path: root/doc/src/projects/creator-projects-custom-wizards-xml.qdoc

/****************************************************************************
**
** Copyright (C) 2015 The Qt Company Ltd.
** Contact: http://www.qt.io/licensing
**
** This file is part of Qt Creator
**
**
** GNU Free Documentation License
**
** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free
** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software
** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of this
** file.
**
**
****************************************************************************/

// **********************************************************************
// NOTE: the sections are not ordered by their logical order to avoid
// reshuffling the file each time the index order changes (i.e., often).
// Run the fixnavi.pl script to adjust the links to the index order.
// **********************************************************************

/*!
    \contentspage {Qt Creator Manual}
    \previouspage creator-project-wizards-json.html
    \page creator-project-wizards-xml.html
    \nextpage creator-version-control.html

    \title Adding XML-Based Wizards

    To display the XML-based example wizards in \QC, rename wizard_sample.xml as wizard.xml in the
    \c {\share\qtcreator\templates\wizards\helloworld} and
    \c {\share\qtcreator\templates\wizards\listmodel} folders. After
    you restart \QC, the \uicontrol {Custom Classes}
    and \uicontrol {Custom Projects} categories (1) appear in the \uicontrol New dialog. For
    each category, an icon (2), a display name (3), and a description (4) are
    displayed.

    \image qtcreator-custom-project-wizards.png "The New dialog with custom projects and classes"

    Files can be generated by using either \l{Processing Template Files}
    {templates} or \l{Using Generator Scripts}{generator scripts}, where a
    script is called to create the files.

    \note The generator option mainly exists to accommodate existing generator
    scripts or cases where complicated algorithmic logic is required when
    generating files. Writing cross-platform scripts is inherently difficult,
    and therefore, it is not recommended for new wizards.

    XML-based wizard template directories contain an XML configuration file
    called  wizard.xml, the template source files, and optionally, the generator
    script.

    \section1 Creating XML-Based Project Wizards

    To create an XML-based project wizard:

    \list 1

        \li Make a copy of the \c {share/qtcreator/templates/wizards/helloworld}
            or \c {share/qtcreator/templates/wizards/listmodel} folder.

        \li Modify the wizard_example.xml file.

        \li The following code determines the type of the wizard and its place
            in the \uicontrol New dialog:

            \code

            <wizard version="1" kind="project"
            class="qmakeproject" firstpage="10"
            id="A.HelloWorld" category="B.CustomProjects">

            \endcode

        \list

            \li \c version is the version of the file contents. Do not modify
                this value.

            \li \c kind specifies the type of the wizard: \c project or
                \c class.

            \li \c class specifies the type of the project. This attribute is
                optional. Use the value \c qmakeproject to add Qt specific pages.

            \li \c firstpage specifies the place of the new page in the standard
                project wizard. The value 10 ensures that the custom page
                appears after the standard pages, as the last page of the
                wizard.

            \li \c id is the unique identifier for your wizard. The letter
                specifies the position of the wizard within the \c category. The
                HelloWorld wizard appears as the first wizard in the second
                category in the \uicontrol New dialog.

            \li \c category is the category in which to place the wizard in the
                list. The letter specifies the position of the category in the
                list in the \uicontrol New dialog.

        \endlist

        \li The following code specifies the icon and text that appear in the
            \uicontrol New dialog:

            \code

            <icon>console.png</icon>
            <description>Creates a hello-world-project with custom message.</description>
            <description xml:lang="de">Erzeugt ein Hello-Welt-Projekt mit einer Nachricht.</description>
            <displayname>Hello World</displayname>;
            <displayname xml:lang="de">Hallo Welt</displayname>;
            <displaycategory>Custom Projects</displaycategory>
            <displaycategory xml:lang="de">Benutzerdefinierte Projekte</displaycategory>

            \endcode

        \list

            \li \c displayCategory appears in the \uicontrol New dialog, under
                \uicontrol Projects.

            \li \c icon appears next to the \c displayName in the middle panel
                when \c displayCategory is selected.

            \li \c description appears in the right-most panel when
                \c displayCategory is selected.

                You can add translations as values for the text elements. Specify the target
                language as an attribute for the element. Use locale names (QLocale).
                For example, \c {xml:lang="de"}.

        \endlist

        \li Files to be added to the project:

        \list

            \li Template-based: The following code specifies the files to add to
                the project:
                \code
                <files>
                    <file source="main.cpp" openeditor="true" />
                    <file source="project.pro" target="%ProjectName%.pro" openproject="true" />
                    <file source="icon.png" target="%ProjectName%.png" binary="true" />
                \endcode

            \list

                \li \c source specifies the file to copy to the project. The
                    files must be located in the wizard folder.

                \li \c openeditor indicates that the file is to be opened in an
                    editor after the wizard has finished.

                \li \c binary indicates that the file is a binary file (for
                    example, an image file). It is to be copied to the target
                    folder as is. Placeholders are not replaced with values.

                \li \c target specifies the new filename for the file. The
                    \c {%ProjectName%} variable is replaced with the string that
                    users specify in the \uicontrol Name field on the first page of
                    the wizard.

                \li \c openproject indicates that the file is a project file
                    which is to be opened after the wizard has finished.

            \endlist

            See also \l{Processing Template Files}.

            \li Generator-script: The following code specifies that the script
                \c generate.pl is to be used to create the files:

                \code
                <generatorscript binary="generate.pl">
                    <argument value="--class-name=%ClassName%"/>
                    <argument value="--project-name=%ProjectName%"/>
                    <argument value="--header-suffix=%CppHeaderSuffix%" omit-empty="true"/>
                    <argument value="--source-suffix=%CppSourceSuffix%" omit-empty="true"/>
                    <argument value="--description=%Description%" omit-empty="true" write-file="true"/>
                </generatorscript>
                \endcode

                In each argument, the field placeholders are replaced by the
                field values. There are additional boolean attributes which give
                fine-grained control:

            \list

                \li \c omit-empty specifies that complete argument is to be
                    omitted when all placeholders expand to empty values. In
                    the above example, the option \c --source-suffix will
                    not be passed to the script if the value is empty.

                \li \c write-file indicates that instead of the expanded
                    value, the value will be written to a temporary file and
                    its file name will be passed to the script instead. This
                    is useful for multi-line text fields.

            \endlist

            See also \l{Using Generator Scripts}.

        \endlist

        \li The following code creates a page that specifies settings for the project:

            \code
            <!-- Create a 2nd wizard page with parameters -->
            <fieldpagetitle>Hello World Parameters</fieldpagetitle>
            <fieldpagetitle xml:lang="de">Hallo Welt Parameter</fieldpagetitle>
            <fields>
                <field mandatory="true" name="MESSAGE">
                    <fieldcontrol class="QLineEdit" validator='^[^"]+$'  defaulttext="Hello world!" placeholdertext="Enter a message"/>
                    <fielddescription>Hello world message:</fielddescription>
                    <fielddescription xml:lang="de">Hallo-Welt-Nachricht:</fielddescription>
                </field>
            </fields>
            \endcode

        \list

            \li \c fieldpagetitle specifies the title of the page.

            \li \c fields specifies the user interface objects on the page.

            \li \c field specifies one object. You can use a set of interface objects
                from QtWidgets classes, derived from QWidget, to create fields. This example
                uses QLineEdit to create an input field. For more information about the objects
                that you can add, see \l {Supported Widgets}.

            \li \c mandatory specifies whether the field is mandatory (\c true or
                \c false). For more information, see QWizardPage::registerField().

            \li \c name specifies a name that you can use as a placeholder variable in the
                template file (for example, \c {%MESSAGE%}).

            \li \c class specifies the type of the \c fieldcontrol. The XML attributes that you
                can specify for the field depend on the field type.

            \li For a QLineEdit, \c validator specifies a regular expression to check the
                characters allowed in the field.

            \li \c defaulttext specifies text that appears in the field by
                default.

            \li For a QLineEdit, \c placeholdertext specifies placeholder text that appears in the
                field.

            \li \c fielddescription specifies the field name that appears on the
                wizard page.

         \endlist

    \endlist

    \section1 Creating Class Wizards

    The wizard.xml file for a class wizard is very similar to that for a project
    wizard. The differences are discussed below.

    To create a class wizard:

    \list 1

        \li The following code specifies settings for the wizard:

            \code

            <wizard version="1" kind="class" id="A.ListModel" category="B.CustomClasses">

               <description>Creates a QAbstractListModel implementation.</description>
               <description xml:lang="de">Erzeugt eine Implementierung von QAbstractListModel.</description>

               <displayname>QAbstractListModel implementation</displayname>
               <displayname xml:lang="de">Implementierung von QAbstractListModel</displayname>

               <displaycategory>Custom Classes</displaycategory>
               <displaycategory xml:lang="de">Benutzerdefinierte Klassen</displaycategory>

            \endcode

            For more information about the elements and their values, see
            \l {Creating XML-Based Project Wizards}.

        \li The following code specifies the files to add to the project:

            \code

            <files>
                <file source="listmodel.cpp" target="%ClassName:l%.%CppSourceSuffix%"  openeditor="true" />
                <file source="listmodel.h" target="%ClassName:l%.%CppHeaderSuffix%"  openeditor="true" />
            </files>

            \endcode

            Here, \c target contains the following variables that are used to
            construct the filename:

            \list

            \li \c {%ClassName:l%} is replaced with the value of the
                \c ClassName field. The modifier \c l converts the string to
                lower case, to observe Qt conventions.

            \li \c {%CppSourceSuffix%} and \c {%CppHeaderSuffix%} are
                pre-defined. For more information, see
                \l{Pre-defined Standard Variables}.

            \endlist

        \code

        <!-- Create parameter wizard page -->

        <fieldpagetitle>ListModel parameters</fieldpagetitle>
        <fieldpagetitle xml:lang="de">Parameter des ListModel</fieldpagetitle>
        <fields>
            <field name="ClassName">

                <fieldcontrol class="QLineEdit" validator="^[a-zA-Z0-9_]+$" defaulttext="MyListModel" />

                <fielddescription>Class name:</fielddescription>
                <fielddescription xml:lang="de">Klassenname:</fielddescription>
            </field>
            <field name="Datatype">
                <fieldcontrol class="QComboBox" defaultindex="0">
                    <comboentries>
                        <comboentry value="QString">
                            <comboentrytext>class QString</comboentrytext>
                            <comboentrytext xml:lang="de">Klasse QString</comboentrytext>
                        </comboentry>
                    <comboentry value="int">
                        <comboentrytext>Integer</comboentrytext>
                        <comboentrytext xml:lang="de">Ganzzahlwert</comboentrytext>
                    </comboentry>
                </comboentries>
                </fieldcontrol>
                <fielddescription>Data type:</fielddescription>
                <fielddescription xml:lang="de">Datentyp:</fielddescription>
            </field>
        </fields>

        \endcode

        In addition to QLineEdit, QComboBox is used in the class wizard to
        create a field. Specify the following XML attributes:

        \list

            \li \c defaultindex specifies which comboentry is displayed by default. In the above
                example, "0" means that the first comboentry is the default value.

            \li \c comboentries specifies the options in the combobox.

            \li \c value specifies the type of each \c comboentry, QString or integer.

            \li \c comboentrytext specifies the text of the entry.

        \endlist

    \endlist

    \section1 Supported Widgets

    You can use the following interface objects to create fields in the wizards:

    \list

        \li PathChooser utility to set paths

        \li Check boxes with text labels (QCheckBox)

        \li Combined button and popup lists (QComboBox)

        \li One-line text editors (QLineEdit)

        \li Multi-line rich text editors (QTextEdit)

    \endlist

    Using QLineEdit and QComboBox is described in the previous sections.
    The following sections show examples of using the other classes and describe the XML
    attributes that you can specify for the \c fieldcontrol element of a field in a particular
    \c class.

    \section2 Path Choosers

    \code
    <field mandatory="true" name="QtCreatorSources">
        <fieldcontrol class="Utils::PathChooser" defaulttext="" expectedkind="existingdirectory"/>
            <fielddescription>Qt Creator sources:</fielddescription>
    </field>
    \endcode

    The \c defaulttext attribute specifies text that appears in the field by default.

    The text attribute \c expectedkind specifies which type of path is expected:

    \list

        \li \c any accepts any kind of path.

        \li \c file expects a file.

        \li \c directory expects a directory.

        \li \c existingdirectory expects an existing directory.

        \li \c command expects an executable file.

        \li \c existingcommand expects an existing, executable file.

    \endlist

    \section2 Check Boxes

    To make check boxes appear selected by default, set the \c fieldcontrol attribute
    \c defaultvalue to \c true. Any other value or omitting the attribute makes the check box
    appear not selected.

    For example:

    \code
    <field name="CONSOLE">
        <fieldcontrol class="QCheckBox" defaultvalue="true"/>
        <fielddescription>Console application</fielddescription>
    </field>
    \endcode

    For more examples about using check boxes, see \l{Processing Template Files}.

    \section2 Text Editors

    \code
    <field name="License">
        <fieldcontrol class="QTextEdit" defaulttext="Put your license text here" />
            <fielddescription>License:</fielddescription>
    </field>
    \endcode

    The \c defaulttext attribute specifies text that appears in the field by default.

    The boolean attribute \c acceptRichText sets the property QTextEdit::acceptRichText.
    It is disabled by default (as opposed to the default value of QTextEdit::acceptRichText)
    to prevent pasting of rich text with formatting, which is not desirable for code templates.

    \section1 Processing Template Files

    When processing a template source file, placeholders specifying the field
    names in the format \c{%FIELDNAME%} are replaced by the values entered by
    the user. In addition, modifier characters are supported. For example,
    \c{%FIELDNAME:u%} specifies that the value is converted to upper case. This
    enables generating header guards for C++ header files.

    The following modifier characters are supported:

    \list

        \li \c{l} for lower case.

        \li \c{u} for upper case.

        \li \c{c} for upper case initial letter ("project" > "Project").

    \endlist

    In the \c{helloworld} example, the placeholder \c %NETWORK% is used together with the
    QCheckBox class. The following line is added to the project file:

    \code
    %NETWORK%QT += network
    \endcode

    And the following field is specified in the wizard.xml:

    \code
    <field name="NETWORK">
        <fieldcontrol class="QCheckBox" truevalue="" falsevalue="# "/>
        <fielddescription>Include network module</fielddescription>
        <fielddescription xml:lang="de">Netzwerk-Modul verwenden</fielddescription>
    </field>
    \endcode

    If the checkbox is checked, the placeholder is replaced by \c truevalue. If it is not
    checked, the placeholder is replaced by \c falsevalue.

    You can use conditions to add sections of the file depending on field
    values. Use a syntax that is similar to C++ preprocessing, as demonstrated
    in the project file of the \c{helloworld} example:

    \code

    @if "%SCRIPT%" == "true"
    QT += script
    @endif

    \endcode

    The value of the Boolean (QCheckBox) field labeled \c{SCRIPT} determines
    whether the script module is added. The expressions must expand to valid
    Javascript expressions after field replacement.

    For example, the following field is specified in the wizard.xml:

    \code
    <field name="SCRIPT">
        <fieldcontrol class="QCheckBox"/>
        <fielddescription>Include script module</fielddescription>
        <fielddescription xml:lang="de">Script-Modul verwenden</fielddescription>
    </field>
    \endcode

    \section1 Pre-defined Standard Variables

    In addition to the field values entered by the user, you can use
    the following pre-defined standard values:

    \list

        \li \c {%ProjectName%} is replaced by the name of the project in the
            case of project wizards.

        \li \c {%Path%} is replaced by the path to the target directory. For
            classes, this is the directory, where the files are created. For
            project wizards, an additional subdirectory named after the project
            is created.

        \li \c {%TargetPath%} is replaced by the path to the directory where the
            actual files are created. For non-project wizards, it is identical
            to \c %Path%. For project wizards, it is \c %Path%/%ProjectName%.

        \li \c {%CppSourceSuffix%} is replaced by the default source suffix,
            which is defined in \QC in \uicontrol {Tools > Options > C++ >
            File Naming}. For example, if users enter \b MyClass, the
            filename becomes myclass.cpp when the project is created.

        \li \c {%CppHeaderSuffix%} is replaced by the default header suffix,
            which is also defined in \uicontrol {File Naming}.

        \li \c {%CurrentDate%} is replaced by the current date in the format
            \c {YYYY-MM-DD} as specified by ISO 8601.

        \li \c {%CurrentTime%} is replaced by the current time in the format
            \c {HH:MM:SS} as specified by ISO 8601.

        \li \c {%CurrentDate:Locale%} is replaced by the current date in the short format
            specified by the application's locale.

        \li \c {%CurrentTime:Locale%} is replaced by the current time in the short format
            specified by the application's locale.

        \li \c {%CurrentDate:ISO%} is replaced by the current date in the format
            \c {YYYY-MM-DD} as specified by ISO 8601.

        \li \c {%CurrentTime:ISO%} is replaced by the current time in the format
            \c {HH:MM:SS} as specified by ISO 8601.

        \li \c {%CurrentDate:RFC%} is replaced by the current date in the format
            \c {DD Mon YYYY}, where \c {Mon} is the three letter month name, as specified by RFC 2822.

        \li \c {%CurrentTime:RFC%} is replaced by the current time in the format
            \c {HH:MM:SS} as specified by RFC 2822.

    \endlist

    \section1 Validating User Input

    You can specify validation rules for user input. The rules consist of a
    Boolean JavaScript expression and an error message. The placeholders in them
    are replaced with values before they are evaluated or displayed.

    Consider the following rule used in the \l{Creating Class Wizards} example:

    \code
    <validationrules>
        <validationrule condition='"%ClassName%" != "QAbstractListModel"'>
            <message>%ClassName% cannot be used as class name.</message>
            <message xml:lang="de">%ClassName% kann nicht als Klassenname verwendet werden.</message>
        </validationrule>
    </validationrules>
    \endcode

    It ensures that the class name entered by the user does not match the name
    of the base class. If the validation fails, a red label displaying the
    message appears at the bottom of the wizard page.

    \section1 Using Generator Scripts

    The values entered in the wizard page are passed to the script
    as command line arguments as defined by the wizard configuration file.

    In addition, the script must implement a \c{--dry-run} command line option.

    \QC needs to know the file names before the files are created to check
    whether files with identical names already exist, for example. Therefore,
    script file generation is a two-step process:

    \list 1

    \li Determine file names and attributes: The script is called with the
        command line \c{--dry-run} option and the field values. It then prints
        the relative path names of the files it intends to create, followed by
        comma-separated attributes matching those of the \c{<file>} element, for
        example:

        \code
        myclass.cpp,openeditor
        myclass.h,openeditor
        myproject.pro,openproject
        \endcode

    \li Create files: The script is called with the parameters only in the
        working directory. It then actually creates the files. If directories
        are needed, the script should create them, too.

   \endlist

    The \c{scriptgeneratedproject} sample wizard illustrates the usage.
    A typical script invocation for this example (obtained by running \QC with
    \c{--customwizard-verbose}) looks as follows:

    \code
    generate.pl --class-name=TestClass --project-name=TestProject --header-suffix=h --source-suffix=cpp --description=/tmp/qtcreatorj26629.txt
    \endcode

    By default, the scripts are run in the directory corresponding to
    \c %TargetPath%. This can be overridden by specifying the attribute
    \c workingdirectory on the element \c generatorscript. For example, if the
    script creates the project directory by itself, %Path% can be specified. In
    that case, \c --dry-run should output the correct relative paths or absolute
    paths constructed using the value of \c %Path%.

*/