ICSharpCode.NRefactory is a parser library for C# and VB.
It consists of a single Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) that can represent all constructs that are available in C# or VB (unlike System.CodeDom, which only represents constructs common to C#
and VB).
Please try samples\NRefactoryDemo in the SharpDevelop source code to take a look at the ASTTo parse source code, use:
using (IParser parser = ParserFactory.CreateParser(SupportedLanguage.CSharp, new StringReader(sourceCode))) {
parser.Parse();
// this allows retrieving comments, preprocessor directives, etc. (stuff that isn't part of the syntax)
specials = parser.Lexer.SpecialTracker.RetrieveSpecials();
// this retrieves the root node of the result AST
result = parser.CompilationUnit;
if (parser.Errors.Count > 0) {
MessageBox.Show(parser.Errors.ErrorOutput, "Parse errors");
}
}
Now you can analyze and/or transform the AST.
Should you want to re-create source code from the (modified) AST, use an output visitor:
CSharpOutputVisitor outputVisitor = new CSharpOutputVisitor();
// re-insert the comments we saved from the parser into the output
using (SpecialNodesInserter.Install(specials, outputVisitor)) {
astView.Unit.AcceptVisitor(outputVisitor, null);
}
codeTextBox.Text = outputVisitor.Text;
By using the C# parser and a VB output visitor (or vice versa), you can build a code converter. Of course, the real
Code Converter in SharpDevelop also transforms the AST to fix cases where C# and VB semantics differ.