it in an annotation like this

@Attribute("activiti:expression")
@Convert(ExpressionReferenceConverter.class)
GenericAttributeValue<PsiClass> getAttributeExpression();

it doesn't get picked up by IntelliJ. I believe this is because of the : in the attribute name.

Is this a limitation from IntelliJ or there is a way to use attributes with colon in name?

Thanks

Please remove "activiti:" prefix from the value.

@Attribute("activiti:expression")

Hi @Yann,

I removed the "activiti:" prefix but still no luck. If I change the value in the @Attribute annotation and the name of the XML tag in the XML document then my 

ExpressionReferenceConverter

gets hit, otherwise when it has the ":" in the value it doesn't. I put breakpoints on getReferences() and fromString() on my converter but no luck, I don't get any hit.

Thanks.

The "activiti:" prefix is definitely wrong. Please double-check you don't have another "expression" attribute somewhere (in hierarchy?) in your DOM.

There is another attribute "expression" but on a different XML tag. For example:

<definitions> <process> <startEvent> <extensionElements> <activiti:formProperty expression="xyz"> </activiti:formProperty></...>

<definitions> <process> <serviceTask activity:expression="abc"> </serviceTask> </...>

In this case the first "expression" attribute gets picked up automatically but "activiti:expression" doesn't.

Both attributes are marked using @Attribute annotation in interfaces FormProperty and ServiceTask respectively and have the value declared in annotations. 

Thanks

Is the <formProperty> tag registered with activiti-namespace? Do you have ANY Dom support for it in the parent file? Is the <definitions> also DOM?

Here are my interfaces for Dom elements:

public interface ActivitiDomElement extends com.intellij.util.xml.DomElement {
    String getValue();
    void setValue(String s);
}

public interface TDefinitionsImpl extends ActivitiDomElement {
    @SubTag("process")
    ProcessTag getTagProcess();
}

public interface ProcessTag extends ActivitiDomElement {
    @SubTag("startEvent")
    StartEvent getStartEvent();

    @SubTagList("serviceTask")
    List<ServiceTask> getServiceTasks();
}

public interface StartEvent extends ActivitiDomElement {
    @SubTag("extensionElements")
    ExtensionElements getExtensionElements();
}

public interface ExtensionElements extends ActivitiDomElement {
    @SubTagList("activiti:formProperty")
    List<FormProperty> getFormProperties();

    @SubTagList("activiti:taskListener")
    List<TaskListener> getTaskListeners();
}

public interface FormProperty extends ActivitiDomElement {

    @NameValue
    @Attribute("id")
    GenericAttributeValue<String> getAttributeId();

    @Nullable
    @Attribute("type")
    GenericAttributeValue<FormPropertyTypeEnum> getAttributeType();

    @Attribute("default")
    GenericAttributeValue<PsiClass> getAttributeDefault();

    @Nullable
    @Attribute("expression")
    @Convert(ExpressionReferenceConverter.class)
    GenericAttributeValue<PsiReference> getAttributeExpression();

    @SubTagList("activiti:value")
    List<ValueTag> getActivitiValueTags();
}

public interface ServiceTask extends ActivitiDomElement {

    @NameValue
    @Attribute("id")
    GenericAttributeValue<String> getAttributeId();

    @Attribute("expression")
    @Convert(ExpressionReferenceConverter.class)
    GenericAttributeValue<PsiReference> getAttributeExpression();

    @Attribute("resultVariableName")
    GenericAttributeValue<PsiReference> getAttributeResultVariableName();
}

<dom.fileDescription implementation="co.uk.pay4.activiti.plugin.core.ActivitiDomFileDescription"/>

public class ActivitiDomFileDescription extends com.intellij.util.xml.DomFileDescription<TDefinitionsImpl> {
    public ActivitiDomFileDescription() {
        super(TDefinitionsImpl.class, "definitions");
    }
}

There is no namespace prefix on any interface. I presume you refer to @Namespace on interface?

Thanks

P.S. please view my updated version with plugin.xml declaration as well.