XWorkplace/WarpIN Coding Conventions
(W) Ulrich M”ller, March 13, 2000
Last updated January 22, 2001 Ulrich M”ller

When adding code to XWorkplace, WarpIN, or the XWorkplace helpers,
please follow the coding conventions outlined below.

Yes, I know everyone has his/her favorite coding style. This is
a likely topic to cause endless debate, but if you contribute to
my projects... please follow my style.

In addition to consistency, this is very helpful for automatic code
documentation through xdoc. See tools/xdoc in the WarpIN source tree
for more about that utility.

Here we go:

    1.  Use a tab size of 4. Use real spaces instead of tabs.

    2.  Align parameters vertically with function calls, at least
        in function headers:

            int StoreExecuteRexxCode(const char *pcszName,
                                     const char *pcszCode,
                                     const char *pcszArgs,
                                     char **ppszRet);

        Add xdoc documentation to all functions and parameters,
        as outlined below.

    3.  Brackets style:

                if (condition)
                {
                    // do this
                }
                else
                {
                    // do that
                }

        You may leave out brackets if there's only one statement
        after if or else, of course, but with nested if statements,
        I usually add them even in that case since it's so easy
        to mismatch the nesting then.

    4.  switch/case style:

                switch (msg)
                {
                    case WM_CREATE:
                        // code
                    break;

                    case WM_DESTROY:
                        // code
                    break;
                }

    5.  For all variables, use the usual OS/2 type prefixes.
        Here are some:

        CHAR    c       (char)
        PSZ     psz     (char* pointer)
        PCSZ    pcsz    (const char* pointer)

        USHORT  us      (unsigned short)
        SHORT   s       (short)
        ULONG   ul      (unsigned long)
        LONG    l       (long)
        BYTE    b       (byte)

        BOOL    f       (flag)
        LONG    fl      (for LONG's containing OR'ed flags)
        SHORT   fs      (for SHORT's containing OR'ed flags)

        string/BSString str (C++ string class instance)

        For arrays, prefix "a" (e.g. USHORT ausThings[3]).
        For pointers, prefix "p" (e.g. USHORT *pausThings[3]).

    6.  Prefix C++ class member variables with an underscore ("_").
        This allows people who are not familiar with the class
        interface to identify member variables easily. Also, this
        has a certain consistency with SOM/WPS class member
        variables.

    7.  Prefix global variables with "G_" for the same reason.
        Global variables are potentially dangerous, so these
        can be more easily identified.

    8.  Comment your functions in xdoc-style. See any function
        in the sources for how this can be done. Basically, use
        /* */-style comments before the function header and
        xdoc tags in that block.

        Sorta like this:

        /*
         *@@ Create:
         *      create something.
         */

        PVOID Create(PVOID pvCreateFrom,    // in: create from
                     PULONG pulCount)       // out: new count
        {
            ... // code, ignored by xdoc
        }

        xdoc will even take the parameter descriptions if they
        are specified as above.

        tools/xdoc/readme.txt in the WarpIN sources has a more
        detailed description.

        I usually only document functions in the source files,
        not in the headers. Even though xdoc will find documentation
        in headers also, changing headers causes recompiles,
        especially with the complex include hierarchy of WarpIN.
        Also, changing code documentation in the sources only
        reduces the amount of code which needs to be committed
        to the CVS server.

    9.  When changing code, mark the code as changed in the
        xdoc comment by using something like the following:

        @@changed V0.9.2 (2000-03-10) [umoeller]: fixed memory leak
            |        |        |          |          |
            |        |        |          |          +-- description
            |        |        |          |
            |        |        |          +- author tag (same as CVS login)
            |        |        |
            |        |        +-- ISO date (year, month, day)
            |        |
            |        +-- XWorkplace/WarpIN version number
            |
            +-- xdoc tag ("@@changed" or "@@added")

        xdoc can create a full change log if these things are set
        properly. Try "createdoc.cmd" or "createchangelog.cmd" in
        the WarpIN and XWorkplace main source directories,
        respectively.

        Also, this way I can do a simple search over all files
        to update the readme with changes and bugfixes for the new
        version.

    10. When adding a new function, use the same, just use @@added
        instead of @@changed.

Thank you!