Real-time Editor Integration

[ajsb85]

This issue outlines the necessary steps and considerations for enhancing the pads-layout-parser library to support real-time parsing and integration with a PADS Layout editor.

Checklist:

Phase 1: Core Parser Enhancements

• Lexical Analysis (Tokenization):
  • Implement a lexer to tokenize the PADS input.
  • Define token types (e.g., KEYWORD, IDENTIFIER, NUMBER, DOT, STRING, COMMENT, STAR, NEWLINE, WHITESPACE, etc.).
  • Handle PADS keywords (e.g., *PADS-PCB*, *PART*, *NET*, *SIGNAL*, *END*).
  • Handle PADS delimiters (spaces, tabs, newlines).
  • Handle quoted strings (if applicable).
  • Handle comments ( // ).
  • Test the lexer with various valid and invalid input sequences.
• Error Recovery:
  • Implement error recovery in the parser's state machine.
  • Define synchronization points for error recovery (e.g., * keywords, newlines).
  • Test error recovery with various incomplete and erroneous PADS files.
• Partial Parsing:
  • Modify the parser to accept a starting line number as an optional parameter.
  • Allow parsing to begin from the specified line, skipping the preceding parts of the file.
  • Test partial parsing to ensure it produces the correct results when starting from different points in a valid file.
• Asynchronous Parsing:
  • Modify the parse() method to be fully asynchronous (it is already partially).
  • Ensure that asynchronous operations do not block the main thread.
  • Test the parser's behavior under simulated user input with different typing speeds.

Phase 2: Incremental Parsing and Editor Integration

• Change Tracking:
  • Research and choose a suitable method for tracking changes in the editor's text content (e.g., diff algorithm, operational transforms, editor-specific API).
  • Implement change tracking in the editor (or as a separate module).
• Incremental Parsing Logic:
  • Design an algorithm to map changes to affected parts of the netlist.
  • Modify the parser to re-tokenize and re-parse only the changed sections.
  • Update the internal PADSNetlist representation incrementally.
  • Test the incremental parsing logic with various editing scenarios (inserting, deleting, modifying lines).
• Editor Integration:
  • Define an API or interface for communication between the editor and the parser.
  • Implement the necessary functions in the editor to:
    • Send the current text content (or changes) to the parser.
    • Receive the updated PADSNetlist and error list.
    • Update the editor's internal state and UI based on the parsed data.
    • Display errors to the user (e.g., using markers, tooltips).
  • Test the integration thoroughly with realistic editing scenarios.

Phase 3: Advanced Features and Optimization

• Performance Optimization:
  • Profile the parser's performance to identify bottlenecks.
  • Optimize critical sections of the code (e.g., tokenization, parsing, data structure updates).
  • Consider using Web Workers for offloading parsing to a separate thread (if necessary and beneficial).
• Improved Error Reporting:
  • Enhance error messages with more context (e.g., surrounding lines, parsed elements).
  • Implement a mechanism for suggesting possible corrections to the user.
• Extended PADS Format Support:
  • Handle more PADS keywords and sections (if needed for your editor).
  • Support variations in the PADS format (e.g., different header formats).
• PADS Library Integration:
  • Design a system for managing PADS footprint libraries.
  • Implement functionality to load and search for footprints.
  • Handle footprint variations and aliases (if required).
• Automated Tests:
  • Expand the unit test suite to cover more valid and invalid cases.
  • Add integration tests to verify the interaction between the parser and the editor.

Open Questions:

• What specific diffing algorithm or change tracking mechanism will be used?
• How will the editor communicate with the parser (callbacks, events, polling)?
• How frequently will the parser be invoked (e.g., on each keystroke, after a short delay, on a specific event)?
• What is the exact format of the error information that the parser should provide to the editor?
• How should the parser handle very large PADS files that might take a long time to parse even partially?