Delphi's code formatter vs. GExperts' code formatter

[dummzeuch 1505]

When I see formatting like this (generated by the Delphi formatter, if "Keep user line breaks" is turned on):

type
  TSomeRecord = record
    a,
      b, { bla }
    c,
      d: integer;
  end;

I wonder whether the Delphi formatter is based on DelForExp like GExperts'. But in the latter this bug has been fixed:

type
  TSomeRecord = record
    a,
      b, { bla }
      c,
      d: integer;
  end;

 

On the other hand, this is an interesting formatting:

type
  TSomeRecord = record
    a, b, // bla
    c, d: integer;
  end;

This was generated by the Delphi formatter from this input, with the default setting "Keep user line breaks" turned off:

type
  TSomeRecord = record
    a,
    b, // bla
    c,
      d: integer;
  end;

It would never have occurred to me.

[Uwe Raabe 2057]

I often use this double slash comments at the end of a line to force a line break.

const
  cArr: TArray<string> = [ //
    'SELECT *',            //
    'FROM EMPLOYEE',       //
    'WHERE EMP_NO > 2',    //
    'ORDER BY EMP_NO',     //
    ''];

(Align line end comments is active here)

 

Without these comments the formatter will produce this:

const
  cArr: TArray<string> = ['SELECT *', 'FROM EMPLOYEE', 'WHERE EMP_NO > 2', 'ORDER BY EMP_NO', ''];

 

[Fr0sT.Brutal 900]

21 hours ago, dummzeuch said:

I wonder whether the Delphi formatter is based on DelForExp like GExperts'. But in the latter this bug has been fixed:

type
  TSomeRecord = record
    a,
      b, { bla }
      c,
      d: integer;
  end;

Isn't it a bug as well? b-c-d should go right below a

[dummzeuch 1505]

1 hour ago, Fr0sT.Brutal said:

Isn't it a bug as well? b-c-d should go right below a

Not sure about that. I have seen that kind of formatting with the additional indentation for the second and later field very often. Personally I prefer explicitly giving the type for each field:

type
  TSomeRecord = record
    a: integer;
    b: integer; { bla }
    c: integer;
    d: integer;
  end;

even if that means a bit more typing.

[limelect 48]

@dummzeuch Kind of off-topic

What I liked very much with DelForExp that you

could format the whole project.

Edited October 12, 2020 by limelect

[Uwe Raabe 2057]

1 hour ago, limelect said:

What I liked very much with DelForExp that you

could format the whole project.

The Delphi integrated formatter offers that as well.

[limelect 48]

@Uwe Raabe The only thing that I dislike is that the Formater options are all over.

when you triggered  DelForExp it opens a form asking what you want to do

much simpler and more user friendly.  Or am I old fashion?

 

P.S I also have it as a stand-alone

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by limelect

[Uwe Raabe 2057]

15 minutes ago, limelect said:

P.S I also have it as a stand-alone

Formatter.EXE, the Command Line Formatter

[Vincent Parrett 750]

I'm just trying to format the code for a project.. the GExperts formatter does a much better job than the built in one (in 10.4 at least) - one thing that bugs me (with both) is how it indents guid attributes on interfaces

 

so 

ICompiler = interface
['{4A56BA53-6ACD-4A5D-8D55-B921D6CDC8A0}']

 

becomes

 

ICompiler = interface
  ['{4A56BA53-6ACD-4A5D-8D55-B921D6CDC8A0}']

There doesn't seem to be any way to control this.

 

Also some comment formatting gets messed up

 

const
  //options for IACList2
  ACLO_NONE         = 0;  // don't enumerate anything
  ACLO_CURRENTDIR   = 1;  // enumerate current directory
  ACLO_MYCOMPUTER   = 2;  // enumerate MyComputer
  ACLO_DESKTOP      = 4;  // enumerate Desktop Folder
  ACLO_FAVORITES    = 8;  // enumerate Favorites Folder
  ACLO_FILESYSONLY  = 16; // enumerate only the file system

gets changed to

 

const
  //options for IACList2
  ACLO_NONE = 0; // don't enumerate anything
  ACLO_CURRENTDIR = 1; // enumerate current directory
  ACLO_MYCOMPUTER = 2; // enumerate MyComputer
  ACLO_DESKTOP = 4; // enumerate Desktop Folder
  ACLO_FAVORITES = 8; // enumerate Favorites Folder
  ACLO_FILESYSONLY = 16; // enumerate only the file system

I turned on Align var/const statements at position 30 and it comes close

 

const
  //options for IACList2
  ACLO_NONE                   = 0; // don't enumerate anything
  ACLO_CURRENTDIR             = 1; // enumerate current directory
  ACLO_MYCOMPUTER             = 2; // enumerate MyComputer
  ACLO_DESKTOP                = 4; // enumerate Desktop Folder
  ACLO_FAVORITES              = 8; // enumerate Favorites Folder
  ACLO_FILESYSONLY            = 16; // enumerate only the file system

use At position will not always work. I tend to use tabs to align them manually after the longest line in the block. So in the original (pre format) version there are tabs before the = and before the // - not sure if this is possible in the formatter without doing some block analysis. 

 

 

[Vincent Parrett 750]

You know what would be nice for the formatter - an option to format on save. Not sure how hard this would be to implement but I'd love to see this. 

[Vincent Parrett 750]

Another issue.

 

Right now there is a single setting for Math operators, unfortunately that leads to 

 

 ICompiler = interface
   function GetSearchPaths : IList<string>;

getting formatted as 
 

 ICompiler = interface
   function GetSearchPaths : IList < string >;

which is rather unfortunate. 

 

If GExperts was on github I would fork it, try to fix and submit a pull request.. not sure how that works with sourceforge?

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Vincent Parrett said:

I turned on Align var/const statements at position 30 and it comes close

Controlling this based on group of consts will be hard or the result will be not optimal.

So a suggestion in order to manually control the format, like format it once and forget about it, and it will be very helpful with "case", as some parts better be manually formatted per ones taste.

 

Let there be a mechanism to disable the formatter for specific code region, like using magic word in an comment, example

Quote

// DFTbegin  and dftEND are case insensitive identifier

// DFTbegin  

Code here will be formatted

// dftEND

Quote

const
  //options for IACList2    (dftbegin)
  ACLO_NONE         = 0;  // don't enumerate anything
  ACLO_CURRENTDIR   = 1;  // enumerate current directory
  ACLO_MYCOMPUTER   = 2;  // enumerate MyComputer         dftend
  ACLO_DESKTOP = 4;  // enumerate Desktop Folder
  ACLO_FAVORITES = 8;  // enumerate Favorites Folder
  ACLO_FILESYSONLY = 16; // enumerate only the file system

 

[Fr0sT.Brutal 900]

7 hours ago, Vincent Parrett said:

not sure how that works with sourceforge?

Good old patch (aka diff) files ))

[dummzeuch 1505]

1 hour ago, Kas Ob. said:

Let there be a mechanism to disable the formatter for specific code region, like using magic word in an comment, example

 

Such a mechanism already exists:

Everything between {(*} and {*)} does not get formatted.

Edited October 27, 2020 by dummzeuch

[dummzeuch 1505]

7 hours ago, Vincent Parrett said:

 

If GExperts was on github I would fork it, try to fix and submit a pull request.. not sure how that works with sourceforge?

The simplest way is a patch file, as @Fr0sT.Brutal already suggested. Another option is to simply send me the changed sources (I prefer patches). And if you want to be involved deeper, I could give you write access to the repository.

 

But a good start would be to submit a bug report (or feature request) on SourceForge providing input and desired output examples as attachments. I could then easily add those to the unit tests which would increase the likelihood to get them fixed.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, dummzeuch said:

Such a mechanism already exists:

Everything between {(*} and {*)} does not get formatted.

I didn't know that !

[Guest]

1 hour ago, dummzeuch said:

Everything between {(*} and {*)} does not get formatted.

Laughing while i am getting angry more and more, it looks cnWizards also does have the same functionality and usage, also like GExperts that information is hidden in the settings form !

[dummzeuch 1505]

21 minutes ago, Kas Ob. said:

Laughing while i am getting angry more and more, it looks cnWizards also does have the same functionality and usage, also like GExperts that information is hidden in the settings form !

I'm not surprised that cnWizards is using the same character sequence. But that probably did not come from GExperts but from DelForEx which was the base of the GExperts code formatter.

[Fr0sT.Brutal 900]

4 hours ago, Kas Ob. said:

it looks cnWizards also does have the same functionality and usage

There's quite simple logic behind - block comments of one possible style inside comments of another possible style.