<s>
Text	B-Application
Template	I-Application
Transformation	I-Application
Toolkit	I-Application
(	O
usually	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
"	O
T4	O
"	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
free	B-License
and	I-License
open-source	I-License
template-based	O
text	O
generation	O
framework	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
T4	O
is	O
used	O
by	O
developers	B-Application
as	O
part	O
of	O
an	O
application	O
or	O
tool	O
framework	B-Architecture
to	O
automate	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
text	O
files	O
with	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
parameters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
text	O
files	O
can	O
ultimately	O
be	O
any	O
text	O
format	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
code	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
C#	B-Application
)	O
,	O
XML	B-Application
,	O
HTML	B-Language
or	O
XAML	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
T4	O
uses	O
a	O
custom	O
template	O
format	O
which	O
can	O
contain	O
.NET	B-Application
code	O
and	O
string	B-Language
literals	I-Language
in	O
it	O
,	O
this	O
is	O
parsed	O
by	O
the	O
T4	O
command	O
line	O
tool	O
into	O
.NET	B-Application
code	O
,	O
compiled	O
and	O
executed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
using	O
the	O
Text	O
Transformation	O
class	O
,	O
T4	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
run	O
entirely	O
from	O
within	O
a	O
.NET	B-Application
application	O
,	O
eliminating	O
the	O
need	O
for	O
the	O
end	O
user	O
to	O
have	O
Visual	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
installed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
T4	O
is	O
used	O
within	O
Microsoft	O
in	O
ASP.NET	B-Language
MVC	I-Language
for	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
the	O
views	O
and	O
controllers	O
,	O
ADO.NET	B-Application
Entity	I-Application
Framework	I-Application
for	O
entity	O
generation	O
,	O
and	O
ASP.NET	B-Device
Dynamic	I-Device
Data	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
T4	O
templating	O
is	O
supported	O
in	O
Visual	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
,	O
MonoDevelop	B-Language
and	O
JetBrains	O
Rider	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
has	O
often	O
been	O
criticized	O
for	O
the	O
lack	O
of	O
tooling	O
support	O
for	O
T4	O
within	O
the	O
Visual	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
IDE	O
,	O
and	O
relies	O
on	O
third	O
parties	O
namely	O
,	O
however	O
later	O
revisions	O
have	O
included	O
better	O
tooling	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
2010	O
:	O
Microsoft	O
includes	O
it	O
with	O
Visual	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
2010	O
which	O
included	O
significant	O
new	O
features	O
to	O
improve	O
performance	O
,	O
usability	O
for	O
both	O
template	O
authors	O
and	O
tool	O
builders	O
and	O
better	O
integration	O
into	O
Visual	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
's	O
DSL	O
tools	O
.	O
</s>
