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mdl

MDL library is a php utility binary that internally uses @drewlabs/code-generator package to create project source code based on a textual UML definition language written in YAML, or JSON language.

MDL definition language

The mdl definition language is a rapid OOP Prototyping tool that abstract aways UMLdesign graphical tools though a YAMLor JSONconfiguration file that is used by the client to generate source codes. Below is a basic example of mdl modeling language written in YAML.

The design language consist of two main parts:

• The project metadata definition As the name implies, the project metadata consist of metadata about the project for which the component are being generated. Below is the list of metadata properties that must be defined for a given project:

  • name : The name metadata defines the project PSR-4 compatible namespace under which the components are generated
  • path: This metadata defines the base path from which OOP component paths are generated.
  • directories: This metadata is optional but help the mdl-cli to separate interfaces from core implementations and also provide directory for mixins which are PHP trait components.

• OOP components definition OOP components consist of actual classes, interfaces/contracts and mixin/PHP Trait objects generated for the given projects. OOP components are grouped under:

  • classes : which consist of PHP or UML class components
  • mixins: which is not part of UML definition language but help in implementing the DRY recommandation when developping software application. Basically, they consist of PHP traits components and are generated under the directory specify for mixins in the metada configuration.
  • interfaces: which contains the list of interfaces/contracts that might be implemented in the given project.

The MDL CLI

Once the definition language is written, we make use of the mdl-cli tool to generate the our project source code. The syntax for generating source code from language defintion file is:

/mdl /name.yml

For composer based project and assuming the language definition file is at the root of the project:

./vendor/bin/mdl $(pwd)/mdl.yml

Command options

The mdl-cli command support options that allows developpers to change the behaviour of the command line client.

• settters

Setters are configured at class level in the configuration file. But to tell the cli tool to generate setters for all classes properties, we use the --set or --setters command line option.

./vendor/bin/mdl $(pwd)/mdl.yml --set

• getters

As with setters, getters are normally configured at class definition level. But we can also tell the cli tool to generate getter class for all classes in the generated code using --get or getters flag.

./vendor/bin/mdl $(pwd)/mdl.yml --get

• strict rule

PHP behave differently whenever the declare_strict(...) is added to a script file. By default, cli does not add this directive to the generated scripts. To tells the cli tool to add the required directive we use --strict flag in command line:

./vendor/bin/mdl $(pwd)/mdl.yml --get --strict

Note The documentation is still under development and might change as API changes occur.