REFACOLA —

The Refactoring Constraint Language

Purpose

to specify refactorings declaratively, using the constraint approach, and to generate refactoring tools from the specifications

Rationale

Among all available refactoring tools, constraint-based ones present perhaps the largest fraction relying on a single, uniform approach to refactoring. Despite this uniformity, however, all constraint-based refactoring tools have been developed more or less from scratch, and the potential for reuse, both of the constraint rules covering the target language and of the implementation of the necessary infrastructure, is wasted. Refacola's purpose is to allows refactoring tool developers to write and reuse refactoring specifications in a clompletely declarative constraint language, and to generate refactoring tools from them.

How it Works

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Evaluation

Refacola and the refactorings specified with it have been evaluated extensively, for different refactorings and different target programming languages, using the following experimental setup:

Available Downloads

We offer downloads of the Refacola language and framework (for Eclipse), Refacola refactoring specifications, and generated refactoring tools.

Refacola Language and Framework for Eclipse

Java Refactorings

Pull Up Field (various variants, with foresight)

• Java language module
• Ruleset module
• Refactoring modules
  • Pull Up Field basic (no other changes allowed)
  • Pull Up Field with other required fields
  • Pull Up Field adjusting accessibilities
  • Pull Up Field renaming conflicting fields
  • Pull Up Field with others, adjusting accessibilities and renaming (screenshot):
    Available for download via Eclipse update site: http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/ps/prjs/refacola/update-site/
• generated Pull Up Field refactoring tool for Eclipse

Eiffel Refactorings

• Language definition
• RuleSets:
  • Naming
  • Exporting
  • Typing
  • Exporting for Typing

Rename Feature

Change Accessibility

Change Declared Type

Change Method Declaration

Publications

• F Steimann, C Kollee, J von Pilgrim “A refactoring constraint language and its application to Eiffel” in: Proc. of ECOOP (2011) to appear.
• F Steimann, J von Pilgrim “Constraint-based refactoring with foresight” (unpublished manuscript).

Team

• Andreas Thies
• Christian Kollee
• Jens von Pilgrim
• Friedrich Steimann