Updates of Spoofax cause Eclipse to time out; why?

Due to a known problem with the combination of Eclipse 3.7, Java 1.7, and Windows, the update manager can be very slow or time out when downloading plugins. As a workaround, you can add the option -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true to your eclipse.ini file, as described on the Download page.

Sometimes Spoofax says "see error log." Where can I find it?

Go to Window > Show view > Error log.

Which files of a language project should I check into my SVN/CVS/GIT/etc. version management system?

You should check in all files, except for the bin and include distribution directories. Some Spoofax projects also have a utils directory that does not have to be checked in. Be sure to check in the hidden files/directories that Eclipse maintains (.project, .classpath, and .externalToolBuilders). If you use an Eclipse plugin such as Subclipse, it'll check these files in automatically. If you want, you can skip some of the .generated files, but at this point the build.generated.xml and lib/editor-common.generated.str files are required to build the project.

How can I compile my Stratego specification to a JAR file instead of an interpreted ctree?

In your build.main.xml file, change this line:

<target name="all" depends="spoofaximp.default.ctree"/>

into

<target name="all" depends="spoofaximp.default.jar"/>

Then in your editor/YourLanguage-Builders.esv, change the provider from provider: include/yourlang.ctree to provider: include/yourlang.jar. (There may already be a provider: include/yourlang-java.jar entry there.) When you distribute your plugin, be sure you set the "unpack" option to "true" for your plugin.

How do I deploy my language plugin to other users?

Either distribute it in source form to other Spoofax users, or follow the steps of our Tour to distribute it as an Eclipse plugin that does not require an existing installation of Spoofax.

How can I use Spoofax with C-based Stratego projects?

Stratego projects written with the C version of Stratego typically have a very different project structure from the one employed by Spoofax projects. To migrate these projects to Spoofax, we advise users to create a new Spoofax project with a wizard and adapt the existing project to this structure. The `build.main.xml` file can be used to set any Stratego options and file locations for use with the Ant build system. Also see the next question.

How can I suppress errors in the Stratego editor in legacy Stratego projects?

Add a file called `.disable-global-analysis` to disable all non-local errors. Any local errors such as missing local variables will still be reported, but non-local errors such as missing strategies or constructors will then be ignored. Use `.warn-global-analysis` to print warnings instead for non-local errors.

If I have two versions of the same language in my workspace, which one will be used?

If you have two versions of a language (e.g., one version installed as a plugin and another loaded from source), the last version that you loaded "wins." Any Java components loaded using the default Eclipse plugin system can only be loaded from installed.

How can I call Java methods from my editor?

See The Tour: Adding Java components.

When does Eclipse show the Spoofax console?

The Spoofax console can be used to print debugging messages. It is only shown for editors that have been dynamically loaded from source; not for editors that are deployed to end users.

How do I debug my Stratego code?

Stratego does not have a stepping debugger at this point. Instead, you can try <debug(!"some message)> x to print a message in the console with the value of term x, or just debug(!"some message") to print the message and the current term. You can also use the with keyword in rewrite rules as follows:

rewrite: x -> x'
with
  x' := <s> ....

which ensures that a stack trace is printed when the body of the with fails (e.g., because s cannot be applied).

How can I output multiple files from a Stratego rule?

You can write directly to a file as follows:

handle := <fopen> ("somefilename.ext", "w");
<fputs> ("file contents string", handle);
fclose

If you use this API from a builder or on save rule, you can change it to the following form to ensure it only writes files statements like the above:

generate-java:
  (selected, position, ast, path, project-path) -> None()

How can I use concrete syntax with Spoofax?

See YellowGrass issue 55.

When I hit "build project" nothing seems to happen? What's wrong?

Eclipse must have decided that you already ran the Ant file that controls the build. Just edit and save one of the files in the project and try again.

Eclipse gets very slow after using it for some time or when opening many editors

The most common cause of this is a lack of heap memory. The default Eclipse setting of 256M (or 512M for 64-bit systems) is very small, even for casual Eclipse users. Please configure your Eclipse installation to use more memory.

How can I refresh a file when Eclipse won't respond to F5?

This seems to be a common issue in Eclipse. Instead of pressing F5, right-click on the file in the package explorer and select "Refresh".

When implementing content proposals, what to do when I get a NOCONTEXT term?

The NOCONTEXT term indicates that the parser is unable to construct a valid abstract syntax tree that corresponds to the grammar, for the part of the tree where content completion is triggered. You can add additional rules to the grammar to help it make a (partial) tree for these cases, as documented on the mailing list. This is an area for future improvement. Don't hesitate to ask further questions about this topic!

Where can I find the latest bleeding edge versions of Spoofax?

The very latest builds of Spoofax can be downloaded by configuring Eclipse to use the http://download.spoofax.org/update/nightly update site. These versions are frequently updated, haven't undergone extensive testing, and may break existing features. If you run into any problems with the nightly releases, make sure you run the latest version and report the bug with the version number used in the issue tracker. Current resolved and unresolved issues for the nightly builds are listed in the roadmap.

"Artifact not found" during installation?

Eclipse can report this error when it tries to download an older version of Spoofax that is no longer available. (This can especially occur with the nightly builds.) Restarting Eclipse or going to the "available update sites" dialog and refreshing or deleting and re-adding the update site should solve this problem.

How do I report a deadlock?

See how to report a deadlock in the Eclipse wiki.

How do I call Java functions from Stratego?

You have to wrap them as Stratego strategies. If you generate a new project, the editor/java/YOURLANGUAGE/strategies/java_strategy_0_0.java class gives an example. If you want to add strategies to an existing Spoofax project, you can add further strategy classes to the same directory:

• Create a new class that extends `Strategy`, following the template of `java_strategy_0_0.java`
• Add a reference to that class in InteropRegisterer.java

Where can I find answers to some of my other questions?

Maybe our documentation can answer your question. Otherwise, the YellowGrass issue tracker lists issue reports and questions from other users. You can add your own question there, or contact us directly.