C-C++ Beautifier HOW-TO

Al Dev (Alavoor Vasudevan) alavoor@yahoo.com

1. Introduction

2. How can I trust Beautifier programs??!!

3. Beautifiers for other Languages

4. Verification Script

5. Related URLs

6. Other Formats of this Document

• 6.1 Acrobat PDF format
• 6.2 Convert Linuxdoc to Docbook format
• 6.3 Convert to MS WinHelp format
• 6.4 Reading various formats

7. Copyright

1. Introduction

Coding standards for C/C++ or any language is required in order to make the programs more readable/understandable by programmers. There are C/C++ beautifiers (formating tools) to accomplish this goal. Formatted (beautified) code improves the productivity of programmers by 2 times!!

On Linux/Unixes there is a command called "indent" and "cb" . Refer to 'man indent' and 'man cb'. Note that indent and cb work for only "C" programs. For "C++" programs use "bcpp".

Important NOTE: To compile bcpp under unix, unpack bcpp.tar.gz and you MUST change directory to "code" and give a make. Do not change to "unix" directory and give a make. That will give lots of errors.

Download the beautifier program from one of the following

• If you are having trouble downloading software from any of the sites below, then download from my site at http://www.aldev.8m.com/cppbeautifier

• C++ : BCPP site is at http://dickey.his.com/bcpp/bcpp.html or at http://www.clark.net/pub/dickey. BCPP ftp site is at ftp://dickey.his.com/bcpp/bcpp.tar.gz
• C++ : http://www.consultix-inc.com/c++b.html
• C : http://www.chips.navy.mil/oasys/c/ and mirror at Oasys
• C++ : http://www.semdesigns.com/Products/DMS/DMSToolkit.html
• C++, C, Java and Oracle Pro-C Beautifier http://www.geocities.com/~starkville/main.html
• C++, C beautifier http://users.erols.com/astronaut/vim/ccb-1.07.tar.gz and site at http://users.erols.com/astronaut/vim/#vimlinks_src
• C++, C, Java, Perl beautifier CBP http://www.prismtk.de/docs/cbp
• GC! GreatCode! is a powerful C/C++ source code beautifier Windows 95/98/NT/2000 http://perso.club-internet.fr/cbeaudet
• CbVan for C, C++ and Java at http://www.geocities.com/~starkville/main.html

BCPP was written by Steven De Toni at

2. How can I trust Beautifier programs??!!

For 100% assurance you need a SCIENTIFIC way to validate and trust a beautifier program. The method described in this section will enable the beautifier program to be accepted as "trust-worthy" and reliable.

In order to verify that beautifier programs like bcpp, indent or cb is not damaging or changing the input source-code after formatting, you can use the shell script verification program or use the following technique -

Generate the object code from the original input source code using the compiler -

  g++ -c myprogram.cpp

Save this file -

   mv myprogram.o myprogram_orig.o

Now run bcpp -

   bcpp myprogram.cpp

   g++ -c myprogram.cpp

Now use the unix 'diff' command to compare the two object files -

   diff myprogram.o myprogram_orig.o

If for some reason you are not able to diff the object files then you MUST use the assembly output as described below.

You can use the assembler output instead of object output from the C++ compiler for doing the comparison. Like -

    g++ -S myprogram.cpp

    diff myprogram.s myprogram_orig.s

It is strongly recommended that you do these two steps every time you run beautifier programs like bcpp, indent or cb.

3. Beautifiers for other Languages

Visit the following sites to get beautifiers for other languages like HTML, SQL, Java, Perl, Fortran.

• HTML : http://www.digital-mines.com/htb/
• HTML : http://www.datacomm.ch/mwoog/software/perl/beautifier.html
• HTML : http://www.watson-net.com/free/perl/s_fhtml.asp

• SQL : http://www.netbula.com/products/sqlb
• Oracle PLSQL : http://www.revealnet.com

• Java, SQL, HTML, C++ : http://www.semdesigns.com/Products/DMS/DMSToolkit.html
• Java : http://home.wtal.de/software-solutions/jindent/frameset.html
• Java JPretty : http://www.mmsindia.com/index.html
• Java JIndent http://home.wtal.de/software-solutions/jindent
• Java Pat http://javaregex.com/cgi-bin/pat/jbeaut.asp
• Java JStyle http://www.redrival.com/greenrd/java/jstyle
• Java JPrettyPrinter http://www.epoch.com.tw/download/ms/java/java.htm
• Java JxBeauty http://members.nextra.at/johann.langhofer/download/jxbeauty and the JxBeauty Home
• Java beautify percolator
• Java list http://www.java.about.com/compute/java/library/weekly/aa102499.htm
• Java html present VasJava2HTML

• Perl : http://www.consultix-inc.com/www.consultix-inc.com/talk.htm
• Perl : http://www.consultix-inc.com/www.consultix-inc.com/perl_beautifier.html

• Fortran beautifier : http://www.aeem.iastate.edu/Fortran/tools.html

• C++ : BCPP site is at http://dickey.his.com/bcpp/bcpp.html or at http://www.clark.net/pub/dickey. BCPP ftp site is at ftp://dickey.his.com/bcpp/bcpp.tar.gz
• C++ : http://www.consultix-inc.com/c++b.html
• C : http://www.chips.navy.mil/oasys/c/ and mirror at Oasys
• C++, C, Java, Oracle Pro-C Beautifier http://www.geocities.com/~starkville/main.html
• C++, C beautifier http://users.erols.com/astronaut/vim/ccb-1.07.tar.gz and site at http://users.erols.com/astronaut/vim/#vimlinks_src
• GC! GreatCode! is a powerful C/C++ source code beautifier Windows 95/98/NT/2000 http://perso.club-internet.fr/cbeaudet

• White paper on beautifier : http://www.consultix-inc.com/www.consultix-inc.com/talk.htm

To create presentation of codes to display using HTML -

• Presentation (C,C++,Java) to html : http://www.perlstudio.de/cbindex.html

4. Verification Script

This is a Korn shell script to verify beautifier program. Requires "pdksh*.rpm" from Linux 'contrib' cdrom. Save this file as 'text' file and chmod a+rx on it. You can re-write this shell script in PERL so that you can use it on Window 95/NT or MSDOS. Uncomment the PRGM variable to point to bcpp, cb or indent

#!/bin/ksh

# Verification program to check C++ Beautifiers 'bcpp', 'indent' or cb
############################################################
# Copyright 
# The copyright policy is GNU/GPL.
# Author: Al Dev (Alavoor Vasudevan) alavoor@yahoo.com
############################################################

check_beautify_now()
{
        # Remove all the temp files....
        \rm -f ${TMP_FILE}
        \rm -f ${TMP_CPPFILE}*.*

        FNAME=$1
        if [ ! -f ${FNAME} ]; then
                print "\nError: The file ${FNAME} does not exist!!. Aborting now ...."
                exit
        fi
        \cp  -f ${FNAME} ${TMP_CPPFILE}.cpp
        ${COMPILER} -c ${TMP_CPPFILE}.cpp
        if [ ! -f ${TMP_CPPFILE}.o ]; then
                print "Fatal Error: Failed to compile ${FNAME}. Aborting now... "
                exit
        fi
        \mv -f ${TMP_CPPFILE}.o ${TMP_CPPFILE}_orig.o

        aa=`basename $PRGM`
        print "\nRunning, verifying $aa on ${FNAME}"
        ${PRGM} ${TMP_CPPFILE}.cpp
        ${COMPILER} -c ${TMP_CPPFILE}.cpp
        \rm -f $TMP_FILE
        diff ${TMP_CPPFILE}.o ${TMP_CPPFILE}_orig.o 1> $TMP_FILE 2>> $TMP_FILE
        result=""
        result=`wc -c $TMP_FILE | awk '{print $1}' `
        if [ "$result" = "0" ]; then
                print "Success!! Beautifier $aa is working properly!!\n"
        else
                print "Fatal Error: Something wrong!! Beautifier is not working!!"
                exit
        fi
#       ${COMPILER} -S ${TMP_CPPFILE}.cpp
#       diff ${TMP_CPPFILE}.s ${TMP_CPPFILE}_orig.s

        # Remove all the temp files....
        \rm -f ${TMP_FILE}
        \rm -f ${TMP_CPPFILE}*.*
}

########## Main of program begins here ##################3
#PRGM=/usr/bin/bcpp
#PRGM=/usr/bin/cb
PRGM=/usr/bin/indent
COMPILER=/usr/bin/g++

TMP_FILE=beautify.tmp
TMP_CPPFILE=beautify-tmp_cppfile

print -n "Enter the C++ file name <default is *.cpp> : "
read ans
if [ "$ans" = "" -o "$ans" = " " ]; then
        ans="ALL"
else
        FILENAME=$ans
fi

# Remove all the temp files....
\rm -f ${TMP_FILE}
\rm -f ${TMP_CPPFILE}*.*

if [ "$ans" != "ALL" ]; then
        check_beautify_now ${FILENAME}
else
        ls *.cpp |
        while read FILENAME 
        do
                check_beautify_now ${FILENAME}
        done
fi

5. Related URLs

Visit following locators which are related to C, C++ -

• Vim color text editor for C++, C
• C++ Programming HOWTO
• CVS HOWTO for C++ programs
• Linux goodies http://www.aldev.8m.com and mirrors at http://aldev0.webjump.com, angelfire, geocities, virtualave, 50megs, theglobe, NBCi, Terrashare, Fortunecity, Freewebsites, Tripod, Spree, Escalix, Httpcity, Freeservers.

6. Other Formats of this Document

This document is published in 14 different formats namely - DVI, Postscript, Latex, Adobe Acrobat PDF, LyX, GNU-info, HTML, RTF(Rich Text Format), Plain-text, Unix man pages, single HTML file, SGML (Linuxdoc format), SGML (Docbook format), MS WinHelp format.

This howto document is located at -

• http://www.linuxdoc.org and click on HOWTOs and search for howto document name using CTRL+f or ALT+f within the web-browser.

You can also find this document at the following mirrors sites -

• http://www.caldera.com/LDP/HOWTO
• http://www.linux.ucla.edu/LDP
• http://www.cc.gatech.edu/linux/LDP
• http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP
• Other mirror sites near you (network-address-wise) can be found at http://www.linuxdoc.org/mirrors.html select a site and go to directory /LDP/HOWTO/xxxxx-HOWTO.html

• You can get this HOWTO document as a single file tar ball in HTML, DVI, Postscript or SGML formats from - ftp://www.linuxdoc.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/ and http://www.linuxdoc.org/docs.html#howto

• Plain text format is in: ftp://www.linuxdoc.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO and http://www.linuxdoc.org/docs.html#howto

• Single HTML file format is in: http://www.linuxdoc.org/docs.html#howto

  Single HTML file can be created with command (see man sgml2html) - sgml2html -split 0 xxxxhowto.sgml

• Translations to other languages like French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese are in ftp://www.linuxdoc.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO and http://www.linuxdoc.org/docs.html#howto Any help from you to translate to other languages is welcome.

• sgml2html xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate html file)
• sgml2html -split 0 xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate a single page html file)
• sgml2rtf xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate RTF file)
• sgml2latex xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate latex file)

6.1 Acrobat PDF format

PDF file can be generated from postscript file using either acrobat distill or Ghostscript. And postscript file is generated from DVI which in turn is generated from LaTex file. You can download distill software from http://www.adobe.com. Given below is a sample session:

bash$ man sgml2latex
bash$ sgml2latex filename.sgml
bash$ man dvips
bash$ dvips -o filename.ps filename.dvi
bash$ distill filename.ps
bash$ man ghostscript
bash$ man ps2pdf
bash$ ps2pdf input.ps output.pdf
bash$ acroread output.pdf &

6.2 Convert Linuxdoc to Docbook format

This document is written in linuxdoc SGML format. The Docbook SGML format supercedes the linuxdoc format and has lot more features than linuxdoc. The linuxdoc is very simple and is easy to use. To convert linuxdoc SGML file to Docbook SGML use the program ld2db.sh and some perl scripts. The ld2db output is not 100% clean and you need to use the clean_ld2db.pl perl script. You may need to manually correct few lines in the document.

• Download ld2db program from http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~rrt/docbook.html or from Al Dev site
• Download the cleanup_ld2db.pl perl script from from Al Dev site

        bash$ ld2db.sh file-linuxdoc.sgml db.sgml
        bash$ cleanup.pl db.sgml > db_clean.sgml
        bash$ gvim db_clean.sgml 
        bash$ docbook2html db.sgml

6.3 Convert to MS WinHelp format

You can convert the SGML howto document to Microsoft Windows Help file, first convert the sgml to html using:

        bash$ sgml2html xxxxhowto.sgml     (to generate html file)
        bash$ sgml2html -split 0   xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate a single page html file)

6.4 Reading various formats

In order to view the document in dvi format, use the xdvi program. The xdvi program is located in tetex-xdvi*.rpm package in Redhat Linux which can be located through ControlPanel | Applications | Publishing | TeX menu buttons. To read dvi document give the command -

        xdvi -geometry 80x90 howto.dvi
        man xdvi

You can read postscript file using the program 'gv' (ghostview) or 'ghostscript'. The ghostscript program is in ghostscript*.rpm package and gv program is in gv*.rpm package in Redhat Linux which can be located through ControlPanel | Applications | Graphics menu buttons. The gv program is much more user friendly than ghostscript. Also ghostscript and gv are available on other platforms like OS/2, Windows 95 and NT, you view this document even on those platforms.

• Get ghostscript for Windows 95, OS/2, and for all OSes from http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost

To read postscript document give the command -

                gv howto.ps
                ghostscript howto.ps

You can read HTML format document using Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet explorer, Redhat Baron Web browser or any of the 10 other web browsers.

You can read the latex, LyX output using LyX a X-Windows front end to latex.

7. Copyright

Copyright policy is GNU/GPL as per LDP (Linux Documentation project). LDP is a GNU/GPL project. Additional restrictions are - you must retain the author's name, email address and this copyright notice on all the copies. If you make any changes or additions to this document then you should intimate all the authors of this document.