SPOOKY CODER

This utility will hopefully save you many hours of tedious coding by writing lots of code for you,
in whatever language you want, in whatever style you're used to. IDEs help out quite a bit when
writing you code, using auto-complete, suggestions, inserting blocks of code for you. But it
still takes a lot of time to write. Using this utility will speed up the brainstorming and
maintenance quite a bit, if used right.

Using a simple text editor you can quickly brainstorm your objects, properties, relationships and
have the code auto-generate as you go. As you refine your project, your code gets rewritten with
more details. You can have your brainstorm converted into multiple languages at once
(Java, SQL, PHP, etc).

Note: It's mainly used for managing your project ORM needs.

INSTALLATION

Download the spooky-coder.jar file and put it where you store your awesome utilities.

RUNNING

First you'll need to create your brainstorm text file (see the Brainstorm Format below).

• Using your favorite editor, create a schema.brain file and add the following text:

user
  first
  last
  int age

• Run the following command to generate both java and sql code:

$ java -jar spooky-coder.jar -i schema.brain -o java,sql
Success.

• Notice your newly created src directory. Go into src and look at your project1.sql file.
• Go into src/project1 and notice the User.java file.
• Edit User.java and notice all the annotations created for you.
• Look at how much time you just saved!

Syntax

Syntax: Spooky <-i|--in [type]:<file>> [-o|--out <output types>] [-d|--outdir <directory>] [-D|--debug] [-l|--libdir <lib dir>] [-c|--conf <config file>] [-h|--help]

  -i [type]:<file>  input type and file to convert from (default is brainstorm:schema.brain)
  -o <type>, ...    one or more output types to convert to (default is java)
  -c <config>       config file containing customizations
  -d <dir>          directory where output files will be written to (default is src)
  -a                show all converters and their customization parameters
  -D                debug mode
  -l <lib dir>      directory where conversion classes are found (default is lib)
  -h                display this help message

Brainstorm Format

This is a quick and dirty format that allows you to define very simple class names and properties
and have usable code written immediately. Your code gets rewritten as you add more and more
detail to your brainstorm.

There are very few rules when creating a brainstorm:

1. Each object is separated by a blank line
2. The object name is specified first
3. Each object property is on its own line, indented by one or more spaces or tabs

Assumptions
If no property modifier is specified, string is the default type. Ids are automatically
create for each object, using the object name and appending id on the end (ie, userId).

The property name and modifiers can be placed wherever you want them. For example a username
field can be any of the following:

• str(50) username unique required
• username unique required
• unique username(50) required
• not_null username unique string

Example:

user
  first
  last
  name
  age
  address

Will create a User table with those columns as strings, as well as working, well-written java,
php, perl, python, C++, code. Now you add more data:

user
  first required
  last
  name
  int age
  address address required

address
  street required
  street2
  city required
  state required
  zip

Now you want to add a username, and make sure it's always unique, and make sure the
state property is two characters. Let's add a creation datetime as well.

user
  first required
  created datetime required
  username unique required
  last
  name
  int age
  address address required

address
  street required
  street2
  city required
  state(2) required
  zip

OBJECT IDS

The ids are automatically generated for each object (a User class will get userId as the id). If you want to specify your own id, use the id (primary, or primary key) flag.

Note: You can change the var.style parameter to be like userid, USERID, userId, user_id, UserId, etc. See the Styles section below.

user
  id personId
  first
  last

PROPERTY TYPES

There are the property types you can specify, that are pretty much recognized in any language.

boolean, bool, bit
byte
char
datetime, timedate, date_time, time_date
date
time
timestamp
float, decimal, number
integer, int
long
string, str, text, varchar
enum, list
bit, flags
money, currency
blob

ENUMS

Enums are common in most languages and are easy to create. You can assign a number to each option, or accept the default.

This example will create a Role enum with the specified values:

user
  username required
  enum(root, admin, user, guest) role

Java:

public enum Role {
    ROOT,
    ADMIN,
    USER,
    GUEST
};

Using values:

user
  username required
  enum(root = 1001, admin = 2002, user, guest = 4004) role

Java:

public enum Role {
    ROOT = 1001,
    ADMIN = 2002,
    USER,
    GUEST = 4004
};

BIT FLAGS

Bit flags aren't nearly as common as enums, but useful for when using several booleans into one value, like read, write, execute in permissions.

Example:

user
  username required
  flags(read, write, execute, delete) permissions

Java:

public final int PERMISSIONS_READ = 1;
public final int PERMISSIONS_WRITE = 2;
public final int PERMISSIONS_EXECUTE = 4;
public final int PERMISSIONS_DELETE = 8;

Just like enums, you can assign integer values to the flags.

user
  username required
  flags(read, write, exec_del = 12) permissions

Java:

public final int PERMISSIONS_READ = 1;
public final int PERMISSIONS_WRITE = 2;
public final int PERMISSIONS_EXEC_DELETE = 12;

RELATIONSHIPS

One-to-One

By referencing another object by name you create a one-to-one relationship. You can also use the one_to_one keyword.

user
  first
  address address <--- one-to-one

address
  street
  city
  state
  zip

One-to-Many

Use brackets [] to denote a one-to-many relationship between objects. You can also use the one_to_many keyword, array, -<, or 1*.

User
  first
  address[] address <---- one User to many address objects (you can also say address address[])

address
  street
  city
  state
  zip

Many-to-Many

Use angle brackets <> to denote many-to-many relationship between objects. You can also use the many_to_many keyword.

User
  first
  address<> address <---- many User objects to many address objects (you can also say address address<>)

address
  street
  city
  state
  zip

Intersect Table:
If you are using SQL, you know that you'll need an intersect table to be able to work with many-to-many relationships. By default a UserAddress table is created for you with the userId and addressId.

If you want to use a different name, specify it inbetween the angle brackets <>. For example:

address<MyUserAddresses> address

MISC TYPES

Here are additional property types you can add to change the way code is generated:

User
  username required unique <--- SQL will have UNIQUE NOT NULL
  first required <--- SQL will have NOT NULL
  last required <--- SQL will have NOT NULL
  password writeonly <--- make sure no getter is created

LENGTH AND PRECISION

By default a string is 50 characters wide, when it needs to be specified (SQL). You can change this by adding the length and precision in parenthesis, like in SQL.

User
  first(25)
  last(200)
  float(4,2) <-- or just use money shortcut

STYLES

You can tweak several styles to customize the code. You know what I mean. Make it look like you wrote it all. Create a file called brainstorm.config (or use -c to point to somewhere else). Here are styles you can adjust:

Types:

• style - upper (TEST_NAME), uppertight (TESTNAME), lower (test_name), lowertight (testname), camel (testName), title (TestName), frndly (Test Name).
• bool - boolean true, false, 1, 0, yes, no
• int - non-negative integer