CustomFunctions.md

Custom functions

Nugets

This nuget gives access to code model abstractions:

https://www.nuget.org/packages/NTypewriter.CodeModel/

Custom functions

You can extend your template with custom functions. Custom functions are defined in separate .nt.cs file that should be located in the same project as *.nt template file. It does not have to be csharp project though, since this file will be compiled outside of the project. This imposes some constraints on the file:

• no external dependencies are allowed
• the file will be compiled with .net Standard 2.0 regardless of the project settings in which it is placed

Sample file (*.nt.cs) with custom function and all necessary boilerplate code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using NTypewriter.CodeModel;

namespace ConsoleApp
{    
    class NameIsNotImportant 
    { 
        public static string MyCustomFunction(IClass @class)
        {
            return $"Hello world from {@class.Name}";
        }
    }
}

All defined custom functions are available in template with "Custom" prefix. Only public static methods defined inside class are recognized as custom functions.

{{- capture output
       for class in data.Classes 
           class | Custom.MyCustomFunction | String.Append "\n"
      end
   end
   Save output "index.txt"
   }}

How to debug

You can debug custom functions with the help of the second instance of Visual Studio. The easiest way to do that is by placing Debugger.Launch() from System.Diagnostics inside your custom function.