Package org.apache.flex.compiler.definitions

This package contains interfaces for various kinds of definitions found in AS and MXML files.

See: Description

Interface Summary

Interface	Description
IAccessorDefinition	A definition representing a function get or function set declaration.
IAppliedVectorDefinition	A definition representing a specialized vector type.
IBindableVariableDefinition	Marker interface for getter/setter definitions created by variable declarations that are marked with [Bindable] metadata.
IClassDefinition	A definition representing a class declaration.
IClassDefinition.IClassIterator	This interface represents what the classIterator method returns.
IConstantDefinition	A definition representing a const declaration.
IDefinition	The base class for all definitions.
IDocumentableDefinition	The base class for definitions which can have ASDoc comments.
IEffectDefinition	Represents effect metadata decorating a class definition, such as [Effect(name="rollOverEffect", event="rollOver")].
IEventDefinition	Represents event metadata decorating a class definition, such as Event(name="click", type="flash.events.MouseEvent")].
IFunctionDefinition	A definition representing a function declaration.
IGetterDefinition	A definition representing a function get declaration.
IInterfaceDefinition	A definition representing an interface declaration.
IMemberedDefinition
IMetadataDefinition	This interface represents definition which are themselves defined by metadata, such as definitions for events, styles, and effects.
INamespaceDefinition	A definition representing a namespace declaration.
INamespaceDefinition.IAnyNamespaceDefinition	Interface implemented by the any namespace definition.
INamespaceDefinition.ICodeModelImplicitDefinitionNamespaceDefinition	Interface implemented by the code model implicit definition namespace definition.
INamespaceDefinition.IFilePrivateNamespaceDefinition	Interface implemented by all file private namespace definitions.
INamespaceDefinition.IInterfaceNamespaceDefinition	Interface implemented by all interface namespace definitions.
INamespaceDefinition.IInternalNamespaceDefinition	Interface implemented by all internal namespace definitions.
INamespaceDefinition.ILanguageNamespaceDefinition	Interface implemented by all language namespace definitions.
INamespaceDefinition.INamespaceWithPackageName	Interface implemented by all language namespace definitions associated with a package.
INamespaceDefinition.IPrivateNamespaceDefinition	Interface implemented by all private namespace definitions.
INamespaceDefinition.IProtectedNamespaceDefinition	Interface implemented by all protected namespace definitions.
INamespaceDefinition.IPublicNamespaceDefinition	Interface implemented by all public namespace definitions.
INamespaceDefinition.IStaticProtectedNamespaceDefinition	Interface implemented by all static protected namespace definitions.
IPackageDefinition	A definition representing a package declaration.
IParameterDefinition	A definition representing a parameter declaration.
IQualifiers	Represents a set of namespaces to be used for name resolution.
IScopedDefinition
ISetterDefinition	A definition representing a function set declaration.
IStyleDefinition	Represents style metadata decorating a class definition, such as Style(name="color", type="uint", format="color", inherit="yes")].
ITypeDefinition	The base interface for class and interface definitions, including definitions of vector types.
IVariableDefinition	A definition representing a var declaration.

Class Summary

Class	Description
AppliedVectorDefinitionFactory	A factory for creating Vector types as they are encountered.

Enum Summary

Enum	Description
IClassDefinition.ClassClassification	Determines the type of class
IFunctionDefinition.FunctionClassification	Function classifications (local, class member, interface member, and package member)
IInterfaceDefinition.InterfaceClassification	Determines the type of interface
INamespaceDefinition.NamespaceClassification	Determines the type of namespace
IPackageDefinition.PackageKind	Specifics the kind of package we are dealing with.
IVariableDefinition.VariableClassification	Variable classifications (local, argument, class member, interface member, and package member)

Package org.apache.flex.compiler.definitions Description

This package contains interfaces for various kinds of definitions found in AS and MXML files.

A definition is anything in source code that can be referred to by name: a package, namespace, class, interface, function, getter, setter, parameter, variable, constant, event, style, or effect.

A key part of semantic analysis and code generation consists of determining what each identifier node in an AST refers by resolving it to a definition. This process is called name resolution For example, when you write

for (var i:int = 0; i < n; i++)
{
    trace(i);
}

the first i produces a variable definition named "i". The second, third, and fourth i get resolved to this definition.

Most definitions live within scopes. A scope can loosely be thought of as representing either an entire file (for a file scope) or a block of code delimited by curly braces (for a package scope, class scope, interface scope, function/getter/setter scope, catch scope, or with scope). Curly braces within some statements, such as those of a for loop, do not produce produce scopes, due to the "hoisting" rules of ActionScript.

In addition to being contained in a scope, some definitions contain an inner scope. Therefore a file scope is the root of a hierarchical data structure containing scopes and definitions. (Think of it as the symbol table for the file.) Definitions which are visible to other files are copied into a project scope for cross-file name resolution.

For AS files, the abstract syntax tree is built first and the file scope is built second. The definitions within the file scope are constructed from definition nodes (that is, nodes implementing IDefinitionNode) in the AST. For MXML files, a DOM-like representation known as MXMLData is built first, the file scope is built second, and the abstract syntax tree is built third. The definitions within the file scope are constructed from the MXML tags of the MXMLData.

After being produced, scopes and definitions that are visible to other files are always resident in memory, so that the other files can perform name resolution. (In fact, they persist even after all other files have performed named resolution, in order to support subsequent incremental compilation.) Scopes and definitions that are internal to a particular file need to exist only when the AST for that file is in memory.

The most important interface in this package is IDefinition which is the base interface for all definitions. Each specific type of definition has its own sub-interface:

package	IPackageDefinition
namespace	INamespaceDefinition
class	IClassDefinition
interface	IInterfaceDefinition
function	IFunctionDefinition
getter	IGetterDefinition
setter	ISetterDefinition
parameter	IParameterDefinition
variable	IVariableDefinition
constant	IConstantDefinition
event	IEventDefinition
style	IStyleDefinition
effect	IEffectDefinition

All definitions have

• a source location;
• an optional ASDoc comment;
• an optional list of metadata annotations;
• a namespace reference indicating its visibility, such as public;
• a set of flags indicating modifiers such as static or override;
• a base, or unqualified, name;
• a type reference (which may be null for some types of definitions.

Specific types of definitions of course store additional information. For example, a class definition stores a reference to the class it extends and references to the interfaces that it implements.

Definitions refer to other definitions indirectly, by name, using an IReference. See the references subpackage for an explanation of this design.