T4 Templates Cheat Sheet

A Programming › .NET cheat sheet in English by GregFinzer

Cheat Sheet for Microsoft T4 Templates

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PRs

T4 Extensions

Devart T4 Editor	https://www.devart.com/t4-editor/
Tangible Engineering T4 Editor	https://t4-editor.tangible-engineering.com/T4-Editor-Visual-T4-Editing.html
Resharper T4 Extension	https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/13469-fortea/

Microsoft Documentation on T4

Overview of T4	https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/modeling/code-generation-and-t4-text-templates?view=vs-2019
Writing a T4 Template	https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/modeling/writing-a-t4-text-template?view=vs-2019
TextTransform.exe	https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/modeling/generating-files-with-the-texttransform-utility?view=vs-2019

Template Header

Define Language and Debugging	`<#@ template debug="false" hostspecific="true" language="C#" #>`
Define File Extension	`<#@ output extension=".cs" #>`
Reference Built In Assembly	`<#@ assembly name="System.Core" #>`
Reference External Assembly	`<#@ assembly name="$(projectDir)\Assemblies\KellermanSoftware.NET-Code-Generator-Logic.dll" #>`
Include Another Template	`<#@ include file="$(projectDir)\Includes\CSharpHelper.tt" #>`

Control Blocks

<#
    for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
    {#>
          This is index <#= i+1 #>
<#  }#>

Videos on T4 Templates

C# Code Generation Using T4 Templates	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGvwOwv7KQ8
Code Generation with T4 Templates	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK17iNvJqQs

Text Template Utility Methods

WriteLine("Some Text")

Write("Some Text")

PushIndent("\t")

ClearIndent()

Class Feature Block

<#+
    private string GetTemplateDirectory()
    {
        return Path.GetDirectoryName(Host.TemplateFile);
    }

    private void SaveOutput(string outputFileName, string subDirectory= "") {
        string templateDirectory = GetTemplateDirectory();
        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(subDirectory))
        {
            templateDirectory = Path.Combine(templateDirectory, subDirectory);
        }
        string outputFilePath = Path.Combine(templateDirectory, outputFileName);

        if (!Directory.Exists(templateDirectory))
        {
            Directory.CreateDirectory(templateDirectory);
        }

        File.WriteAllText(outputFilePath, this.GenerationEnvironment.ToString()); 
        this.GenerationEnvironment.Clear();
    }
#>

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