Text Template Transformation Toolkit: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:56, 11 March 2021

Revision as of 02:20, 5 April 2021

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T4 is used by [[Developer (software)|developers]] as part of an application or tool [[Framework (computer science)|framework]] to automate the creation of text files with a variety of parameters. These text files can ultimately be any text format, such as code (for example [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]]), [[XML template engine|XML]], [[HTML]] or [[XAML Browser Applications|XAML]].

T4 uses a custom template format which can contain .NET code and [[string literal]]s in it, this is parsed by the T4 command line tool into .NET code, compiled and executed. The output of the executed code is the text file generated by the template.<ref name="Templatesza">{{citation|author=Web Templates|title=Website templates|url=http://www.websitetemplates.org.za/website-templates-type/|accessdateaccess-date=19 November 2013|year=2013|publisher=Website Templates South Africa|isbn=978-1-4251-3374-0}}</ref> T4 can also be completely run within the .NET applications via the use of the TextTransformation class which eliminates the need for the end user to have Visual Studio installed.

T4 is used within Microsoft in [[ASP.NET MVC]] for the creation of the views and controllers, [[ADO.NET Entity Framework]] for entity generation, and [[ASP.NET Dynamic Data]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/davidebb/archive/2008/11/26/fun-with-t4-templates-and-dynamic-data.aspx |title=Fun with T4 templates and Dynamic Data - Angle Bracket Percent - Site Home - MSDN Blogs |publisher=Blogs.msdn.com |date=2008-11-26 |accessdateaccess-date=2012-05-17}}</ref> It is also used outside of Microsoft in projects such as SubSonic.<ref>{{cite web|author=|url=http://gcapnias.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/subsonic-v3%e2%80%99s-t4-templates/ |title=SubSonic v3’sv3's T4 Templates « Daily Cycle |publisher=Gcapnias.wordpress.com |date=2009-01-12 |accessdateaccess-date=2012-05-17}}</ref>

T4 templating is supported in [[Visual Studio]], [[MonoDevelop]] and JetBrains Rider.<ref>https://www.jetbrains.com/rider/</ref>

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==Criticism==

{{Advert section|date=May 2017}}

Microsoft has often been criticized{{By whom|date=May 2017}} for the lack of tooling support for T4 within the Visual Studio IDE, and relies on third parties namely [https://web.archive.org/web/20110714235509/http://www.olegsych.com/2009/04/t4-editor-by-tangible-engineering/ Tangible Engineering],<ref>{{cite web|last=Sych |first=Oleg |url=http://www.olegsych.com/2007/12/text-template-transformation-toolkit/ |title=T4: Text Template Transformation Toolkit |publisher=Oleg Sych |date=2007-12-22 |accessdateaccess-date=2012-05-17}}</ref> however later revisions have included better tooling support.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/garethj/archive/2010/04/15/what-s-new-in-t4-in-visual-studio-2010.aspx |title=What's new in T4 in Visual Studio 2010 - [Profoundly Esoteric Image&#93; - Site Home - MSDN Blogs |publisher=Blogs.msdn.com |date=2010-04-15 |accessdateaccess-date=2012-05-17}}</ref>

==History==