Re: 'with'ing and 'use'ing

[Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-deja.com>]

In article <38BEF1A3.24B566BF@earthlink.net>,
  Charles Hixson <charleshixsn@earthlink.net> wrote:

> A good cross-reference tool would be better, but I haven't
> seen one recently.

Have you looked at the xref tools provided as part of GNAT?

> The trouble is that any tool that can tell enough to figure
> out where a link comes from, needs enough built in knowledge
> to be pretty expensive to build so unless AdaCore starts
> including it in the GNAT package, I'm unlikely to
> be able to afford it (which is why the tools I *am* aware of
> target C++).

Difficult to "start" including something that is already there!

GNAT by default generates full xref information in the ali files
for all compilations. This has been true for quite a while.

A number of tools use this information:

1. gnatxref, a conventional xref utility

2. gnatfind, more oriented to finding specific entities

3. ada mode for emacs, providing integrated "find the
   declaration of this entity", "jump to corresponding
   body" etc capabilities.

4. Similar capabilities integrated into GLIDE, the new
   integrated development environment for GNAT.

5. cross-referencing capabilities in AdaGIDE, as mentioned
   elsewhere in this thread.

The format of the ali files is quite simple, and fully
documented (in the lib-writ.adb file). The above tools
are likely to meet most people's requirements for
"cross-referencing" tools, but there are undoubtedly
other variations that would be useful. The whole idea
of this facility, of which you are apprently unaware,
is precisely to allow tool builders to build tools
of this kind without needing compiler smarts.

> The trouble is that any tool that can tell enough ...

Don't invent trouble where none exists :-)

Of course you can also use ASIS for heavier duty applications,
but it is remarkable how useful the basic entity cross-reference
information in the ali files is for many tool applications.

Robert Dewar
Ada Core Technologies


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