[[PageOutline]] = !RefactorErl Console Interface = When running !RefactorErl, you can control the tool via function calls typed into the Erlang shell. !RefactorErl has many features, and is quite a complex system with dozen of functions whose name we do not expect our users to remember. In order to ease and unify the command-level access to all the analysis and refactoring functionality, we have designed a group of Erlang functions that cover the most frequently used features of the tool. The module these functions are located in is called {{{ri}}}, you can use this module to interact easily with the tool. You can add files/directories to the database, run [[SemanticQuery|semantic queries]], create backups, or even do [[RefactoringSteps|transformations]] via this Erlang-level interface. == Command-line help == Help can be acquired in {{{ri}}} with {{{ #!erlang ri:help(). }}} or even shorter as {{{ #!erlang ri:h(). }}} This function lists several topics, on which further help is available by {{{ #!erlang ri:h(Topic). }}} If you need specific help with a function, simply call it with an {{{_h}}} postfix to the name. For example, help for the function add is available by calling {{{ #!erlang ri:add_h() }}} == Compiling the tool == The tool can be compiled/recompiled by invoking {{{ #!erlang ri:build(). }}} You can also specify build parameters, but this feature is mostly applied through the development, so please find the module documentation for the details. Note that this build function tries to compile the [[NifDB|NIF graph representation]] as well, if these have not been compiled yet. If you want to prevent this, you can use the {{{no_nif}}} build parameter. == Managing files == You can add files to the !RefactorErl database by calling the add function with either a filename as a string or a module name as an atom. Note that in the latter case, "ri" defaults to the current working directory (which you may work around by including a path in your singe-quoted atom). If you specify a directory instead of a regular filename, then it will be recursively traversed. You may just as well give a list of atoms or strings to add more files at once. All of the following example commands would add the same file: {{{ #!erlang cd(dir), ri:add(modname). ri:add('dir/modname'). ri:add(['dir/modname']). ri:add("dir/modname.erl"). ri:add("/current/dir/modname.erl"). }}} The module displays the progression of loading. Removing files from the database is similarly easy and also recursive, except for one difference. You need not restrict yourself to dropping a module relative to the current directory, but in exchange you must use real module names that do not contain path delimiters. The following will equally work: {{{ #!erlang ri:drop(modname). ri:drop([modname]). ri:drop("dir/modname.erl"). ri:drop("/current/dir/modname.erl"). }}} Modules can be loaded as applications, but the base of your library has to be set before: {{{ #!erlang ri:addenv(appbase, "path/to/my/applib"). }}} You can check the already given application base directories: {{{ #!erlang ri:envs(). }}} Let's see an example: {{{ #!erlang % Here 'appbase' contains 'usr'. (refactorerl@localhost)18> ri:envs(). output = original appbase = "/usr/local/lib/erlang/lib" (refactorerl@localhost)19> ri:add(usr, synatx_tools). Application synatx_tools not found under usr not_found % 'appbase' contains 'usr', so syntax_tools will be loaded from % '/usr/local/lib/erlang/lib' (refactorerl@localhost)20> ri:add(usr, syntax_tools). Adding: /usr/local/lib/erlang/lib/syntax_tools-1.6.7.1/src ... }}} You can also set include directories to your include files using: {{{ #!erlang ri:addenv(include, "path/to/my/include"). }}} It is possible to delete the defined environment variables: {{{ #!erlang ri:delenv(include). }}} Or you can set an environmental variable to another value: {{{ #!erlang ri:setenv(env_name, "path/to/new_value"). }}} For convenience, both the filenames and the directory names can be given as atoms as well as strings. The list of loaded files can be obtained by calling {{{ #!erlang ri:ls(). }}} This call also displays the status of the loaded files (error or no_error). If the module m is loaded, {{{ #!erlang ri:ls(m). }}} will give information about the functions, records and macros in the file. The contents of a file can be listed by {{{ #!erlang ri:cat(m). }}} Usually, Erlang source files (having the extension .erl) are loaded into !RefactorErl. In addition, !RefactorErl is also capable of loading compiled .beam files. {{{ #!erlang ri:add("compiled.beam"). }}} Note that this feature is applicable only to those .beam files that were compiled with the debug_info option. Also note that the resulting file will be pretty printed by !RefactorErl. == Using transformations == Transformations can be called using their abbreviated names, and the list of required parameters. These commands are listed in [[RefactoringSteps|refactoring functionalities]]. There is another way to call a transormation. This way let the user to choose: user wants to specify all of arguments or not. There are lots of cases when the user can not specify all of the required arguments. In this case the tool can help the user with interactions. The tool ask questions and the user has to answer it to specify the missing arguments. The interactions also work if there are problems with the given arguments. == Manipulating the graph == You can reset the database by invoking {{{ #!erlang ri:reset(). }}} This will remove all loaded files. This function should be called if the graph gets corrupted. You can add a checkpoint using {{{ #!erlang ri:backup(). }}} If the transformations you have performed are not satisfactory, you can go back to the previous checkpoint using {{{ #!erlang ri:undo(). }}} If you use [[NifDB|NIF graph database]], then it is little different:[[BR]] You can create backups with '''ri:backup/0''' or '''ri:backup/1''' and you can load these backups with '''ri:restore/1'''. When execute a transformation a backup will be created, which name differs from the ordinary backups, and the '''ri:undo/0''' function will restore that. == Inspecting the graph == You can draw the semantic representation graph of !RefactorErl by calling {{{ #!erlang ri:graph(). }}} This function produces a .dot file (by default, graph.dot, although this can be customised), which can be transformed to several visual formats using Graphviz. One of these transformations is available from !RefactorErl for convenience: {{{ #!erlang ri:svg(). }}} The representation can be altered: {{{ #!erlang ri:svg(OutFile, Filter). }}} where Filter is one of the following:\\ * '''all''': default, all edges except environmental ones are shown.\\ * '''syn''': only syntactic edges are shown.\\ * '''sem''': only semantic edges are shown.\\ * '''lex''': only lexical edges are shown.\\ * '''all_env''': all edges are shown, no filtering.\\ * '''ctx''': context related edges are shown.\\ * '''not_lex''': all edges except lexical ones are shown.\\ * '''dataflow''': dataflow related edges are shown.\\ * '''a list of the above''': shows the union of the designated subgraphs.\\ == Using queries == Queries can be invoked by either {{{ #!erlang ri:q(Query). }}} or {{{ #!erlang ri:q(Module, Regexp, Query). }}} The former is applicable when a query starts generally, such as {{{ #!erlang ri:q("mods.funs.name"). }}} For those queries that begin from a selected position (these queries start with "@" when used from Emacs), the second variant is required. As the console cannot mark a position, the first and the second component indicate the starting point for the query. The following example shows how to get all the variables used in the body of the function '''f/2''' from the module '''m'''. {{{ #!erlang ri:q(m, "f\\(X, Y\\)", "@fun.var"). }}} Additional options can be given to a [[SemanticQuery|semantic query]] in a proplist as the last argument. The following arguments are currently recognized:\\ * '''{out,!FileName}''': write the textual output of a query to a file.\\ * '''linenum''': prepends match sites with file and line number information.\\ similar to '''grep -n'''. The following example outputs all defined functions with line numbers to a file named result.txt. {{{ #!erlang ri:q("mods.funs",[linenum,{out,"result.txt"}]). }}} There is a [[SemanticQuery|semantic queries]] page, where you can learn more about this topic. == Dependency analysis == The two interface functions are: 1. For drawing: {{{#!erlang ri:draw_dep/1 }}} 2. For printing the result to stdout: {{{#!erlang ri:print_dep/1 }}} === Options === The parameter of the interface functions is a proplist setting the options of the analysis. The available options are: * {{{level (mod | func)}}} The level of the dependency query (module or function). * {{{type (all | cycles)}}} Whether the investigation should be done on the whole graph, or just on the cyclic part (if exists). When printing out the cycles, type {{{all}}} returns graph nodes, while {{{cycles}}} returns names. * {{{otp (true | false)}}} Whether Erlang/OTP standard modules should be included in the analysis or not. * {{{gnode}}} List of entity or entities that should be the starting point of the analysis. Especially at function level, the list is compulsory when the functions are identified by their module, name, arity. * exception List of entities excluded from the analysis. * leaves List of those entities which should be included in the analysis, but their children should not (and consequently the children become exceptions). * {{{dot}}} The file path of the generated {{{.dot}}} graph description. Unless it is a non-existing absolute path, the graph will be placed into the {{{./dep_files}}} directory. This option is only available when using {{{draw_dep}}}. You can specify entities either with graph nodes (such as {{{{'$gn', func, 123}}}}) or with their identifier. Modules can be specified with their names as atoms (e.g. 'mnesia'), while functions are specified by their MFA descriptor as a string (e.g. "io:format/2") === Examples for listing results === * Checking for cycles in module level. {{{#!erlang ri:print_dep([{level, mod}, {type, all}]). }}} * Checking for cycles in function level, and printing out names of the functions (Module:Function/Arity). {{{#!erlang ri:print_dep([{level, func}, {type, cycles}]). }}} {{{#!erlang [['foo:fv4/1','foo:fv4/1'], ['test3:p/1','test:fv6/1','test3:p/1'], ['cycle4:f4/1','cycle3:f3/1','cycle4:f4/1'], ['cycle2:fv2/1','cycle1:fv1/0','cycle2:fv2/1'], ['test:fv5/1','test:fv4/2','test:fv5/1'], ['cycle4:f5/1','cycle3:f6/1','cycle4:f5/1']] }}} * Checking for cycles in function level, and printing out the graph nodes of the functions. {{{#!erlang ri:print_dep([{level, func}, {type, all}]). }}} {{{#!erlang {"6 cycle(s)", {[[{'$gn',func,28},{'$gn',func,28}], [{'$gn',func,29},{'$gn',func,37},{'$gn',func,29}], [{'$gn',func,7},{'$gn',func,9},{'$gn',func,7}], [{'$gn',func,2},{'$gn',func,1},{'$gn',func,2}], [{'$gn',func,36},{'$gn',func,35},{'$gn',func,36}], [{'$gn',func,8},{'$gn',func,6},{'$gn',func,8}]]} }}} * Checking for cycles in module level from a given node {{{#!erlang ri:print_dep([{level, mod}, {gnode, {'$gn', module, 24}}]). }}} {{{#!erlang {true,[[{'$gn',module,24}, {'$gn',module,25}, {'$gn',module,24}]]} }}} * Checking for cycles in function level from a node given with its identifier {{{#!erlang ri:print_dep([{level, func}, {gnode, ["cycle4:f5/1"]}]). }}} == Server management command list == Here's the list of supported server management commands:\\ * '''add(FDML)''': add a module, file, directory or a list of these to the database. \\ * '''drop(FDML)''': drop a module from the database. \\ * '''ls()''': list files that are in the database. \\ * '''backup()''': update the backup (checkpoint). \\ * '''undo()''': undo the transformation (rollback, only one step). \\ * '''clean()''': clean backups (delete all checkpoints). \\ * '''reset()''': reset the database to an empty state, but valid schema. \\ * '''graph(Target)''': assume no options and call one of the next two. \\ * '''graph(Atom,Options)''': assume ".dot" extension and call the one below. \\ * '''graph(File,Options)''': draw the graph with the given options. \\ * '''svg()''': draw the graph to graph.svg and call Graphviz. \\ * '''svg(File)''' \\ * '''svg(File, Options)''' \\ The additional/modied commands, that you can use, if you use the [[NifDB|NIF database engine]]:\\ * '''backup()''': creates a backup. \\ * '''backup(!CommitLog)''': creates a backup as '''ri:backup/0''', but here the user can attach a commit log to the backup file. \\ * '''ls_backups()''': returns a lists of backups, that has been created before with '''ri:backup/0''' or '''ri:backup/1'''. \\ * '''backup_info(Backup)''': returns information about the given backup. \\ * '''restore(Backup)''': restores the given backup. \\ * '''create_graph(Name)''': creates a graph with the given name. \\ * '''rename_graph(!OldName, !NewName)''': renames a graph that has the given !OldName, with the given !NewName. \\ * '''ls_graphs()''': returns a list of the created graphs. \\ * '''actual_graph()''': returns the actual graph's name. \\ * '''load_graph(Name)''': loads the given graph. \\ * '''delete_graph(Name)''': removes the given graph. \\ * '''delete_all_graphs()''': removes all graphs. \\