Code Quality: Update DependencyProperty generator to have the property declaration

[0x5bfa]

Description

We have a problem about SourceGenerator - that is we cannot reference to the generated property in advance. Whenever I hover on the property, Visual Studio tells me there's a error that there's no such a property in the project because the proeprty is not declared explicitly although they will be disappeared in building.

Current:

namespace Files.App.UserControls
{
	[DependencyProperty<ToolbarViewModel>("ViewModel")]
	public sealed partial class PathBreadcrumb : UserControl
	{
		private void PathItemSeparator_DataContextChanged(FrameworkElement sender, DataContextChangedEventArgs args)
			=> ViewModel.PathItemSeparator_DataContextChanged(sender, args);
	}
}

Proposal:

namespace Files.App.UserControls
{
	public sealed partial class PathBreadcrumb : UserControl
	{
		[DependencyProperty]
		pubilc ToolbarViewModel ViewModel { get; set; }

		private void PathItemSeparator_DataContextChanged(FrameworkElement sender, DataContextChangedEventArgs args)
			=> ViewModel.PathItemSeparator_DataContextChanged(sender, args);
	}
}

Concerned code

• Files.Core.SourceGenerator

Gains

• A better readability.
• A better maintainability.

Requirements

• Update source generation way

Comments

No response

[Poker-sang]

Hmmm, I just thought about it. Maybe we have to write more code in property, unless we can use partial keyword in property:

namespace Files.App.UserControls
{
	public sealed partial class PathBreadcrumb : UserControl
	{
		[DependencyProperty]
		pubilc ToolbarViewModel ViewModel { get => (ToolbarViewModel)GetValue(ViewModelProperty); set => SetValue(ViewModelProperty, value); }

		private void PathItemSeparator_DataContextChanged(FrameworkElement sender, DataContextChangedEventArgs args)
			=> ViewModel.PathItemSeparator_DataContextChanged(sender, args);
	}
}

I'm sorry I didn't think much about what I said earlier.
Maybe it will be available in .NET8? partial properties

[michael-hawker]

@Poker-sang FYI we have a Toolkit Labs proposal together for this once partial properties come to .NET: CommunityToolkit/Labs-Windows#449

[0x5bfa]

Seems that it will take much time to be implemented...

[0x5bfa]

Hmmm, I just thought about it. Maybe we have to write more code in property, unless we can use partial keyword in property:

namespace Files.App.UserControls
{
	public sealed partial class PathBreadcrumb : UserControl
	{
		[DependencyProperty]
		pubilc ToolbarViewModel ViewModel { get => (ToolbarViewModel)GetValue(ViewModelProperty); set => SetValue(ViewModelProperty, value); }

		private void PathItemSeparator_DataContextChanged(FrameworkElement sender, DataContextChangedEventArgs args)
			=> ViewModel.PathItemSeparator_DataContextChanged(sender, args);
	}
}

I'm sorry I didn't think much about what I said earlier. Maybe it will be available in .NET8? partial properties

It can be fine because no one use ViewModelProerty. The point is that we should be able to find references of that property in VS.

[Poker-sang]

Yes. I'm afraid so.

[0x5bfa]

Are we able to implement in that way?

[Poker-sang]

Are we able to implement in that way?

It is possible. But this approach is more cumbersome and it still reports errors. This is because the property references the generated and non-existent field.

BTW I would like to ask, are you using vs2022? incremental generators do mot work well for vs2019 and earlier.

[0x5bfa]

It is possible. But this approach is more cumbersome and it still reports errors. This is because the property references the generated and non-existent field.

I thought we can fix property referencing by doing so. We are facing critical problems...

are you using vs2022?

Yes, I'm using VS2022. THat's wierd. It should depend on .NET SDK not VS version, I suppose.

[Poker-sang]

Yes, I'm using VS2022. THat's wierd. It should depend on .NET SDK not VS version, I suppose.

The ability to build projects depends on the .NET SDK, but the static analysis of the code (syntax highlighting) depends on the version of vs. The latest version of vs2022 (i.e. vs17.6) corresponds to roslyn version 4.6. vs2019(vs16.x) can only use the api of roslyn 3.x, while the incremental generator is a new feature of Roslyn 4.3.0 (corresponding to vs17.3). So earlier versions of vs won't work.