[news.eclipse.modeling.tmf] Re: Implementing a something like the Rename

[Moritz Eysholdt <moritz.eysholdt@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi drew,

> I have a grammar with a number statements that can reference other things. I 
> want to add a gesture that does something like the java Rename->refactor 
> gesture , so that during this gesture if one modifies a certain elements 
> attribute) all the depenedent elements get updated in the text editor. Not 
> sure exactly how to implement this. 

This is not exactly a trivial task but I think all needed building 
blocks should be available by now.

An implementation would/could/should work like this:

If the user selects an identifier and triggers the refactoring action:

1. Ensure all files are saved.
2. Ensure all files are indexed by EMF Index.
3. Determine the EObject of which the name-giving feature is being 
renamed. This can be done by querying the node model, which is available 
in each XtextResource.
4. Use EMF Index to find all cross references which point to this 
EObject. If you support full qualified names in your languages, you will 
halso have to find all cross references pointing to children of the 
to-be-modified EObject.
5. Load (parse) all files which contain cross references from (4) and 
make sure these cross references are resolved.
6. Modify the EObject by renaming the feature.
7. Store (serialize) all involved files to disk. During serialization, 
the names of all cross references are re-calculated - thereby the 
modified name is applied to all places where it occurs.

For the UI-part I'd recommend to utilize the Eclipse Language Toolkit 
(LTK). It provides the nice wizard which guides you through 
options/checking-preconditions/preview/postconditions. Furthermore, the 
LTK provides an infrastructure participate in existing refactoring 
operations and allow participation in own refactoring.

hth,
  Moritz

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