GeezerVison

Vim Intellisense -Java Plugin

by Madan Ganesh

 

Overview:

Java plug-in for Vim Intellisense provides intellisense for a java file. The insen executable invokes the javaft.dll to get method-list, tool-tip, documentation etc., The javaft.dll in-turn delegate the calls to javaft.jar component via JNI mechanism. The javaft.jar is the work-horse for java intellisense plug-in. This document explains the design of java insen package and describe its components. This is depicted in figure below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Requirement:

The insen executable writes the insen parameters in the VimHelperParam.txt file in the %TEMP% folder and invokes the plug-in based on the file type being typed. For a .java file the executable invokes the javaft.dll which implements the interface published for plug-in.  The implementation requires to implement below mentioned functions,

                    

Published Methods	Invoked when...	Implementation Requirement for a java file
GetMethodList	When a . is typed	If 'dot' is typed after a variable, list the members of the type corresponding to that variable. If 'dot' is typed after a TypeName list the static members of that type. If 'dot' is typed after a package name list the TypeNames under that package.
GetTooltip	When a ( is typed	List the overloaded signatures of the method for which the tool-tip is invoked.
GetDoc	When the documentation has to be displayed for member listed thru GetMethodList	Give the documentation corresponding to the member (listed via the GetMethodList method)
GetGenList	When a Ctrl-Space is typed	List all the imported TypeNames and all members in the current scope.

       

Design:

The insen package splits the line where insen is invoked to know the token typed before the '.' or '(' .  The token is identified for a variable name or TypeName or Package name. Based on the identification a Lister is instantiated. The lister can be a MemberLister or PackageLister. The MemberLister is initialized with a Type whose members have to be listed. The lister finds the TypeInfo from which the members information is obtained.

Components:

Class	Description
VimHelper	This class is called from the javaft.dll. The static methods are invoked for listing member variables, tool-tip and ctrl space. This class acts like a main method for the java insen package. It reads the param file, instantiates the appropriate lister and invokes the list method on it. The lister object last invoked is stored as member static variable sm_lister, and the same is used when the insen is called back to  retrieve the documentation.
Parser	This class is designed to abstract the parsing of the source file from  which the insen is  invoked. This class parses the java source file to know about the  packages imported, TypeName of a declared variable etc.,
ListerFactory	This class acts as a factory to create a lister based on the expression typed  before the 'dot'. Two types of listers are identified in insen,                 a) MemberLister                                 lists the members of a specific type. It has 2 variants; one                                 lists only static method and the other lists both static and                                 non-static members.                   b) PackageLister                                 lists the sub packages and the TypeNames of a parent package.     On a high level, this class creates one of the lister (based on what for   the insen is invoked) and gives it back to the caller.
MemberLister	This class encapsulates the functionality of enlisting the class members. The MemberLister takes the types whose members is to be listed when the  list is called.
PackageLister	This class is designed to list the contents of a package or partial package  name. This class is initialzed with a name that can be,                 1. Full Package name. ("java.lang.")                 2. Prefix of package name. ("java.")                                                 Based on case it lists either the type names or next part of the package  name respectively.
ClassInfoFactory	This class acts as a factory to create a ClassInfo object. See  ClassInfo.java for more information about ClassInfo class. There a 2 types of classinfo identified. They are,             a) Reflection ClassInfo                         ClassInfo implementation that gives a type's  information using the                           Java’s Reflection mechanism.             b) Local Class Info                                                                                                                  ClassInfo implementation that gives a type's information by parsing the type’s  java source file.    This class tries to get a class info in the following order,                 First Assumption                          Given type 'TypeA' is a class defined in current editing file.                  Second Assumption                            Given type 'TypeA' is a public class defined in one of the java files in            current Folder                  Third Assumption                          Given type 'TypeA' is a runtime loadable class available in classpath.                          Fourth Assumption            Given type 'TypeA' is a class defined in one of the java files  in the             current folder (it need not be a public class).   Based on the assumption the class tries to creates the ClassInfo as  following,                 A hit for First, Second and Fourth Assumptions results in                 LocalClassInfo. A hit for Second Assumption result in a ReflectionClassInfo.
ReflectionClassInfo	This  class implements the ClassInfo interface to provide information about a class using reflection mechanism.
LocalClassInfo	This class implements the ClassInfo interface providing class information parsing the java source file.
DocReaderFactory	This class acts as a factory to create a DocReader. See DocReader.java to  know about the DocReader interface.    There are 2 types of DocReader implementation available                 HtmlDocReader                                 DocReader that gives documentation parsing the HTML file.                 SourceDocReader                                 DocReader that gives documentation parsing the source file.   This class instantiates one of the DocReader.
HtmlDocReader	This class implements DocReader interface and provides documentation information parsing a HTML file.
SourceDocReader	This class implements DocReader interface providing the documentation info  by parsing the java source file.

 

Model:

Source:

The source for javaft.dll and insen package can be downloaded from here.

To-Dos:

• Automatic Listing when certain keywords are listed (after import the packge listing, after Exception imported exceptions listing, after new avalibale constructors listing etc)
• Using JDK1.4' regex package in InsenTextSplitter class for effective splitting
• Performance

Feedback / Bug:

If there is bug, suggestion, question, compliment please post it to [email protected]

Acknowledgements:

To Swarna and Shrishti for thier continuing support and putting up with me for the time I worked in this project. To Bert Roos who taught VIM (and many good things) to me.

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