Tip #325: Errorformat for java/ant/junit/cygwin/bash

If you program in Java and use Jakarta ant for builds *and* if you have the
bash shell, this tip will make your development experience a little
smoother.

This tip will result in a working compile/edit/debug system (in Win32
vim/gvim and in Cygwin vim) that takes you to the exact lines where the
build fails, whether the failure is a compilation error or a junit test
failure.  If you use bash on a linux box, you shouldn't have to change very
much to get everything to work.

There are 6 sections:
1. set up your build script
2. set up makeprg
3. set up shell options
4. set up path formatting options
5. set up your errorformat
6. set up key mappings

Set up build script
-------------------
Add the following script to your path (I use /usr/local/bin/):

mymake:
#!/bin/bash
cd /work/
ant -emacs $* 2>&1 | tr '\' / | tr ^M ' ' | sed -u -n -f /usr/local/bin/testerrors.sed | tee /tmp/errors

Comment: sed -u is non-standard, use the code at:
http://mail.gnu.org/pipermail/bug-gnu-utils/2002-May/000192.html to get
the -u option for sed (this avoids waiting for the build output to get to
the screen)

testerrors.sed:
# This assumes that all your junit test cases are in a com.* package
/^Running com\./ {
    # duplicate the line
    s!\(.*\)!\1\
\1!
    P

    # turn the test package into a directory path for %D errorformat
    s!.*\(com\..*\)\.[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*!\1!
    s!\.!/!g
    s!.*!Entering: /work/src/&!

    # print the line and go on
    p
    n
}

# just pass any unmatched lines through
p

Set up makeprg
--------------
Add the following lines to your vimrc:
  autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead /work/*.java set makeprg=mymake
  autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead ?:/work/*.java set makeprg=mymake

Set up shell options
--------------------
Add the following lines to your vimrc:
  " in order to have bash as the shell for win32 vi.exe and gvim.exe, you have
  " to set these options, and also build vimrun.exe in the cygwin environment
  " so that the system() call is executed via bash, not cmd.exe -- the command
  " to build vimrun.exe is "make -f Make_cyg.mak vimrun.exe"
  set shell=bash.exe
  set shellcmdflag=-c
  set shellslash

Also to use this environment in Win32 gvim, you must recompile vimrun so
that gvim invokes the shell via bash, not via cmd.exe.

Set up path formatting options
------------------------------
Add the following lines to your vimrc:
  " allows DOS file names from UNIX (Cygwin) vim
  set isfname+=\

Set up your errorformat
-----------------------
Add the following lines to your vimrc:
  " the "\%DEntering:\ %f," rule relies on a sed script which generates
  " "Entering: " messages for each test class run (the directory name is
  " generated from the test class package and a hard-coded src root)

  " the "%\\C" at the start of the exception matching line tells to match
  " case-exact (the exception mathching lines rely on the %D rule that sets
  " up the correct directory from the package structure)

  " ant/junit/javac errorformat
  set errorformat=
      \%-G%.%#build.xml:%.%#,
      \%-G%.%#warning:\ %.%#,
      \%-G%\\C%.%#EXPECTED%.%#,
      \%f:%l:\ %#%m,
      \C:%f:%l:\ %m,
      \%DEntering:\ %f\ %\\=,
      \%ECaused\ by:%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%ERoot\ cause:%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%Ecom.%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%Eorg.%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%Ejava.%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%Ejunit.%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%-Z%\\C\ at\ com.mypkg.%.%#.test%[A-Z]%.%#(%f:%l)\ %\\=,
      \%-Z%\\C\ at\ com.mypkg.%.%#.setUp(%f:%l)\ %\\=,
      \%-Z%\\C\ at\ com.mypkg.%.%#.tearDown(%f:%l)\ %\\=,
      \%-Z%^\ %#%$,
      \%-C%.%#,
      \%-G%.%#

NOTE: Make sure that the character before "at" is an actual Tab character in
the three long -Z lines above

Here is an annotated version:
  set errorformat=
      " don't treat the build.xml diagnostic as an error
      \%-G%.%#build.xml:%.%#,

      " don't treat warning lines as errors
      \%-G%.%#warning:\ %.%#,

      " don't treat lines containing "EXPECTED" as errors
      \%-G%\\C%.%#EXPECTED%.%#,

      " look for this standard error format
      \%f:%l:\ %#%m,

      " look for this standard error format (with C: on front)
      \C:%f:%l:\ %m,

      " look for special sed-generated "Entering" lines while running tests
      \%DEntering:\ %f\ %\\=,

      " look for exceptions that were thrown in the tests, use the exception
      " description as the error message (don't know how to also include the
      " exception name in the error message)
      \%ECaused\ by:%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%ERoot\ cause:%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%Ecom.%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%Eorg.%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%Ejava.%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,
      \%Ejunit.%[%^:]%#:%\\=\ %\\=%m,

      " using the "Entering" directory and the filename/line number provided
      " in the exception trace, go to the test method where the exception
      " was thrown
      \%-Z%\\C\ at\ com.mypkg.%.%#.test%[A-Z]%.%#(%f:%l)\ %\\=,
      \%-Z%\\C\ at\ com.mypkg.%.%#.setUp(%f:%l)\ %\\=,
      \%-Z%\\C\ at\ com.mypkg.%.%#.tearDown(%f:%l)\ %\\=,

      " empty lines terminate searching for further exception lines
      \%-Z%^\ %#%$,

      " any line can intervene between the start of an exception printout
      " and the line where it ends (last in list so that it is matched if
      " none of the other exception trace patterns match)
      \%-C%.%#,

      " all other lines are not errors
      \%-G%.%#

Set up key mappings
-------------------
Add the following lines to your vimrc:
  nmap <F10> :clist<CR>
  nmap <F11> :cprev<CR>
  nmap <F12> :cnext<CR>

This allows for quick error navigation.


NOTES
-----
Vim treats the "Entering: /work/src/..." messages in a weird way.  If there
are any actual errors, then these error lines are ignored by the :cnext and
:cprev commands, but if there are no real errors, then :cnext and :cprev
roll through these "Entering:" messages as if they were errors, but since
they don't include any line numbers, the cursor position is never moved.

I thought that this was strange, but even stranger, it is programmed
directly into the vim error handling code to function exactly this way.
There were no comments, and nobody responded on the vim mailing list, so I
just decided to live with it.

The upshot of it all is that if you see an error like "Entering:", chances
are that your build succeeded and all the tests ran without a problem.


Hope this helps...

Mail me with bugs at jdsumsion at earthlink.net.

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Additional Notes