Parsing a G4 file to generate doc / schema

1
votes

I realize this question is a bit meta, but I essentially want to parse an ANTLR4 grammar (an actual .g4 file) to then generate documentation and other artifacts based on the grammar (not an instance of the grammar).

For example, consider the example Java grammar that contains this rule:

compilationUnit
:   packageDeclaration? importDeclaration* typeDeclaration* EOF
;

I want to be able to parse the Java.g4 file and produce documentation that says "A compilationUnit contains an optional packageDeclaration, 0 or more importDeclarations, and 0 or more typeDeclarations". Or perhaps I want to produce an XSD with a data type called "compilationUnit" that contains "packageDeclaration", "importDeclaration", and "typeDeclaration" elements (with proper cardinality set).

What is the best way of accomplishing something like this? Is it to create a target (even though the goal isn't to create lexers/parsers), or is it to use the example antlr4 grammar to parse the g4 file, or is it something else?

Thanks!

1
antlrantlr4

1 Answers

2
votes

This would be a very typical use of ANTLR, and convenient given the existing ANTLR 4 grammar.