C#•5mo ago

What's the proper way to build source generator?

Problem I've just started my source generator with minimal example. When I made change to C.Text, and run dotnet build or dotnet clean && dotnet build for generator project, the change doesn't apply to the console app references this generator(sometimes it may work) Console project

using MyGenerator;

Console.WriteLine(C.Text);

using MyGenerator;

Console.WriteLine(C.Text);

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

 <ItemGroup>
  <ProjectReference Include="../MySourceGenerator/MySourceGenerator.csproj" OutputItemType="Analyzer" ReferenceOutputAssembly="false" />
 </ItemGroup>
</Project>

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

 <ItemGroup>
  <ProjectReference Include="../MySourceGenerator/MySourceGenerator.csproj" OutputItemType="Analyzer" ReferenceOutputAssembly="false" />
 </ItemGroup>
</Project>

## Generator project

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
    <EnforceExtendedAnalyzerRules>true</EnforceExtendedAnalyzerRules>
    <LangVersion>latest</LangVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Analyzers" Version="3.3.4">
      <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
      <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
    </PackageReference>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp" Version="4.8.0" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
    <EnforceExtendedAnalyzerRules>true</EnforceExtendedAnalyzerRules>
    <LangVersion>latest</LangVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Analyzers" Version="3.3.4">
      <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
      <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
    </PackageReference>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp" Version="4.8.0" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

2 Replies

Thinker•5mo ago

If you're asking about the proper way to build source generators, then the proper way is to write unit tests for the generator. It's generally a pain to debug and test generators by running them from the command-line, and tests are a much more reliable method of testing them. On another note, this generator is quite obviously a work-in-progress, but you should never do context.CompilationProvider.Combine(...); as passing Compilations through your incremental pipeline completely breaks incrementality.

wtq40cy3n•5mo ago

I simply followed the introduction from dotnet channel on youtube, I can't find documentation of IIncrementalGenerator with unit testing, they're almost all about ISourceGenerator. Currently I don't really understand what incrementality is, is a there any recommended doc or video to follow?

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What's the proper way to build source generator?