Using the Map Editor

CodeSmith Generator maps are dictionaries for lookups in your templates, such as translating a type from one system into another. Maps reduce the amount of plumbing code in templates and make them easier to read and reuse.

Generator ships with maps for the most common scenarios, and the Map Editor makes it easy to create and manage your own. Maps are stored as XML files with a .csmap extension, so they're easy to share.

Opening the Map Editor

Open the Map Editor from the Generator menu.

Map Editor window

Element	What it does
Name	The map's name, which is also its file name, so choose a name that describes what the map is for. Use this list to view and edit existing maps. Select (New File) to create a new map.
New File	Creates a new map file.
Open File	Opens a map file from anywhere on your computer.
Save Copy	Creates a copy of the current map file.
Description	Describes what the map is for.
Return Key	Returns the original key when the key isn't found in the map, instead of null.
Case Sensitive	Matches keys case-sensitively. Word dictionaries often don't need this, because most of their keys are unique by name.

For example, the map above converts a fully qualified .NET type to its C# keyword. Some types, such as System.DateTime and System.Guid, have no C# keyword. With Return Key checked, looking up System.DateTime returns System.DateTime, which is still valid C#.

In this section

• Developing using a Generator map: use maps in templates with the Map directive or the API, with a worked example.