11.visual-trees.md

Get familiar with Syntax Trees

In this chapter you will get familiar with syntax trees by inspecting them visually using the Syntax Visualizer and DGML graphs.

Prerequisites
For this chapter we need Visual Studio 2019 with the .NET Compiler Platform SDK and DGML editor installed.

Open Visual Studio 2019

Create a new Console App

Make sure to choose the .NET Core version.

Configure the new Console App project

Name the project ConsoleApp1.

The other default values should be sufficient, make sure you store the project in an easy-to-reach place on disk.

Do not put your code too deep in a folder structure, as we will use the absolute path in later excercises.

Open the Syntax Visualizer Window

You can find this window in the menu at View > Other Windows > Syntax Visualize.

Navigate through your code and inspect the Syntax Tree

Discover the uses of, and differences between, nodes, tokens, and trivia.

Check the properties to see information about spans.

View a DGML graph of your code selection

1. Select the line Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");.

2. Open the context menu on the activated ExpressionStatement in the syntax tree.

3. Select the View Directed Syntax Graph option.

   

This displays a DGML graph with all nodes, tokens, and trivia (or crashes your Visual Studio, in that case, retry these steps again).

Solution

You can compare your project with the ConsoleApp1 solution.