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CodeRush Is Your Best Friend for XPO

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Recently Gary Short burnt a little too much midnight oil and ended up posting a blog with some incorrect property patterns for XPO. These have been corrected but it did make me wonder how many people are actually using the CodeRush templates for XPO.

So I decided to do up a quick blog to highlight some of the “cool” features of CodeRush with XPO. First thing to remember is that CodeRush is language independent, it is smart and knows how to code as a C# or VB.NET programmer, so if you enjoy your hieroglyphic  bracket hell {C#} or prefer to program in English (VB.NET) CodeRush will provide the code that you need.

Note: CodeRush will automatically put in the project reference to DevExpress libraries as well as a using/Imports statement as well :)

xc – XPO Persistent Class

Firstly you can declare a Persistent Class (inheriting XPObject) by using the template “xc”,

Public Class PersistentClass
    Inherits XPObject
    Public Sub New(ByVal session As Session)
        MyBase.New(session)
    End Sub
End Class

public class PersistentClass : XPObject
{
    public PersistentClass(Session session)
        : base(session)
    { }   
}

xp?type? – XPO Persistent Property

Declaring persistent properties are a breeze, for this example I have expanded a “xps” template

    Private _propertyName As String
    Public Property PropertyName() As String
        Get
            Return _propertyName
        End Get
        Set(ByVal Value As String)
            SetPropertyValue("PropertyName", _propertyName, Value)
        End Set
    End Property

    private string _PropertyName;
    public string PropertyName
    {
        get
        {
            return _PropertyName;
        }
        set
        {
            SetPropertyValue("PropertyName", ref _PropertyName, value);
        }
    }

xr?type? - XPO ReadOnly Persistent Property

These can be "tricky" to remember, the basic idea is you persist a private variable and only expose a readonly property which is "alias'd" to the persisted private variable. Using this template makes it very easy to setup a readonly persistent property, for an example here is a readonly String property

<Persistent("PropertyName")> _
Private _propertyName As String
Protected Overridable Sub SetPropertyName(ByVal Value As String)
    SetPropertyValue("PropertyName", _propertyName, Value)
End Sub
<PersistentAlias("_propertyName")> _
Public ReadOnly Property PropertyName() As String
    Get
        Return _propertyName
    End Get
End Property

[Persistent("PropertyName")]
private string _PropertyName;
protected virtual void SetPropertyName(string value)
{
    SetPropertyValue("PropertyName", ref _PropertyName, value);
}
[PersistentAlias("_PropertyName")]
public string PropertyName
{
    get { return _PropertyName; }
}

xpa - XP Associated Persistent Property

Although not as "handy" as the others this will create a persistent property of type Object with the AssocationAttribute already on it. Note: this template hasn't got the ?type? style, so you can't do xpas for a string for example, it will create a property with the type set to Object, however CodeRush has linked types so if you change the type it will change the private variable, setter and property type all in one go.

Private _propertyName As Object
<Association("object-Class1s")> _
Public Property PropertyName() As Object
    Get
        Return _propertyName
    End Get
    Set(ByVal Value As Object)
        SetPropertyValue("PropertyName", _propertyName, Value)
    End Set
End Property

private object _PropertyName;
[Association("object-Class1s")]
public object PropertyName
{
    get
    {
        return _PropertyName;
    }
    set
    {
        SetPropertyValue("PropertyName", ref _PropertyName, value);
    }
}

xpcl - XPO Associated Collection

Need an associated collection for a 1-to-Many or Many-to-Many, just expand xpcl and it will provide you with what you need

<Association("Class1-Relations")> _
Public ReadOnly Property Relations() As XPCollection(Of RelationType)
    Get
        Return GetCollection(Of RelationType)("Relations")
    End Get
End Property

[Association("Class1-Relations")]
public XPCollection<RelationType> Relations
{
    get
    {
        return GetCollection<RelationType>("Relations");
    }
}

Background: Developer Express created CodeRush for Visual Studio® .NET to help developers and managers meet these increased demands for quality and functionality, by boosting productivity while eliminating the repetition that erodes precious creativity.

For Developers, CodeRush for Visual Studio® .NET will help you create sophisticated code blocks in seconds and extend code templates instantly. CodeRush will complete identifiers as you type and expand or contract selections logically. With CodeRush, you will be able to instantly place selected code inside Try/Catch blocks, Regions and your own custom wrappers with ease. You can even reverse the logic of selected code and revisit important points within your code instantly (and effortlessly swap between locations). http://www.devexpress.com/Products/Visual_Studio_Add-in/Coding_Assistance/index.xml