diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/manual')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/manual/pragmas.txt | 67 |
1 files changed, 67 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/pragmas.txt b/doc/manual/pragmas.txt index 835b6909d..cd26a9448 100644 --- a/doc/manual/pragmas.txt +++ b/doc/manual/pragmas.txt @@ -1087,3 +1087,70 @@ In the above example, providing the -d flag causes the symbol ``FooBar`` to be overwritten at compile time, printing out 42. If the ``-d:FooBar=42`` were to be omitted, the default value of 5 would be used. + + +Custom annotations +------------------ +It is possible to define custom typed pragmas. Custom pragmas do not effect +code generation directly, but their presence can be detected by macros. +Custom pragmas are defined using templates annotated with pragma ``pragma``: + +.. code-block:: nim + template dbTable(name: string, table_space: string = nil) {.pragma.} + template dbKey(name: string = nil, primary_key: bool = false) {.pragma.} + template dbForeignKey(t: typedesc) {.pragma.} + template dbIgnore {.pragma.} + + +Consider stylized example of possible Object Relation Mapping (ORM) implementation: + +.. code-block:: nim + const tblspace {.strdefine.} = "dev" # switch for dev, test and prod environments + + type + User {.dbTable("users", tblspace).} = object + id {.dbKey(primary_key = true).}: int + name {.dbKey"full_name".}: string + is_cached {.dbIgnore.}: bool + age: int + + UserProfile {.dbTable("profiles", tblspace).} = object + id {.dbKey(primary_key = true).}: int + user_id {.dbForeignKey: User.}: int + read_access: bool + write_access: bool + admin_acess: bool + +In this example custom pragmas are used to describe how Nim objects are +mapped to the schema of the relational database. Custom pragmas can have +zero or more arguments. In order to pass multiple arguments use one of +template call syntaxes. All arguments are typed and follow standard +overload resolution rules for templates. Therefore, it is possible to have +default values for arguments, pass by name, varargs, etc. + +Custom pragmas can be used in all locations where ordinary pragmas can be +specified. It is possible to annotate procs, templates, type and variable +definitions, statements, etc. + +Macros module includes helpers which can be used to simplify custom pragma +access `hasCustomPragma`, `getCustomPragmaVal`. Please consult macros module +documentation for details. These macros are no magic, they don't do anything +you cannot do yourself by walking AST object representation. + +More examples with custom pragmas: + - Better serialization/deserialization control: + + .. code-block:: nim + type MyObj = object + a {.dontSerialize.}: int + b {.defaultDeserialize: 5.}: int + c {.serializationKey: "_c".}: string + + - Adopting type for gui inspector in a game engine: + + .. code-block:: nim + type MyComponent = object + position {.editable, animatable.}: Vector3 + alpha {.editRange: [0.0..1.0], animatable.}: float32 + + |