A parser is simple a class that implements
#initialize(file_name, body, options)
The initialize method takes a file name to be used, the body of the file, and an RDoc::Options object. The scan method is then called to return an appropriately parsed TopLevel code object.
The ParseFactory is used to redirect to the correct parser given a filename extension. This magic works because individual parsers have to register themselves with us as they are loaded in. The do this using the following incantation
require "rdoc/parsers/parsefactory" module RDoc class XyzParser extend ParseFactory <<<< parse_files_matching /\.xyz$/ <<<< def initialize(file_name, body, options) ... end def scan ... end end end
Just to make life interesting, if we suspect a plain text file, we also look for a shebang line just in case it’s a potential shell script
Parsers = Struct.new(:regexp, :parser)