This page gives an in-depth specification of the DomTool language. Most members would probably prefer the more informal presentation in DomTool/UserGuide.
1. Source code
For a complete, precise, and accurate grammatical specification, see the lexer and parser specifications src/domtool.lex and src/domtool.grm in the DomTool source code. See src/tycheck.sml for the type-checker implementation. ["DomTool/Building"] has information on obtaining the source.
2. Token conventions
In the grammars that follow, we use these lexical token class names:
Name |
Description |
Symbol |
Identifier starting with a lowercase letter |
CSymbol |
Identifier starting with a capital letter |
3. Predicates
DomTool uses predicates to describe in what contexts an action may occur. For instance, web-related actions should only occur inside the scope of a virtual host directive. Predicates are built up following the grammar in the table below, using the letter P as the non-terminal for predicates.
Meanings are given as statements that must hold about the context where an action is found. The context is represented as a stack of context IDs which have been declared with context declarations.
Syntax |
Description |
Meaning |
Root |
Root |
The stack is empty. |
CSymbol |
Context ID |
CSymbol is on the top of the stack. |
^P |
Suffixes |
Some (not necessarily strict) suffix of the stack matches P. |
!P |
Not |
The stack doesn't match P. |
P1 & P2 |
And |
The stack matches both P1 and P2. |
(P) |
Grouping |
Identical to P |
4. Types
Types describe expressions. As is standard in statically-typed programming languages, they are used only for validation purposes and have no real effect on the "output" of a program. The following table gives the grammar of types T. The section on expressions will give the meanings of types in terms of which expressions have which types.
Syntax |
Description |
Symbol |
Extern type |
[T] |
List of Ts |
T1 -> T2 |
Function from T1 to T2 |
[P] |
Action allowed only when P is satisified; requires no environment variables on input and writes none of its own |
[P] {CSymbol1 : T1, ..., CSymbolN : TN} |
Action that requires environment variables CSymbol1, ..., CSymbolN to have the given types when run |
[P] {CSymbol1_1 : T1_1, ..., CSymbol1_N : T1_N} => {CSymbol2_1 : T2_1, ..., CSymbol2_M : T2_M} |
Like the last case, but the second set of typed environment variables describes what the action will write |
P => T |
A nested action that requires that its nested configuration satisfy P; T should be some action type |
(T) |
Grouping |