Use $PROJECT_DIR$ instead of absolute path in misc.xml ANTLR configuration

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Summary

The output directory is configured as an absolute path, which leads to problems when the project is moved.

Version

plugin: 1.14
Windows 7 x64
IntelliJ IDEA Community 2020.2

Description

When the user creates a parser file, right-clicks on it and selects 'Configure ANTLR', he is presented with a configuration fill form with, among other settings, 'Output directory where all output is generated'.

The setting is stored in $PROJECT_DIR$/.idea/misc.xml, for ex:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project version="4">
  <component name="ANTLRGenerationPreferences">
    <option name="perGrammarGenerationSettings">
      <list>
        <PerGrammarGenerationSettings>
          <option name="outputDir" value="D:\projects\test\gen\myParser" />
[...]

Note that 'outputDir' is an absolute path, with the OS convention for directory separators.
When the project is used on another machine, or in another directory, this has the side-effect that the output directory is mislocated, at best. On a different OS it may be misinterpreted completely.

Instead, it should look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project version="4">
  <component name="ANTLRGenerationPreferences">
    <option name="perGrammarGenerationSettings">
      <list>
        <PerGrammarGenerationSettings>
          <option name="outputDir" value="$PROJECT_DIR$/gen/myParser" />
[...]

The solution is to:

• detect whether the output directory is under the project path, and if so, replace the project path with $PROJECT_DIR$
• use the slash character as directory separator

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It's confusing.

If I configure the parser file with the GUI and set the output directory to "gen", and the package to "myParser",

• the first time, it will generate the files as expected in the project directory, under "gen/myParser" and set "package myParser" in the source files
• if I quit and reload the project, it will have lost its configuration
• if I put the configuration again, it will output the files directly under "gen"

Sometimes it adds multiple identical configurations in misc.xml.

It seems very unstable. Let me know if that's a known issue, if not I can try and describe the steps. I'm using a pure IntelliJ project because I can't see how to setup a project with gradle, it's too fickle.

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I confirm the problem, it's completely unstable for me, whether I put a relative (gen) or an absolute path (using the button to select the directory), or even if I put $PROJECT_DIR$/gen/myParser.

1. Create Kotlin project, build Intellij (not Gradle)

2. Add lexer and parser files, for example in src/main/antlr/

3. Create gen/myParser directory

4. Add antlr-runtime-4.8 lib to the libraries of the project (manually looking where they are)

5. Mark src/main/antlr as Sources Root, gen as Generated Sources Root

6. Right-click on parser .g4 file, Configure ANTLR..., set output directory 'gen' (or use the button to select the directory), set package to myParser

7. Right-click on parser and Generate ANTLR Recognizer
   => the generated Java source files are under gen/myParser, they begin with package myParser

8. Quit IntelliJ, remove the gen/myParser content

9. Start IntelliJ, load the project if not done automatically

10. Right-click on parser .g4 file, Configure ANTLR...
    => the configuration is gone

11. Right-click on parser and Generate ANTLR Recognizer
    => the generated sources are put under gen, no package

12. Right-click on parser .g4 file, Configure ANTLR..., set output directory 'gen' (or use the button to select the directory), set package to myParser

13. Right-click on parser and Generate ANTLR Recognizer
    => the generated Java source files are under gen/myParser, they begin with package myParser

We would believe it's fine again (until we quite IntelliJ), but looking at .idea/misc.xml, it doesn't look good, the configuration is stored twice.

I have another older project in which I set manually the outputDir to $PROJECT_DIR$/gen/myParser, and it seems stable, but I can't reproduce that in my new project anymore. I don't know what difference causes this.

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I noticed that if I replaced the backslashes by slashes (see screenshot), the form was saving the outputDir "correctly" (it will still fail next time IntelliJ starts): <option name="outputDir" value="$PROJECT_DIR$/gen" />

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I have made a simple test, to try and reproduce the problem, but

• if I uncompress it in D:\tmp, I can't reproduce the problem, no matter what I try, it remains stable and the configuration is not lost.
• if I uncompress it in D:\projects\ANTLR, the first time I load the project, I can reproduce the problem, the configuration is lost (blank form when I open the configuration in the GUI). Then every time after.

I'm giving up, here is the project in attachment, perhaps someone can see something. In the mean time, I have taken my old project, removed the sources, added the sources and parser files of the new project I must work on, and it seems OK so far.

Note: The first time, one may have to adjust the libraries. Mine are stored in C:\dev\Java\lib, there's antlr-4.8-complete.jar antlr-runtime-4.8.jar junit-jupiter-5.5.1.jar. Running Main.kt should work, because I left the generated parser. I wish I could use Gradle to avoid those dependency problems, but I yet have to find a build.gradle.kts that works with ANTLR (and even more, which sets up the plugin correctly).

testANTLR.02.zip

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Maybe IntelliJ or the plugin is storing something related to the project path in a cache somewhere.

If I rename the project directory in D:\projects\ANTLR (and remove .idea/workspace.xml, as always), for example testANTLR2 instead of testANTLR, then just checking the configuration is fine. If I rename back to testANTLR (and remove .idea/workspace.xml), checking the configuration shows it's empty in the GUI.

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For information, I had to uninstall IntelliJ IDEA, wipe out all settings in %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/JetBrains and ../Roaming/.., reinstall everything. Now it seems stable again.

There must be a configuration cached somewhere that sometimes interferes and reset the plugin configuration.

[parrt]

Yikes. I am not sure how all the project cache files work.