derive_deftly

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§Template syntax (and expansion options) reference

Table of contents
(see also the Index)

Reference documentation for the actual proc macros is in the crate-level docs for derive-deftly.

§Template syntax overview

Within the macro template, expansions (and control structures) are introduced with $. They generally refer to properties of the data structure that we’re deriving from. We call that data structure the driver.

In general the syntax is:

  • $KEYWORD: Invoke the expansion of the keyword KEYWORD.
  • ${KEYWORD ARGS...}: Invoke with parameters.
  • $( .... ): Repetition (abbreviated, automatic, form). (Note: there is no + or * after the ))
  • $< .... >: Identifier pasting (shorthand for ${paste ...}).

In all cases, $KEYWORD is equivalent to ${KEYWORD}.

You can pass a $ through by writing $$.

Many of the expansion keywords start with f, v, or s to indicate the depth of the thing being expanded:

  • f...: Expand something belonging to a particular Field.

  • v...: Expand something belonging to a particular Variant.

  • t...: Expand something applying to the whole Top-level type.

In the keyword descriptions below, X is used to stand in for one of f, v or t.

Defining a new type based on the driver requires more complex and subtle syntax, generated by special-purpose expansions $Xdef....

(Here, within this documentation, we often write in CAPITALS to indicate meta-meta-syntactic elements, since all of the punctuation is already taken.)

Inner attributes (#![...] and //!...) are not allowed in templates.

§Named and positional template arguments to expansions and conditions

Some expansions and conditions take (possibly optional) named arguments, or multiple positional arguments, whose values are templates:

  • ${KEYWORD NAME=ARG NAME=ARG ...}
  • ${KEYWORD ARG1 ARG2 ...}
  • CONDITION(NAME=ARG, NAME=ARG, ...)
  • CONDITION(ARG1, ARG2, ...)

The acceptable contents vary, but the syntax is always the same. Each ARG must be one of:

  • IDENTIFIER
  • LITERAL (eg, NUMBER or "STRING")
  • $EXPANSION (including ${KEYWORD...}, $<...>, etc.)
  • { STUFF }, where STUFF is expanded. (The { } are just for delimiting the value, and are discarded).

§Repetition and nesting

The driving data structure can contain multiple variants, which can in turn contain multiple fields; there are also attributes.

Correspondingly, sections of the template, indicated by ${for ...} and $(...), are expanded multiple times.

With ${for ...}, what is iterated over is specified explicitly.

When $( ... ) is used, what is iterated over is automatically inferred from the content: most expansions and conditions imply a “level”: what possibly-repeated part of the driver they correspond to. All the expansions directly within $(...) must have the same repetition level.

With both ${for } and $(...), if the repetition level is “deeper” than the level of the surrounding template, the surrounding levels are also repeated over, effectively “flattening”. For example, expanding $( $fname ) at the very toplevel, will iterate over all of the field names; if the driver is an enum; it will iterate over all of the fields in each of the variants in turn.

structs and unions do not have variants, but derive-deftly treats them as having a single (unnamed) variant.

§Examples

For example enum Enum:

  • $($vname,): UnitVariant, TupleVariant, NamedVariant,
  • $($fname): 0 field field_b field_e field_o
  • ${for fields { hello }}: hello hello hello hello

§Expansions

Each expansion keyword is described in this section. The examples each show the expansions for (elements of) the same example Unit, Tuple, Struct and Enum, shown below.

§$fname, $vname, $tname – names

The name of the field, variant, or toplevel type. This is an the identifier (without any path or generics). For tuple fields, $fname is the field number.

$fname is not suitable for direct use as a local variable name. It might clash with other local variables; and, unlike most other expansions, $fname has the hygiene span of the driver field name. Instead, use $vpat, $fpatname, or ${paste ... $fname ...} ($<... $fname ...>).

§Examples
  • $fname: 0, field, field_b
  • $vname: UnitVariant
  • $tname: Tuple, Struct, Enum

§$fvis, $tvis, $fdefvis – visibility

The visibility of the field, or toplevel type.

Expands to pub, pub(crate), etc. Expands to nothing for private types or fields.

This looks only at the syntax in the driver definition; an item which is pub might still not be reachable, for example if it is in a private inner module.

§Enums and visibility

In Rust, enum variants and fields don’t have separate visibility; they inherit visibility from the enum itself. So there is no $vvis.

For enum fields, $fvis expands to the same as $tvis. Use $fvis for the effective visibility of a field, eg when defining a derived method.

$fdefvis is precisely what was written in the driver field definition, so always expands to nothing for enum fields - even though those might be public. Use $fdefvis when defining a new enum.

§Examples
  • $tvis for Unit: pub
  • $tvis for Enum: pub
  • $tvis for others: nothing
  • $fvis for field in Struct: pub
  • $fvis for field_b in Struct: pub(crate)
  • $fvis for fields in Enum: pub
  • $fvis for others: nothing
  • $fdefvis for field in Struct: pub
  • $fdefvis for field_b in Struct: pub(crate)
  • $fdefvis for fields in Enum: nothing
  • $fdefvis for others: nothing

§$vpat, $fpatname – pattern matching and value deconstruction

$vpat expands to a pattern suitable for matching a value of the top-level type. It expands to TYPE { FIELD: f_FNAME, ... }, where TYPE names the top-level type or enum variant. (TYPE doesn’t have generics, since those are not allowed in patterns.)

Each field is bound to a local variant f_FNAME, where FNAME is the actual field name (or tuple field number).

$fpatname expands to f_FNAME for the current field.

§$vpat named arguments
  • self: top level type path. Default is $tname. Must expand to a syntactically valid type path, without generics.
  • vname: variant name. Default is $vname. Not expanded for structs.
  • fprefix: prefix to use for the local bindings. Useful if you need to bind multiple values at once. (Then, reference the bindings with $<FPREFIX $fname>; $fpatname doesn’t take a fprefix argument.) Default is f_.

These use derive-deftly’s usual syntax for named arguments.

§Examples
  • $vpat for structs: Unit { }, Tuple { 0: f_0, }
  • $vpat for enum variant: Enum::NamedVariant { field: f_field, ... }
  • $fpatname: f_0, f_field
  • ${vpat self=$<$tname Reference> vname=$<Ref $vname> fprefix=other_}: EnumReference::RefNamedVariant { field: other_field, ... }

§$ftype, $vtype, $ttype, $tdeftype – types

The type of the field, variant, or the toplevel type.

$ftype, $vtype and $ttype are suitable for referencing the type in any context (for example, when defining the type of a binding, or as a type parameter for a generic type). These contains all necessary generics (as names, without any bounds etc., but within ::<...>).

$vtype includes both the top-level enum type, and the variant. To construct a value, prefer $vtype rather than $ttype, since $vtype works with enums too.

$tdeftype is the driver type in a form suitable for defining a new type with a derived name (eg, using pasting). Contains all the necessary generics, with bounds, within <...> but without an introducing ::.

The toplevel type expansions, $ttype and $tdeftype, don’t contain a path prefix, even when a driver type argument to derive_deftly_adhoc! has a path prefix.

$vtype (and $ttype and $tdeftype) are not suitable for matching. Use $vpat for that.

§$vtype named arguments
  • self: top level type. Default is $ttype. Must expand to a syntactically valid type.
  • vname: variant name. Default is $vname. Not expanded for structs.

These can be specified using pasting $<...> to name related (derived) types and variants.

They use derive-deftly’s usual syntax for named arguments.

§Examples
  • $ftype: « std::iter::Once::<T> », « Option::<i32> »
  • $vtype for struct: Tuple::<'a, 'l, T, C>
  • $vtype for enum variant: Enum::TupleVariant::<'a, 'l, T, C>
  • $ttype: Enum::<'a, 'l, T, C>
  • $tdeftype: Enum<'a, 'l: 'a, T: Display = usize, const C: usize = 1>
  • ${vtype self=$<$ttype Reference> vname=$<Ref $vname>} for enum variant: EnumReference::RefTupleVariant::<'a, 'l, T, C>

§$tgens, $tgnames, $twheres, $tdefgens – generics

Generic parameters and bounds, from the toplevel type, in various forms.

  • $tgens: The generic arguments, with bounds (and the types of const generics) but without defaults. Suitable for use when starting an impl.

  • $tgnames: The generic argument names, without bounds. Suitable for use in a field type or in the body of an impl.

  • $twheres: The where clauses, as written in the toplevel type definition.

  • $tdefgens: The generic arguments, with bounds, with defaults, as written in the toplevel type definition, suitable for defining a derived type.

If not empty, each of these will always have a trailing comma.

Bounds appear in $tgens/$tdefgens or $twheres, according to where they appear in the toplevel type, so for full support of generic types the template must expand both.

§Examples
  • $tgens: 'a, 'l: 'a, T: Display, const C: usize,
  • $tgnames: 'a, 'l, T, C,
  • $twheres: T: 'l, T: TryInto<u8>,
  • $tdefgens: 'a, 'l: 'a, T: Display = usize, const C: usize = 1,

§${tmeta(...)} ${vmeta(...)} ${fmeta(...)} – #[deftly] attributes

Accesses macro parameters passed via #[deftly(...)] attributes.

  • ${Xmeta(NAME)}: Looks for #[deftly(NAME="VALUE")], and expands to VALUE. "VALUE" must be be a string literal, which is parsed as a piece of Rust code, and then expanded. Normally, aa .. must be given, to specify how VALUE should be parsed; within $(paste ..}, as str is the default.

  • ${Xmeta(SUB(NAME))}: Looks for #[deftly(SUB(NAME="VALUE"))]. The #[deftly()] is parsed as a set of nested, comma-separated, lists. So this would find NAME in #[deftly(SUB1,SUB(N1,NAME="VALUE",N2),SUB2)]. The label can be arbitrarily deep, e.g.: ${Xmeta(L1(L2(L3(ATTR))))}.

  • ${Xmeta(...) as SYNTYPE}: Treats the value as a SYNTYPE. SYNTYPEs available are:

    • str: Expands to a string literal with the same contents as the string provided for VALUE. Ie, the attribute’s string value is not parsed. This is the default within pasting and case changing, if no as was specified. Within pasting and case changing, the provided string becomes part of the pasted identifier (and so must consist of legal identifier characters).

    • ty: VALUE is parsed as a type, possibly with generics etc. (syn::Type). When expanded, generic arguments have any missing :: inserted, so that the expansion is suitable for use in any context, (such as invoking an inherent or trait method).

    • path: VALUE is parsed as a path, possibly with generics etc. (syn::Path). Like as ty but non-path types are forbidden. Rust uses the same path syntax for types and modules, so this is suitable for accepting a module path, too.

    • expr: VALUE is parsed as an expression. When expanded, it is surrounded with ( ) to ensure correct precedence.

    • ident: VALUE is parsed as an identifier (or keyword). (Within pasting, prefer as str, the default; as ident rejects initial digits, and the empty string.)

    • items: VALUE is parsed as zero or more Rust Items (syn::Item). Note that the driver must pass the items’ source code in "...".

    • token_stream: VALUE is parsed as an arbtitrary sequence of tokens (TokenStream). When using this option, be careful about operator precedence: see Precedence considerations.

  • ${Xmeta(...) .. , default DEFAULT} (beta): If there is no VALUE expands the positional argument DEFAULT instead. NB: in this case the expansions of DEFAULT is used as is: not affected by any as .. clause; not surrounded with additional ( ) (for as expr), nor any additional None-delimited group.

When expanding ${Xmeta}, it is an error if the value was not specified in the driver, and also an error if multiple values were specified.

For a struct, both $tmeta and $vmeta look in the top-level attributes. This allows a template to have uniform handling of attributes which should affect how a set of fields should be processed.

Within ${Xmeta ..}, options (as and default) are each introduced with a keyword, and separated by commas.

§Attribute namespacing

derive-deftly does not impose any namespacing within #[deftly]: all templates see the same deftly meta attributes.

To avoid clashes, macros intended for general use should look for attributes within a namespace for that template. The usual convention is to accept attributes scoped within the snake-cased name of the template, as demonstrated in the introduction.

§Unrecognised/unused #[deftly(...)] attributes

Every #[deftly(...)] attribute on the input data structure must correspond to a ${Xmeta...} expansion (or fmeta(...) boolean test, as applicable) in the template(s) applied to that driver.

The Xmeta reference must have been actually expanded (or tested), so parts of the template that weren’t expanded don’t count.

These checks are disabled by #[derive_deftly_adhoc].

§Examples
  • ${tmeta(simple) as ty}: « String »
  • ${tmeta(missing) as ty, default String}: String
  • ${tmeta(simple) as path}: « String »
  • ${tmeta(simple) as str}: "String"
  • ${tmeta(simple) as token_stream}: String
  • ${tmeta(gentype) as ty}: « Vec::<i32> »
  • ${tmeta(gentype) as str}: "Vec<i32>"
  • ${tmeta(gentype) as token_stream}: Vec<i32>
  • ${vmeta(value) as ident}: unit_toplevel, enum_variant
  • ${fmeta(nested(inner)) as expr} for field in Struct: (42)
  • ${vmeta(items) as items} for TupleVariant: type T = i32; const K: T = 7;
  • ${fmeta(nested)}: rejected, expected a leaf node, found a list with sub-attributes
§Examples involving pasting
  • $<Small ${tmeta(simple)}>: SmallString
  • $<Small ${tmeta(simple) as str}>: SmallString
  • $<Small ${tmeta(simple) as ty}>: « SmallString »
  • $<Small ${tmeta(gentype) as ty}>: « SmallVec::<i32> »
  • $<$ttype ${tmeta(simple) as str}>: UnitString::<C>
  • $<$ttype ${tmeta(simple) as ty}>: error, multiple nontrivial entries

§${fattrs ...} ${vattrs ...} ${tattrs ...} – other attributes

Expands to attributes, including non-#[deftly()] ones. The attributes can be filtered:

  • $Xattrs: All the attributes except #[deftly] and #[derive_deftly]
  • ${Xattrs A1, A2, ...}, or ${Xattrs = A, A2, ...}: Attributes #[A1...] and #[A2...] only.
  • ${Xattrs ! A1, A2, ...}: All attributes except those.

With ${Xattrs}, unlike ${Xmeta},

  • The expansion is the whole of each attribute, including the #[...];
  • All attributes are included.
  • But #[deftly(...)] #[derive_deftly(...)] and #[derive_deftly_adhoc(...)] are excluded by default, because typically they would be rejected by the compiler: the expanded output is (perhaps) no longer within #[derive(Deftly)], so those attributes might be unrecognised there.
  • The attributes can be filtered by toplevel attribute name, but not deeply manipulated.
  • $vattrs does not, for a non-enum, include the top-level attributes .

Note that derive macros, only see attributes that come after the #[derive(...)] that invoked them. So derive-deftly templates only see attributes that come after the #[derive(..., Deftly, ...)].

§Examples
§For Unit
  • ${tattrs}: #[derive(Clone)]
  • ${tattrs ! deftly}: #[derive(Clone)]
  • ${tattrs missing}: nothing
  • ${tattrs derive}: #[derive(Clone)]
  • ${vattrs deftly}: nothing
§For Tuple
  • ${tattrs}: #[doc=" Title for `Tuple`"] #[repr(C)]
  • ${tattrs repr}: #[repr(C)]
  • ${tattrs repr, deftly}: #[deftly(unused)] #[repr(C)]
  • ${tattrs ! derive, doc}: #[deftly(unused)] #[repr(C)] #[derive_deftly(SomeOtherTemplate)]
§For Enum
  • ${vattrs deftly} for UnitVariant: #[deftly(value="enum_variant")]

§${paste ...}, $<...> – identifier pasting

Expands the contents and pastes it together into a single identifier. The contents may only contain identifer fragments, strings ("..."), and (certain) expansions. Supported expansions are $ftype, $ttype, $tdeftype, $Xname, ${Xmeta as str / ty / path / ident}, $<...>, ${paste ...}, ${CASE_CHANGE ...}, $tdefkwd, as well as conditionals and repetitions.

The contents can contain at most one occurrence of a more complex type expansion ${Xtype} (or ${Xmeta as ty)), which must refer to a path (perhaps with generics, and/or surrounding ( )). Then the pasting will be applied to the final path element identifier, and the surroundings reproduced unaltered.

Iff necessary, the result will be a raw identifier.

§Examples
  • $<Zingy $ftype Builder> for TupleVariant: « std::iter::ZingyOnceBuilder::<T> »
  • ${paste x_ $fname} for tuple: x_0
  • ${paste $fname _x} for tuple: error, constructed identifier "0_x" is invalid

§${CASE_CHANGE ...} – case changing

Expands the content, and changes its case (eg. uppercase to lowercase, etc. See Case changing. CASE_CHANGE is one of the values listed there.

§${when CONDITION} – filtering out repetitions by a predicate

Allowed only within repetitions, and only at the toplevel of the repetition, before other content. Skips this repetition if the CONDITION is not true.

§Example
  • $( ${when vmeta(value)} ${vmeta(value) as str} ) for Enum: "enum_variant"

§${if COND1 { ... } else if COND2 { ... } else { ... }} – conditional

Conditionals. The else clause is, of course, optional. The else if between arms is also optional, but else in the fallback clause is mandatory. So you can write ${if COND1 { ... } COND2 { ... } else { ... }.

§Examples
  • ${if is_enum { E } is_struct { S }} for Enum: E
  • ${if is_enum { E } is_struct { S }} for others: S
  • $( ${if v_is_named { N } v_is_tuple { T }} ) for Enum: T N
  • $( ${if v_is_named { N } v_is_tuple { T } else { X }} ) for Enum: X T N
  • ${if v_is_unit { U } tmeta(gentype) { GT }} for Unit: U

§${select1 COND1 { ... } else if COND2 { ... } else { ... }} – expect precisely one predicate

Conditionals which insist on exactly one of the tests being true. Syntax is identical to that of ${if }. All of the COND are always evaluated. Exactly one of them must be true; or, none of them, but only if an else is supplied - otherwise it is an error.

§Examples
  • ${select1 is_enum { E } is_struct { S }}: E, S
  • ${select1 v_is_named { N } v_is_tuple { T }} for Enum: rejected, no conditions matched, and no else clause
  • $( ${select1 v_is_named { N } v_is_tuple { T } else { X }} ) for Enum: X T N
  • ${select1 v_is_unit { U } tmeta(gentype) { GT }} for Unit: rejected, multiple conditions matched

§${for fields { ... }}, ${for variants { ... }}, $( ) – repetition

${for ...} expands the contents once per field, or once per variant.

$( ... ) expands the input with an appropriate number of iterations - see Repetition and nesting.

§$crate – root of template crate

$crate always refers to the root of the crate defining the template. Within an exported template, being expanded in another crate, it refers to the crate containing the template definition. In templates being used locally, it refers to the current crate, ie simply crate.

This is similar to the $crate builtin expansion in macro_rules!.

§$tdefkwd – keyword introducing the new data structure

Expands to struct, enum, or union.

§$tdefvariants, $vdefbody, $fdefine – tools for defining types

These, used together, allow the template to expand to a new definition, mirroring the driver type in form.

${tdefvariants VARIANTS..} expands to { VARIANTS.. } for an enum, or just VARIANTS.. otherwise. Usually, it would contain a $( ) repeating over the variants, expanding $vdefbody for each one.

${vdefbody VNAME FIELDS..} expands to the definition of a variant, with a appropriate delimiters. VNAME is in the standard syntax for a positional argument, and FIELDS.. is the rest of the content. Usually, FIELDS.. would contain a $( ) repeating over the fields, using $fdefine to introduce each one. Specifically:

 ${vdefbody VNAME FIELDS}   for unit                FIELDS;          [*] ie  ;
 ${vdefbody VNAME FIELDS}   for tuple             ( FIELDS );
 ${vdefbody VNAME FIELDS}   for braced struct     { FIELDS }
 ${vdefbody VNAME FIELDS}   for unit variant      VNAME   FIELDS,    [*] ie  VNAME,
 ${vdefbody VNAME FIELDS}   for tuple variant     VNAME ( FIELDS ),
 ${vdefbody VNAME FIELDS}   for braced variant    VNAME { FIELDS },

${fdefine FNAME} expands to FNAME: in the context of named fields (a “struct” or “struct variant”), or nothing otherwise. FNAME is in the standard syntax for a positional argument,

[*]: In the unit and unit variant cases, FIELDS ought to expand to nothing; otherwise, the expansion of $vdefbody will probably be syntactically invalid in context.

§Example
$tvis $tdefkwd $<$tname Copy><$tdefgens>
${tdefvariants $(
    ${vdefbody $<$vname Copy> $(
        $fdefvis ${fdefine $<$fname _copy>} $ftype,
    ) }
) }

Expands to (when applied to Tuple and Enum):

struct TupleCopy<'a, 'l: 'a, T: Display = usize, const C: usize = 1,>(
    &'a &'l T,
);
pub enum EnumCopy<'a, 'l: 'a, T: Display = usize, const C: usize = 1,> {
    UnitVariantCopy,
    TupleVariantCopy(std::iter::Once::<T>,),
    NamedVariantCopy { field_copy: &'l &'a T, ... },
}

§${ignore ..} – Expand but then discard

${ignore CONTENT} expands CONTENT, and then discards it. The ${ignore ..} therefore expands to nothing.

All side-effects of CONTENT do occur. So: if expanding CONTENT causes an error, ${ignore } does report that error; the content of ${ignore } can affect the repetition scope of its surroundings. ${ignore } is permitted in ${paste } and case changing.

§${dbg ..}, $dbg_all_keywords – Debugging output

${dbg { CONTENT }} expands to the expansion of CONTENT, but it also prints the expansion to the compiler stderr.

${dbg "NOTE" { CONTENT }} adds the note "NOTE" to the heading of the expansion dump, for identification purposes.

$dbg_all_keywords dumps expansions of all keywords:

It prints a listing of all the available expansion keywords, and conditions, along with their expansions and values. When invoked at the toplevel, it prints a report for each variant and field. (The output goes to the compiler’s stderr; the actual expansion is empty.)

This can be helpful to see which expansion keywords might be useful for a particular task. (Before making a final selection of keyword you probably want to refer to this reference manual.)

You will not want to leave these options in production code, as they make builds noisy.

See also the dbg expansion option, and the dbg condition.

§Example
#[derive(Deftly)]
#[derive_deftly_adhoc]
enum Enum {
    Unit,
    Tuple(usize),
    Struct { field: String },
}
derive_deftly_adhoc! {
    Enum:
    $dbg_all_keywords
    // ... rest of the template you're developing ...
}

§${define ...}, ${defcond ...} – user-defined expansions and conditions

${define NAME BODY} defines a reuseable piece of template. Afterwards, $NAME (and ${NAME}) expand BODY.

${defcond NAME CONDITION} defines a reuseable condition. Afterwards, the name NAME can be used as a condition - evaluating CONDITION.

NAME is an identifier. It may not start with a lowercase letter or underscore: those expansion names are reserved for derive-deftly’s built-in functionality.

BODY is in the standard syntax for positional arguments. When generating Rust code, be careful about operator precedence: see Precedence considerations.

CONDITION is in the standard syntax for a condition.

NAME is visible after its definition in the same template or group, including in inner templates and groups. Definitions may be re-defined, in the same scope, or inner scopes. Scope is dynamic, both for derive-deftly built-ins and user definitions: BODY and CONDITION are captured without expansion/evaluation at the site of $define/$defcond, and the contents expanded/evaluated each time according to the values and definitions prevailing in the dynamic context where NAME is used.

(Therefore, you can $define/$defcond an identifier at a point where its contents are not in scope, and expand it later when they are.)

${NAME} may only be used inside pasting and case changing if BODY was precisely an invocation of ${paste } or $<...>.

You can define an expansion and a condition with the same name; they won’t interfere.

§Examples
  • ${define VN $vname} ${for variants { $VN }}: UnitVariant TupleVariant NamedVariant
  • ${define FN $<$fname _>} $<${for fields { "F" $FN }}>: F0_, Ffield_Ffield_b_
§Example including a condition
${define T_FIELDS ${paste $tname Fields}}
// Note that fvis is not in scope here; that's okay,
// but we can only _use_ F_ENABLE when fvis _is_ in scope.
${defcond F_ENABLE all(fvis, v_is_named)}
$tvis struct $T_FIELDS { $(
    ${when F_ENABLE} $fvis $fname: bool,
) }
$tvis const ${shouty_snake_case ALL_ $T_FIELDS}: $T_FIELDS = { $(
    ${when F_ENABLE} $fname: true,
) };

Expands to (for Unit, Tuple and Struct):

pub struct UnitFields {}
pub const ALL_UNIT_FIELDS: UnitFields = {};
struct TupleFields {}
const ALL_TUPLE_FIELDS: TupleFields = {};
struct StructFields {
    pub field: bool,
}
const ALL_STRUCT_FIELDS: StructFields = {
    field: true,
};

§${error "message"} – explicitly throw a compile error

Generates a compilation error, if expanded.

This can be used anywhere a derive-deftly expansion is allowed; (unlike std’s compile_error!, which, like any Rust macro, is permitted only in certain syntactic contexts).

§Conditions

Conditions all start with a KEYWORD. They are found within ${if }, ${when }, and ${select1 }.

§fvis, tvis, fdefvis – test for public visibility

True iff the field, or the whole toplevel type, is pub.

See $fvis, $tvis and $fdefvis for details of the semantics (especially for enums), and the difference between $fvis and $fdefvis.

Within-crate visibility, e.g. pub(crate), is treated as “not visible” for the purposes of fvis and tvis (although the $fvis and $tvis expansions will handle those faithfully).

§Examples
  • tvis: true for Unit, and Enum
  • fvis: true for field in Struct, and fields in Enum
  • fdefvis: true for field in Struct

And in each case, false for all others. (Refer to the example structs, below.)

§fmeta(NAME), vmeta(NAME), tmeta(NAME) – #[deftly] attributes

Looks for #[deftly(NAME)].

True iff there was such an attribute.

The condition is true if there is at least one matching entry, and (unlike ${Xmeta}) the corresponding driver attribute does not need to be a =LIT.

So Xmeta(SUB(NAME)) is true if the driver has #[deftly(SUB(NAME(INNER=...)))] or #[deftly(SUB(NAME))] or #[deftly(SUB(NAME=LIT))] or even #[deftly(SUB(NAME()))].

Xmeta(SUB(NAME)) works, just as with the ${Xmeta ...} expansion. See ${Xmeta ...} for information about namespacing and handling of unused attributes.

§Examples
  • tmeta(unused): true for Tuple
  • tmeta(gentype): true for Unit
  • vmeta(value): true for Unit, and Enum::UnitVariant
  • fmeta(nested): true for field in Struct

§is_struct, is_enum, is_union

The driver data structure is a struct, enum, or union, respectively.

Prefer to avoid these explicit tests, when writing a template to work with either structs or enums. Instead, use match and $vpat for deconstructing values, and $vtype for constructing them. Use $tdefvariants when defining a derived type.

§v_is_unit, v_is_tuple, v_is_named

Whether and what kind of fields there are.

Prefer to avoid these explicit tests, when writing a template to work with any shape of structure. Instead, match using Rust’s universal Typename { } syntax, possibly via $vpat and $fpatname, or via $vtype. The Typename { } syntax can be used for matching and constructing all kinds of structures, including units and tuples. Use $vdefbody and $fdefine when defining a derived type.

§Examples
  • v_is_unit: true for struct Unit;, SimpleUnit, and Enum::UnitVariant;
  • v_is_tuple: true for struct Tuple(...);, and Enum::TupleVariant(...);
  • v_is_named: true for struct Struct {...}, and Enum::NamedVariant {...}

§tgens

Whether the top-level type has generics.

§Examples
  • tgens: true for Unit, Tuple, Struct, Enum

§is_empty(..), approx_equal(ARG1, ARG2) – equality comparison (token comparison)

is_empty expands the content, and is true if the expansion produced no tokens.

approx_equal expands the two ARGSs (as series of tokens) and compares them for (a kind of) equality.

Span is disregarded, so two identifiers that would refer to different types or values, but which have the same name, would count as equal.

Spacing is disregarded, even between punctuation characters. For example, approx_equal regards << as equal to < <. This means expansions might count as equal even if the Rust compiler would accept one and reject the other; and, expansions might count as equal even if macros could tell the difference.

Also, None-delimited groups, which are used by macros (including derive-deftly and macro_rules!) for preventing precedence surprises, are flattened - the wrapping by an invisible group is ignored. This means that two expressions with different values, due to different evaluation orders, can compare equal!

If both inputs are valid Rust types, they will only compare equal if they are syntactically the same. (Note that different ways of writing the same type are treated as different: for example, Vec<u8> is not equal to Vec<u8, Global> and std::os::raw::c_char is not equal to std::ffi::c_char.)

Literals are generally compared by value:

  • Integer literals are compared by value, ignoring any type suffixes. (Both values >u64 is unsupported.)
  • String, byte and character literals are compared by value. c"..." literals are unsupported. (Suffixes are unsupported.).
  • Floating point literals are compared textually, not by value; so are considered equal only if written identically.
  • Negative literals are compared as two tokens, - and a nonnegative literal.
  • Comparison of other literals is unsupported.

Raw identifiers are considered unequal to non-raw identifiers, even if the designated identifier is the same.

The ARGs are in derive-deftly’s usual syntax for positional arguments.

§false, true, not(CONDITION), any(COND1,COND2,...), all(COND1,COND2,...) – boolean logic

any() and all() short circuit: as soon as they have established they answer, they don’t test the remaining conditions. (This affects error handling, and meta attribute use checking.)

§dbg(...) – Debug dump of condition value

dbg(CONDITION) evaluates CONDITION, but it also prints the boolean value to the compiler stderr.

dbg("NOTE", CONDITION} adds the note "NOTE" to the debug message for identification purposes.

You will not want to leave this option in production code, as it makes builds noisy.

See also the ${dbg ..} expansion and the dbg expansion option.

§Case changing

${CASE_CHANGE ...} (where CASE_CHANGE is one of the keywords in the table, below) makes an identifier with a different case to the input which produces it. This is useful to make identifiers with the natural spelling for their kind, out of identifiers originally for something else.

If the content’s expansion is a path, only the final segment is changed.

The content must be valid within ${paste }, and is treated the same way. ${CASE_CHANGE } may appear within pasting and vice versa.

This table shows the supported case styles. Note that changing the case can add and remove underscores. The precise details are as for heck, which is used to implement the actual case changing.

CASE_CHANGECASE_CHANGE aliasesName in heckExample of results
pascal_caseupper_camel_caseUpperCamelCasePascalCase
snake_caseSnakeCasesnake_case
shouty_snake_caseShoutySnakeCaseSHOUTY_SNAKE_CASE
lower_camel_caseLowerCamelCaselowerCamelCase
§Examples
  • ${shouty_snake_case $ttype}: ENUM::<'a, 'l, T, C>
  • ${pascal_case $fname}: Field, FieldB
  • ${pascal_case x_ $fname _y}: XFieldBY
  • $<x_ ${lower_camel_case $fname} _y>: x_fieldB_y
  • ${lower_camel_case $fname} for tuple: error, constructed identifier "0" is invalid

§Expansion options

You can pass options, which will be applied to each relevant template expansion:

ⓘ
// Expand TEMPLATE for DataStructureType, with OPTIONS
derive_deftly_adhoc! { DataStructureType OPTIONS,... : TEMPLATE }

// Define a template Template which always expands with OPTIONS
define_derive_deftly! { Template OPTIONS,...: TEMPLATE }

// Expand Template for DataStructureType, with OPTIONS
#[derive(Deftly)]
#[derive_deftly(Template[OPTIONS,...])]
struct DataStructureType {

Multiple options, perhaps specified in different places, may apply to a single expansion. Even multiple occurrences of the same option are fine, so long as they don’t contradict each other.

The following expansion options are recognised:

§expect items, expect expr – syntax check the expansion

Syntax checks the expansion, checking that it can be parsed as items, or as an expression.

If not, it is an error. Also, then, an attempt is made to produce compiler error message(s) pointing to the syntax error in a copy of the template expansion, as well as reporting the error at the part of the template or driver which generated that part of the expansiuon.

This is useful for debugging.

Note that a template defined with define_derive_adhoc! must always expand to items, anyway, because Rust insists that a #[derive] expands to items.

§for struct, for enum, for union – Insist on a particular driver kind

Checks the driver data structure kind against the for option value. If it doesn’t match, it is an error.

This is useful to produce good error messages: Normally, derive-deftly does not explicitly check the driver kind, and simply makes it available to the template via expansion variables. But, often, a template is written only with a particular driver kind in mind, and otherwise produces syntactically invalid output leading to confusing compiler errors.

This option is only allowed in a template, not in a driver’s #[derive_deftly] attribute.

§dbg – Print the expansion to stderr, for debugging

Prints the template’s expansion to stderr, during compilation, for debugging purposes.

You will not want to leave this option in production code, as it makes builds noisy.

See also the ${dbg ..} expansion, the dbg condition, the $dbg_all_keywords expansion.

§beta_deftly – Enable unstable template features

Enables beta template features.

This option is only allowed in a template, not in a driver’s #[derive_deftly] attribute.

§Expansion options example

define_derive_deftly! { Nothing for struct, expect items: }

#[derive(Deftly)]
#[derive_deftly(Nothing[expect items, dbg])]
struct Unit;

This defines a reuseable template Nothing which can be applied only to structs, and whose output is syntax checked as item(s). (The template’s actual expansion is empty, so it does indeed expand to zero items.)

Then it applies that to template to struct Unit, restating the requirement that the expansion should be item(s). and dumping the expansion to stderr during compilation.

§Precedence considerations

When using ${Xmeta as token_stream}, and user-defined expansions (${define ...}) it can be necessary to add { } or ( ) to avoid surprising expansions due to operator precedence.

#[derive(Deftly)]
#[derive_deftly_adhoc]
struct S(u32, u32);

let product = derive_deftly_adhoc!(
    S:
    ${define F_PLUS_TWO {$fname + 2}}
    ${for fields { $F_PLUS_TWO * }} 1
    // (0 + 2) * (1 + 2) * 1 = 2 * 3 * 1 = 6
    // but this is 
    // 0 + 2 * 1 + 2 * 1 = 0 + (2 * 1) + (2 * 1) = 4
);

assert_eq!(product, 4);

Rust demands that types are expressed unambiguously, so precedence problems, and lack of ( ) (or < >), are detected by the compiler, and rejected.

§None-delimited groups

In theory Rust has a feature that would help with this: syntactic groups can be surrounded by invisible delimiters.

However, as of May 2024 this feature does not work (and has never worked). See rust-lang/rust#67062.

Nevertheless, derive-deftly surrounds certain expansions with None-delimited groups. These are shown in the example outputs, in this reference, surrounded by guillemets « ».

This is done for

  • $ftype
  • $Xmeta as ty

§Structs used in examples

The example expansions in the syntax reference are those generated for the following driver types:

#[derive(Deftly)]
#[derive(Clone)]
struct SimpleUnit;

#[derive(Deftly)]
#[derive(Clone)]
#[deftly(simple="String", gentype="Vec<i32>")]
#[deftly(value="unit_toplevel")]
pub struct Unit<const C: usize = 1>;

#[derive(Deftly, Clone)]
/// Title for `Tuple`
#[deftly(unused)]
#[repr(C)]
#[derive_deftly(SomeOtherTemplate)]
struct Tuple<'a, 'l: 'a, T: Display = usize, const C: usize = 1>(
    &'a &'l T,
);

#[derive(Deftly)]
struct Struct<'a, 'l: 'a, T: Display = usize, const C: usize = 1>
where T: 'l, T: TryInto<u8>
{
    #[deftly(nested(inner = "42"))]
    pub field: &'l &'a T,
    pub(crate) field_b: String,
}

#[derive(Deftly)]
pub enum Enum<'a, 'l: 'a, T: Display = usize, const C: usize = 1>
where T: 'l, T: TryInto<u8>
{
    #[deftly(value="enum_variant")]
    UnitVariant,
	#[deftly(items="type T = i32; const K: T = 7;")]
    TupleVariant(std::iter::Once::<T>),
    NamedVariant { 
        field: &'l &'a T,
        field_b: String,
        field_e: <T as TryInto<u8>>::Error,
        field_o: Option<i32>,
     },
}

§Keyword index

§Expansions index

§Conditions index