Plugins

A plugin brings a format or a framework to archec in one folder. It holds three kinds of declarations:

• a generator adds a code target (archec gen --target <id>, see generators);
• an importer reads a file of another tool into arche-lang (archec import <file>);
• an exporter writes the model as a file of another tool (archec export <main.arche> --format <id>).

plugins/acme/
  library.arche     library acme "Acme tools" { version "0.1.0"; kind plugin }
  plugin.arche      its generators, importers and exporters
  kv/import.ts
  kv/export.ts
  cpp/generate.ts
  README.md

importer kv "Key-value files" {
  script "kv/import.ts"
  extensions ".kv"
  reads "../.."
}

exporter kv "Key-value files" {
  script "kv/export.ts"
  extension ".kv"
}

generator acme-cpp "Acme C++" {
  script "cpp/generate.ts"
  option framework "The runtime" { type string; values acme, stl; default acme }
}

archec import settings.kv -o settings.arche
archec export main.arche --format kv -o settings.kv
archec gen main.arche --target acme-cpp --option framework=stl
archec plugin list main.arche

These are not the Arche app's plugins (plugin records, plugins.yaml): those run in the app.

Where archec finds plugins#

When two declare the same id, the nearer wins: the project's own declarations first, then the order of the table. A project needs no include: uses acme "^1" is enough. A plugin's declarations are read on their own. Only the commands that run them see them, and a project's generator x from <a plugin's>.

A built-in plugin's hooks (after c) do not run: what archec ships does not change every project's files.

archec plugin list [main.arche] lists the plugins, where each comes from, and what each brings, with their options. It also says what is wrong in a plugin's own declarations. Without a project, it lists the built-in plugins and those of ./plugins.

Importers#

archec import <file> picks the importer whose extensions end the file's name, the longest ending first. A built-in importer keeps its own endings (.dbc, .sysml, .urdf, …); a plugin's importer takes them only when it is named: archec import bus.dbc --importer mydbc.

Without --project, archec import sees the plugins of main.arche in the current folder, else only the built-in ones and those of ./plugins. A library's plugin needs its project: --project main.arche.

A script#

export default function importFile(input, ctx) {
  // input: { api: 1, importer, file, name, text, options }
  const names = [...input.text.matchAll(/identifier="(\w+)"/g)].map((m) => m[1]);
  if (!names.length) ctx.warn({ line: 1 }, 'no identifier');
  return { files: { 'main.arche': names.map((n) => `component ${n}`).join('\n') + '\n' } };
}

export function importFile and module.exports = function … work too. It returns { files, notes, warnings, errors }:

• files: { "path": "text" }, or [{ path, text }]. Paths are relative to the output, and never leave it.
• notes: plain strings.
• warnings, errors: strings, or { where, message }. where is a line of the imported file ({ line: 12 }) or of another one ({ file, line }).

ctx gives:

• options: the importer's options, with --option k=v for a run;
• readFile(rel), exists(rel), listFiles(rel): files beside the imported file, relative to its folder;
• readOwn(rel): a file of the plugin's folder (its tables, its library models);
• render(template, data), filters: the template language;
• note(msg), warn(where, msg), error(where, msg).

What a script may read#

A script runs in the generators' sandbox: no process, no network, no module but the plugin's own (import … from './core/view'). It reads, and only reads:

• the imported file's folder and what is under it;
• the plugin's own folder;
• the folders the importer names with reads, relative to the imported file's folder. A format whose files name others two folders up says reads "../..";
• the folders given with --allow-read <dir> for one run.

A read outside them, or through a link that leads out, is an error.

A command#

importer kv "Key-value files" { command "python3 kv.py"; extensions ".kv" }

The command runs in the plugin's folder. It reads the input as JSON on its stdin — { "api": 1, "importer", "file", "name", "text", "options" } — and writes the result as JSON on its stdout. What it writes on stderr is shown as notes. A command is not sandboxed: it is code, approved like a script.

What archec does with the result#

• No -o: one file goes to stdout; several are an error.
• -o x.arche: the one file.
• -o folder: the files, under it.

Then archec checks what it wrote, as archec build would: the main.arche written, else the first .arche. An error there fails the import (exit 1).

Exporters#

An exporter is a generator whose files are another tool's: it reads the same generator model (version 1), and comes as templates, a script (function generate(model, ctx)) or a command. Its options, typed options, from, needs deployment and errors at the elements' at work as a generator's.

archec export <main.arche> --format <id> runs it. Without --format, -o picks the exporter whose extension ends its name; -o model.json stays the model's JSON.

• One file: -o is that file, whatever the exporter calls it. Without -o, it goes to stdout.
• Several files: -o is a folder.

Plugins as packages#

A Store package of kind plugin is a plugin: its library.arche, its plugin.arche, and the files they need. Scripts are TypeScript (.ts): a package holds no .js. Templates may end in .tpl.

archec store check ./acme            # kind plugin needs a plugin.arche
archec add main.arche acme/acme@^0.1
archec plugin approve main.arche acme

archec store seed publishes the built-in plugins as arche/<name>.

Approval#

A library's templates run as they are. Its scripts and commands run on the machine of whoever builds the project, so they run only once approved:

archec plugin approve main.arche acme            # lists its code, then records it
archec plugin approve main.arche acme --revoke

Each script or command is recorded in arche.lock at the library's fingerprint: acme/importer:kv, acme/exporter:kv, and acme/acme-cpp for a generator (archec generator approve approves one generator). When the library changes, it is refused until it is approved again. The project's own plugins, the user's and the built-in ones need no approval.

What is checked#

The codes are the generators': generator and generator-option.

• An importer is a script or a command, not templates.
• An importer without extensions runs only with --importer (a warning).
• An importer or an exporter has no after, and an importer no builtins.
• Options are held as a generator's.