codeCreator

codeCreator is a general purpose code generator plugin for JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio IDEs. It allows for the creation of a code generation task that has one or more sources that can be used in one or more templates, with each template having its own output. One example would be to create multiple Thymeleaf files from a Java class.

Latest Additions

Current Features

Velocity Context Sources

Velocity Template Sources

Output Targets

Use

Task Creation

New tasks are created in settings under File -> Settings -> Tools -> codeCreator -> Tasks. The left list pane displays tasks. The ‘+’ button creates a new task, the ‘-‘ button deletes the currently selected task, and the wrench button has a dropdown for importing or exporting tasks. To the right of the list pane is a text box for the task’s name and tabs for setting Sources and Templates.

Create a new task by clicking the ‘+’ button and give it a unique name. The name is what displays in the IntelliJ/Android Studio Generate list.

Then add at least one Source by clicking the ‘+’ button on the list in the Sources tab. If desired, change the Source variable name to something more descriptive. Note that each Source must have a unique variable name which must follow Velocity’s naming rules. Depending on the specific Source chosen there may be other options available.

Switch to the Templates tab and add a new Template using the ‘+’ button. Currently there are two Template types available: String Templates and Velocity Templates.

String Templates allow you to set a Name, Template text, and Output. For String Templates the Name is only used for display in the Templates list. The Template text box takes your Velocity template text, and Output specifies the desired output target.

To use a Velocity Template you must configure at least one additional ResourceLoader in the codeCreator Properties page under File -> Settings -> Tools -> codeCreator. See below for more information. Once an additional ResourceLoader is configured you can set Resource Name and Output. Resource Name must match an existing resource that your additional ResourceLoader can find, such as a file name for a configured FileResourceLoader.

Running Tasks

Tasks are added to and are run from the IntelliJ/Android Studio Generate… command which is accessed from Code -> Generate… or by hitting Alt-Insert.

Reference

Tasks

A container for Source(s) and Template(s) to be run with the IntelliJ/Android Studio Generate… command. Tasks are context aware, and only show up when they are runnable. As example: a Task with a Current Java/Kotlin File source won’t be an option if Generate… is triggered in a text file.

Sources

Database Metadata

This connects to a specified database and provides a wrapper around Java’s DatabaseMetaData interface.

Quick start:

The database metadata source editor allows you to choose the velocity variable name, pick either a stored or prompted connection, and filter on catalog and schema. The catalog and schema filters act as defaults on the Database object and apply to any of its filterable method calls unless overridden. The catalog/schema filters work as follows:

Examples using schema only (applies similarly to catalog): Variable name: db

schema filter unchecked

db.getTables() // retrieves all tables in database available to logged in user

schema filters checked with blank textbox

db.getTables() // retrieves all tables without schema in database available to logged in user

schema filters checked with textbox = ‘public’

db.getTables() // retrieves all tables where schema equals 'public' in database available to logged in user

// note that the default filter can be overridden if schema is passed to getTables method with signature
// getTables(String catalog, String schemaPattern, String tableNamePattern, Array<String> types)
db.getTables(null, "otherSchema", null, null) // retrieves all tables where schema equals 'otherSchema' in database available to logged in user

Currently there is no user interface for filtering of database objects such as tables or procedures. Filters can applied in method calls, with most relevant methods including a signature that just takes a name pattern, using the wildcard rules noted above. As an example:

db.getTables("employee%") // would return tables named 'employee', 'employeetype', etc.
db.getTables("employee") // would only return a table named 'employee', if it exists

IMPORTANT DATABASE METADATA NOTES

Drivers

Drivers can be added by choosing a jar file on your local filesystem or by downloading from Maven Central.

To add a local jar click the add button on the list under the Drivers tab (Settings -> Tools -> codeCreator), choose a name, and browse to the jar file you wish to add. Once a jar file is selected and classes that implement the java.sql.Driver interface will show in the Driver Class dropdown. If necessary, select the appropriate class. Click Apply or OK to save the driver information.

If you want to download a driver, you MUST set and apply the Local repo path first. An existing Maven repository path can be used. Once the local repo path is set, you can add a driver using the From Repository option. This differs from the local jar instruction above by asking for download coordinates instead of a file path. The coordinates are in the Maven format of

groupID:artifactId:verson

using MariaDB version 3.07 as an example would give coordinates of

org.mariadb.jdbc:mariadb-java-client:3.0.7

An easy way to get the correct coordinates is to copy them from mvnrepository.com. If you have selected an existing local Maven repository for the local repo path, that repository will be checked to see if a driver jar matching the coordinates already exists. If it does the Download button will be disabled and a message displayed indicating that a match was found locally. Otherwise, click the Download button to download the driver jar from Maven Central. Once downloaded the Driver Class dropdown will be populated as noted above. Select the desired driver class and save.

IMPORTANT DRIVER NOTES

Connections

To create a stored connection, go to Settings -> Tools -> codeCreator -> Connections tab. Click the add button, enter a name, choose a Driver, enter a URL, and optionally a username and password. Passwords are stored using IntelliJ’s Sensitive Data API. As an alternative to a stored connection, during task creation you can specify a connection prompt each time the task is run.

Current Java/Kotlin File

This is the open java or kotlin file with focus when triggering the Generate… command. Javadoc here

Selected Java/Kotlin File

This displays a prompt so other project or library class files can be selected. Javadoc here

IntelliJ Includes templates

You can now use templates defined in Settings -> Editor -> File and Code Templates, Includes by adding an #parse or #include statement in your existing templates. Using the existing “File Header” template as example:

If your “File Header” contains its own velocity template language, such as ${USER}, you would include it in a codeCreator template with the #parse statement

#parse("File Header")

if your “File Header” does not contain any velocity template language, it would be included in a codeCreator template with the #include statement

#include("File Header")

Not that individual IntelliJ Includes templates will not be loaded if their name conflicts with an existing codeCreator context source. For more details on the #include and #parse statements see the Velocity Documentation.

Current Method

The method that contains the caret.

Other Context Sources

As noted above, the following additional sources are available in your Velocity templates

The predefined variables provided for IntelliJ’s File and Code Templates and the following

Source variable name
reference to current project project
map of environment variables env
Date tool date
Math tool math
Number tool number
Render tool render
Escape tool esc
Resource tool text
Alternator tool alternator
Value Parser parser
List tool list
Sort tool sorter
Iterator tool mill

Templates

String Template

Stores the Velocity template text directly

Velocity Template

Refers to an external template file resource. Requires that an additional ResourceLoader be configured. When using an external file, the Resource Name specified in the settings dialog is the path of the file relative to the resource loader path specified in the Velocity Properties. As an example, assuming the Velocity Properties shown below, for a template file whose full path is ‘/path/to/your/template/directory/sometemplate.vm’, the Resource Name would be ‘sometemplate.vm’. In other words, the resource loader path specified in Velocity Properties is concatenated with the Resource Name in the Velocity Template editor to get the full path to the template file.

Output

Clipboard

Template output is copied to clipboard.

Selected File

A file selection prompt is display so output can be saved to a file.

File Name Template

Allows a file path to be defined as a Velocity template using any of the Sources available, including Task Sources and the sources listed above. As an example, consider a template that creates a Thymeleaf html page for a specified Java class. Assuming a class named Person with a Source Variable Name of ‘class0’ in a project located at ‘/home/warren/myprojects/webproject’, the following File Name Template

$project.basePath/src/resources/templates/$class0.name/create.html

would give an output path of

/home/warren/myprojects/webproject/src/resources/templates/Person/create.html

File Name Templates has a selection how to handle existing files: Prompt for new name, Overwrite existing file, or Cancel operation. Note that currently Templates are processed sequentially, so it is possible when multiple Templates are used with File Name Templates output with the Cancel option that the first Template processed may save successfully while a subsequent Template may cancel due to an existing file.

Caret

Template output is placed at current caret location. If an area is selected it will be replaced by the template output.

Velocity Settings

Additional velocity settings can be specified under File -> Settings -> Tools -> codeCreator, Velocity Properties using property file syntax. This allows you to add additional ResourceLoaders and specify other Velocity runtime configuration. See the Velocity reference for specifics. An example of adding a FileResourceLoader would be

resource.loader = file
file.resource.loader.description = Velocity File Resource Loader
file.resource.loader.class = org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.FileResourceLoader
file.resource.loader.path = /path/to/your/template/directory
file.resource.loader.cache = false
file.resource.loader.modificationCheckInterval = 0

Velocity Library used

codeCreator uses the Velocity library included with IntelliJ/Android Studio, which currently is version 1.7. For writing templates refer to the documentation.

Roadmap

Additional Velocity Context Sources

Additional Velocity Template Sources

Additional Output Targets