OpenEdge ABL support for Visual Studio Code

This extension provides rich OpenEdge ABL support for Visual Studio Code - Extension page

Current Status

This extension is based on the existing work by Christophe Camicas but has undergone a complete overhaul due to the addition of the Language Server. This extension is actively maintained, so unless you do not want to switch to the new configuration files, you should use this extension. This extension is currently available for free; however, please note that some features might only be available in a commercial edition in the future.

Features

• Syntax highlighting
• OpenEdge project configuration (propath, database connections, aliases, etc.)
• Multi-threaded background compiler
• Profiles
• Debugger (legacy and PASOE)
• Code completion

Requirements

This extension requires at least one OpenEdge installation with a developer license. The extension is currently tested with 11.7, 12.2, and 12.8. It may or may not work with older versions.

Global Configuration

OpenEdge runtimes have to be declared in the VSCode configuration file. Open settings (Ctrl + comma) -> Extensions -> ABL Configuration -> Runtimes, or modify settings.json:

    "abl.configuration.runtimes.default": "12.8", // Default ABL version
    "abl.configuration.runtimes": [
        {
            "name": "12.8",
            "path": "C:\\Progress\\Openedge-12.8"
        },
        {
            "name": "12.2",
            "path": "C:\\Progress\\Openedge-12.2"
        },
        {
            "name": "11.7",
            "path": "C:\\Progress\\OpenEdge-11.7"
        }
    ],

Project Configuration

OpenEdge projects can be configured in a file called openedge-project.json. This file must be in the root directory of the project.

{
  "name": "MyProject", // Project name, will be used in the future for dependency management
  "version": "1.0",    // Project version number, will be used in the future for dependency management
  "oeversion": "12.8", // Must reference an existing ABL version in Settings -> Extensions -> ABL Configuration -> Runtimes
  "graphicalMode": true, // True for prowin[32], false for _progres
  "charset": "utf-8",  // Charset
  "extraParameters": "", // Extra Progress command line parameters
  "preprocessor": { // Customize parser behavior (optional)
    // "windowSystem": "MS-WINDOWS",
    // "processArchitecture": 32
  },
  // Only required if your project use extensions other than ".i" for include files.
  // If not specified, modifying files with such extension will not trigger a compilation
  "includeFileExtensions": [ ".i", ".f" ],
  "buildPath": [
    // Entries can have type 'source' or 'propath'. Path attribute is mandatory. Build attribute is optional (defaults to 'path'). Xref attribute is optional (defaults to 'build/.pct' or '.builder/srcX')
    { "type": "source", "path": "src/procedures" },
    { "type": "source", "path": "src/classes" },
    // Include and exclude patterns are case-insensitive on Windows, and case-sensitive on any other operating system
    { "type": "source", "path": "src/dev", "includes": "foo/**,bar/**", "excludes": "foo/something/**" },
    { "type": "propath", "path": "${DLC}/tty/netlib/OpenEdge.net.pl", "documentation": "openedge.json" }
  ],
  "buildDirectory": "build", // Optional global build directory
  "dbConnections": [ // Unlimited number of connections - Beware of -h
    {
      "name": "sp2k", // Logical name of database, or physical name if -ld is not used
      "connect": "-db db/sp2k -RO", // ABL connection string
      "schemaFile": "dump/sp2k.df",   // Database schema, DF format
      "aliases": [ "foo", "bar"]    // List of aliases in ABL session
    }
  ],
  "numThreads": 1, // Number of OpenEdge sessions handling build
  "procedures": [
    // List of procedures executed before the main entry point
    // Init mode -> before setting propath and DB connections
    // Once, persistent and super -> after setting propath and DB connections
    { "name": "foo/bar.p", "mode": "once" /* Mode can be init, once, persistent or super */ }
  ],
  "profiles": [ /* See section below */ ]
}

You can also create the openedge-project.json file from an ABL session (PDSOE or plain prowin/_progres) by executing this procedure (provided by Carl Verbiest).

Activation

The extension is activated when a .p, .w, or .cls file is opened. ABL actions may fail before the extension is activated.

Actions & Keyboard Shortcuts

The following actions are defined in this extension (use Ctrl + Shift + P to execute actions):

• Restart ABL Language Server: restart the background Java process (and OpenEdge sessions)
• Rebuild project: delete all rcode and recompile all files
• Open File in AppBuilder: start the AppBuilder (with DB connections and propath) and open the current file
• Open Data Dictionary
• Run with Prowin: execute the current file in prowin[32] session
• Run with _progres in batch mode: execute the current file in _progres session (with -b)
• Run with _progres: execute the current file (with _progres) in Terminal view
• Switch to profile: switch the current project to another profile
• Fix casing of source code: convert all keywords to uppercase or lowercase

The following keyboard shortcuts are configured by default:

• F2: Run current file (in batch mode with _progres)
• Shift + F8: Open current file in AppBuilder

Extra Profiles

On top of the default profile configured in openedge-project.json, additional profiles can be configured in the profiles section. Each profile is defined by a name, parent's name (optional) and a set of values. For example:

{
  /* Default profile values */
  "version": "12.8", "graphicalMode": false, "dbConnections": "-db db/sp2kv12 -RO",
  "profiles": [
    { "name": "V11", "inherits": "default", "value": { "oeversion": "11.7", "dbConnections": "-db db/sp2kv11 -RO" } },
    { "name": "V12.2 GUI", "value": { "oeversion": "12.2", "graphicalMode": true }}
  ]
}

V11 Profile inherits from the default profile, so graphicalMode will be set to true. OpenEdge version and DB connections are specified in the profile. V12.2 GUI Profile doesn't inherit from the default profile, so it won't have any DB connection. When opening a project, VSCode will check for .vscode/profile.json. If this file is present, then this profile will be loaded. Otherwise, the default profile will be used. It is recommended to add this file to the SCM ignore list.

Debugger

You can use the debugger to debug a remote ABL session (assuming it is started with -debugReady) or PASOE instance (assuming that oedebugger webapp is deployed).

The debugger supports these features:

• step over, step into, step out, continue, suspend
• breakpoints
• display stack
• display variables (including arrays and objects), temp-tables, buffers, parameters, and datasets
• watch/evaluate basic expressions (currently disabled)
• jumping in and out of include files

You first need to create the launch configuration in your .vscode/launch.json file; use Ctrl + Shift + D to open the "Run and Debug" view, then click on "Add Configuration" and select one of the ABL options.

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "Attach to AVM",
      "type": "abl",
      "request": "attach",
      "hostname": "127.0.0.1",
      "mode": "legacy",
      "port": 3099,
      "pause": true,
      "localRoot": "${workspaceFolder}"
    }
  ]
}

To attach to a remote process, it needs to be debug-ready. The easiest way to achieve that is to add -debugReady 3099 to the startup parameters (.pf file) of your application server. When debugging a local procedure, VSCode will always start the AVM session with -debugReady 9999, so it won't be possible to start two debug sessions at the same time. This limitation will probably be lifted in the future. The debugger will also stop at the first instruction, which is always a VSCode-specific procedure. You can immediately type F5 to jump to the first executable line of your procedure.

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Code Analysis in VSCode

CABL (Code analysis for ABL) is now available as a separate VS Code extension. It is currently not available on the VS Code marketplace, the extension has to be downloaded from its GitHub repository, and installed with "Extensions: Install from VSIX..." command (type Ctrl + Shift + P, then vsix).

SonarLint CABL requires Java 17 to be executed. If Java 17 is not available in your PATH, you can configure it in the VS Code settings:

Once configured and initialized, configure the connection to your SonarQube server. Open the "SonarLint CABL" view, and click on the "Add SonarQube Connection" button. Note that SonarCloud connection is not supported with ABL (and will never be supported).

Then bind your local project to a remote SonarQube project by clicking on the "Add Project Binding" button:

Select the remote project:

Check that binding is present in SonarLint CABL view:

CABL rules will now be executed when any ABL file is saved in VS Code:

Unit tests

** Unit tests are currently inactive **

Based upon the ABLUnit framework (need to be installed locally), you can specify launch parameters to find and execute test files

{
    "test": {
        "files":[
            "tests/*.test.p"
        ],
        "beforeEach": {
            "cmd": "%ProgramFiles%\\Git\\bin\\sh.exe",
            "args": [
                "-c",
                "echo starting"
            ]
        },
        "afterEach": {
            "cmd": "%ProgramFiles%\\Git\\bin\\sh.exe",
            "args": [
                "-c",
                "echo done"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Configuration checklist

Here are a few things to verify before opening issues:

• OpenEdge must be installed on your local machine and configured in VSCode. As of today, versions 11.7, 12.2, and 12.8 have been tested.
• Verify that the openedge-project.json file is present in the root directory and has no syntax errors.
• Make sure at least one .p or .cls file is opened, as the extension is not active by default.
• Check the Java command line being executed (using Process Explorer, for example).
• Check the OE command line being executed (also using Process Explorer, for example).
• Check the .builder directory in your project; it contains valuable log files.
• Make sure you have source directories in your configuration file; propath entries are not monitored, and thus nothing would be recompiled.
• Check the ABL Language Server output: open the Output view (Ctrl + Shift + U) then select ABL Language Server in the combo-box.
• Include the grammar version number (shown in the ABL output tab) if your problem is related to syntax highlighting.

Greetings

Initial plugin development done by chriscamicas. In turn, largely inspired by ZaphyrVonGenevese work (https://github.com/ZaphyrVonGenevese/vscode-abl). Also inspired by vscode-go and vscode-rust extensions.

Thanks to all the contributors: mscheblein, Peter Judge

License

VSCode Plugin Code is licensed under the MIT License. Language Server code is © Copyright Riverside Software.