started docu
[libt2n] / codegen / main.cpp
index 0c60908..45aa9d7 100644 (file)
+/*
+    Copyright (C) 2006                                                    
+    intra2net.com                                                         
+
+    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+    (at your option) any later version.
+
+    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+    GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+    Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
+*/
+
+/*! \mainpage libt2n - (talk2neighbor)
+ \section intro_sec Introduction
+ libt2n (talk2neighbor) is a C++ library for inter-process communication (IPC, s.a. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-process_communication)
+ with an additional code generator to make remote procedure calls simple. XXX: improve this paragraph: The input for the code generator is standard C++ code (in fact we use gccxml to parse the C++ code and the code generator takes the XML as input) and you mark the procedures you want to expose to other processes.
+ It then generates the stubs needed.
+ The exported procedures can be grouped. For each group the code generator is called which generates 6 outputfiles: group_common.hxx, group_common.cpp, group_client.hxx, group_client.cpp, group_server.hxx, group_server.cpp. The _common files are used by client and server whereas the _client files are used by the client and the _server files by the server. 
+
+ \section install_sec Installation
+
+ \subsection requirements Requirements
+ - boost <http://www.boost.org/> (serialization <http://www.boost.org/libs/serialization/doc/>)
+ - gccxml <http://www.gccxml.org>
+ - libxmlpp <http://libxmlplusplus.sourceforge.net/>
+
+ \section usage Usage example
+
+ In this example we create two packages:
+ - server program and library to connect to the server. The server exports a simple procedure using one group: "t2nexample"
+ - client program using the library
+
+ \subsection server Example server program and client library
+
+ \par The procedure to export (input for the code generator - libt2n-codegen): t2nexample.cpp:
+ \verbinclude libt2n-example1/t2nexample.cpp
+
+ \par Required includes must be put into a seperate group header file: t2nexample.hxx:
+ \verbinclude libt2n-example1/t2nexample.hxx
+
+ \par The server program:
+ \verbinclude libt2n-example1/server.cpp
+
+ \par Using autoconf and automake to build a example server program and a client library.
+ In the configure.in(.ac) we put a check for libt2n:
+ \verbinclude libt2n-example1/configure.in
+ Writing the Makefile.am isn't difficult either:
+ \verbinclude libt2n-example1/Makefile.am
+
+ \subsection client Client using the library
+ Using the library is as simple as using any other library using pkg-config (the pkg-config .pc file is created automatically by the included Makefile snippet)
+ \par We only have to check that the library is installed
+ \verbinclude libt2n-example1-client/configure.in
+ \par Nothing special
+ \verbinclude libt2n-example1-client/Makefile.am
+ \par The client program
+ \verbinclude libt2n-example1-client/client.cpp
+*/
+
+/*!
+ \example t2nexample.cpp
+ example input for libt2n-codegen
+*/
+
 #include <libxml++/libxml++.h>
 #include <cassert>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <set>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <list>
+#include <stdexcept>
+#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include "config.h"
+#endif
 
-void print_indentation(unsigned int indentation)
-{
-     for(unsigned int i = 0; i < indentation; ++i)
-         std::cout << " ";
+
+//! map group to class name
+std::string
+groupClass(const std::string &group) {
+    return std::string("cmd_group_")+group;
 }
 
+//! convert string to upper case
 std::string
 toupper(std::string s) {
      for (unsigned i=0; i<s.length(); ++i) s[i]=toupper(s[i]);
      return s;
 }
 
+//! replace all characters f by r in string s
 std::string
 replace(std::string s, char f, char r) {
      for (unsigned i=0; i<s.length(); ++i) if (s[i]==f) s[i]=r;
      return s;
 }
 
+//! strip prefix from string s
+/*!
+  \return string s without prefix or an empty string on error
+ */
 std::string
 strip(std::string s, std::string prefix)
 {
@@ -31,20 +115,6 @@ strip(std::string s, std::string prefix)
      return std::string(s, prefix.length(), s.length()-prefix.length());
 }
 
-std::string
-extract_group(const std::string &attrs)
-{
-     // todo: improve this
-     std::string error;
-     std::string to_match("gccxml(libt2n-");
-     std::string::size_type p(attrs.find(to_match));
-     if (p==std::string::npos) return error;
-     std::string group(attrs, p+to_match.length(), attrs.length());
-     p=group.find_first_of(')');
-     assert(p!=std::string::npos);
-     return std::string(group,0,p);
-}
-
 //! get child element by id
 /*!
   \return pointer to element having id or null on error
@@ -68,6 +138,15 @@ const xmlpp::Element* get_element_by_id(const xmlpp::Element* element, const std
      return NULL;
 }
 
+std::string
+get_file(const xmlpp::Element* root, const std::string &file_id)
+{
+     std::string error;
+     const xmlpp::Element* e=get_element_by_id(root, file_id);
+     if ((!e)||(!e->get_attribute("name"))) return error;
+     return e->get_attribute("name")->get_value();
+}
+
 //! get namespace by id
 /*!
   \return namespace name or empty string on error
@@ -80,6 +159,20 @@ std::string get_namespace(const xmlpp::Element* root, const std::string &id)
      return element->get_attribute("name")->get_value();
 }
 
+//! extract group from attributes
+std::string
+extract_group(const std::string &attrs)
+{
+     // todo: improve this
+     std::string error;
+     std::string to_match("gccxml(libt2n-");
+     std::string::size_type p(attrs.find(to_match));
+     if (p==std::string::npos) return error;
+     std::string group(attrs, p+to_match.length(), attrs.length());
+     p=group.find_first_of(')');
+     assert(p!=std::string::npos);
+     return std::string(group,0,p);
+}
 
 struct type_info
 {
@@ -94,6 +187,13 @@ std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream &o, const type_info &t) {
      return o;
 }
 
+struct parse_error : public std::runtime_error
+{
+     parse_error(const std::string &file, unsigned line, const std::string &msg)
+         : std::runtime_error(file+":"+boost::lexical_cast<std::string>(line)+": error: "+msg)
+         {}
+};
+
 //! get type by id
 /*!
   \return type name or empty string on error
@@ -126,12 +226,21 @@ type_info get_type(const xmlpp::Element* root, const std::string &id)
          if (ret==error) return error;
          ret.name=std::string("const ")+ret.name;
          return ret;
+     }else if (tag=="PointerType") {
+         // not yet supported
+         return error;
      }
 
      assert(element->get_attribute("name"));
      type_info ret;
-     if (element->get_attribute("context"))
-         ret.name=get_namespace(root, element->get_attribute("context")->get_value())+"::";
+     if (element->get_attribute("context")) {
+         ret.name=get_namespace(root, element->get_attribute("context")->get_value());
+         if (ret.name!="::")
+              ret.name+="::";
+         else
+              // do not explicitely add ::
+              ret.name="";
+     }
      ret.name+=element->get_attribute("name")->get_value();
      return ret;
 }
@@ -140,16 +249,16 @@ struct t2n_procedure
 {
      typedef std::list<std::pair<std::string, type_info> > Args;
 
-     std::string group;
      type_info ret_type;
      std::string name;
+     std::string mangled;
      Args  args;
 
      std::string ret_classname() const {
-         return name+"_res";
+         return name+mangled+"_res";
      }
      std::string cmd_classname() const {
-         return name+"_cmd";
+         return name+mangled+"_cmd";
      }
 };
 
@@ -196,20 +305,20 @@ protected:
 
          const xmlpp::Attribute* attributes = element->get_attribute("attributes");
          const xmlpp::Attribute* name = element->get_attribute("name");
+         const xmlpp::Attribute* mangled = element->get_attribute("mangled");
          const xmlpp::Attribute* returns = element->get_attribute("returns");
-         if ((!attributes)||(!name)||(!returns)) return;
+         if ((!attributes)||(!name)||(!mangled)||(!returns)) return;
 
          // check wether the procedure is marked (TODO: improve)
          // attributes are speparated by spaces?
 
          t2n_procedure f;
-         f.group=extract_group(attributes->get_value());
-         if (f.group.empty()) return;
-         // todo: handle default group
+         if (extract_group(attributes->get_value()).empty()) return;
 
          // we need the return type
          f.ret_type=get_type(root, returns->get_value());
          f.name=name->get_value();
+         f.mangled=mangled->get_value();
 
          xmlpp::Node::NodeList list = node->get_children("Argument");
          for(xmlpp::Node::NodeList::iterator iter = list.begin(); iter != list.end(); ++iter)
@@ -220,6 +329,14 @@ protected:
                    assert(arg->get_attribute("name"));
                    assert(arg->get_attribute("type"));
                    f.args.push_back(std::pair<std::string, type_info>(arg->get_attribute("name")->get_value(), get_type(root, arg->get_attribute("type")->get_value())));
+                   // todo: ugly - could be any other error
+                   if (f.args.back().second.name.empty()) {
+                        assert(element->get_attribute("file"));
+                        assert(element->get_attribute("line"));
+                        throw parse_error(get_file(root, element->get_attribute("file")->get_value()),
+                                          boost::lexical_cast<unsigned>(element->get_attribute("line")->get_value())-1,
+                                          std::string("type of parameter `")+f.args.back().first+"' not (yet?) supported");
+                   }
               }
          }
          std::cerr << "Found function: " << f << std::endl;
@@ -241,61 +358,8 @@ protected:
 
               if(!nodeText && !nodeComment && !nodename.empty()) //Let's not say "name: text".
               {
-                    //   print_indentation(indentation);
-                   //    std::cout << "Node name = " << node->get_name() << std::endl;
-                   //    std::cout << "Node name = " << nodename << std::endl;
-                   if (node->get_name() == "Function") {
-                        parse_function(root, node);
-                   }
-              }
-#if 0
-              else if(nodeText) //Let's say when it's text. - e.g. let's say what that white space is.
-              {
-                   print_indentation(indentation);
-                   std::cout << "Text Node" << std::endl;
-              }
-
-              //Treat the various node types differently: 
-              if(nodeText)
-              {
-                   print_indentation(indentation);
-                   std::cout << "text = \"" << nodeText->get_content() << "\"" << std::endl;
-              }
-              else if(nodeComment)
-              {
-                   print_indentation(indentation);
-                   std::cout << "comment = " << nodeComment->get_content() << std::endl;
-              }
-              else if(nodeContent)
-              {
-                   print_indentation(indentation);
-                   std::cout << "content = " << nodeContent->get_content() << std::endl;
+                   if (node->get_name() == "Function") parse_function(root, node);
               }
-              else if(const xmlpp::Element* nodeElement = dynamic_cast<const xmlpp::Element*>(node))
-              {
-                   //A normal Element node:
-
-                   //line() works only for ElementNodes.
-                   print_indentation(indentation);
-                   std::cout << "     line = " << node->get_line() << std::endl;
-
-                   //Print attributes:
-                   const xmlpp::Element::AttributeList& attributes = nodeElement->get_attributes();
-                   for(xmlpp::Element::AttributeList::const_iterator iter = attributes.begin(); iter != attributes.end(); ++iter)
-                   {
-                        const xmlpp::Attribute* attribute = *iter;
-                        print_indentation(indentation);
-                        std::cout << "  Attribute " << attribute->get_name() << " = " << attribute->get_value() << std::endl;
-                   }
-
-                   const xmlpp::Attribute* attribute = nodeElement->get_attribute("title");
-                   if(attribute)
-                   {
-                        std::cout << "title found: =" << attribute->get_value() << std::endl;
-      
-                   }
-              }
-#endif
               if(!nodeContent)
               {
                    //Recurse through child nodes:
@@ -308,131 +372,103 @@ protected:
          }
 };
 
-//! find used groups
-std::set<std::string>
-used_groups(const std::list<t2n_procedure> &funcs) {
-     typedef std::set<std::string> Groups;
-     Groups groups;
-     for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator it=funcs.begin();it!=funcs.end();++it)
-         // since we use std::set each group is inserted only once
-         groups.insert(it->group);
-     return groups;
-}
-
-void output_common_hpp(std::ostream &o, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs) {
-     std::set<std::string> groups(used_groups(procs));
-
-     o << "#include \"codegen-stubhead.hxx\"\n";
-     for (std::set<std::string>::iterator it=groups.begin();it!=groups.end();++it) {
-         o << "class cmd_group_" << *it << " : public libt2n::command\n"
-           << "{\n"
-           << "private:\n"
-           << "        friend class boost::serialization::access;\n"
-           << "        template<class Archive>\n"
-           << "        void serialize(Archive & ar, const unsigned int version)\n"
-           << "        {ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_BASE_OBJECT_NVP(libt2n::command);}\n"
-           << "};\n";
-     }
+void output_common_hpp(std::ostream &o, const std::string &group, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs) {
+    o << "class " << groupClass(group) << " : public libt2n::command\n"
+      << "{\n"
+      << "private:\n"
+      << "     friend class boost::serialization::access;\n"
+      << "     template<class Archive>\n"
+      << "     void serialize(Archive & ar, const unsigned int /* version */)\n"
+      << "     {ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_BASE_OBJECT_NVP(libt2n::command);}\n"
+      << "};\n";
      
-     for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator it=procs.begin();it!=procs.end();++it) {
-         o << "class " << it->ret_classname() << " : public libt2n::result\n"
-           << "{\n"
-           << "private:\n"
-           << "        " << it->ret_type << " res;\n"
-           << "        friend class boost::serialization::access;\n"
-           << "        template<class Archive>\n"
-           << "        void serialize(Archive & ar, const unsigned int version)\n"
-           << "        {\n"
-           << "                ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_BASE_OBJECT_NVP(libt2n::result);\n"
-           << "                ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(res);\n"
-           << "        }\n"
-           << "public:\n"
-           << "        " << it->ret_classname() << "() {}\n"
-           << "        " << it->ret_classname() << "(const " << it->ret_type << " &_res) : res(_res) {}\n"
-           << "        " << it->ret_type << " get_data() { return res; }\n"
-           << "};\n";
-     }
-     for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator it=procs.begin();it!=procs.end();++it) {
-         o << "class " << it->cmd_classname() << " : public " << "cmd_group_" << it->group << "\n"
-           << "{\n"
-           << "private:\n";
-         for (t2n_procedure::Args::const_iterator ait=it->args.begin();ait!=it->args.end();++ait) {
-              o << "   " << ait->second.noref() << " " << ait->first << ";\n";
-         }
-         o << "        friend class boost::serialization::access;\n"
-           << "        template<class Archive>\n"
-           << "        void serialize(Archive & ar, const unsigned int version)\n"
-           << "        {\n"
-           << "                ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_BASE_OBJECT_NVP(cmd_group_" << it->group << ");\n";
-         for (t2n_procedure::Args::const_iterator ait=it->args.begin();ait!=it->args.end();++ait) {
-              o << "           ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(" << ait->first << ");\n";
-         }
-
-         // default constructor
-         o << "        }\n"
-           << "\n"
-           << "public:\n"
-           << "        " << it->cmd_classname() << "() {}\n";
-
-         // constructor taking all arguments
-         o << "        " << it->cmd_classname() << "(";
-         for (t2n_procedure::Args::const_iterator ait=it->args.begin();ait!=it->args.end();++ait) {
-              if (ait!=it->args.begin()) o << ", ";
-              o << ait->second << " _" << ait->first;
-         }
-         o << ") : ";
-         for (t2n_procedure::Args::const_iterator ait=it->args.begin();ait!=it->args.end();++ait) {
-              if (ait!=it->args.begin()) o << ", ";
-              o << ait->first << "(_" << ait->first << ")";
-         }
-         o << " {}\n"
-           << "        libt2n::result* operator()();\n"
-           << "};\n";
-     }
+    for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator it=procs.begin();it!=procs.end();++it) {
+       o << "class " << it->ret_classname() << " : public libt2n::result\n"
+         << "{\n"
+         << "private:\n"
+         << "  " << it->ret_type << " res;\n"
+         << "  friend class boost::serialization::access;\n"
+         << "  template<class Archive>\n"
+         << "  void serialize(Archive & ar, const unsigned int /* version */)\n"
+         << "  {\n"
+         << "          ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_BASE_OBJECT_NVP(libt2n::result);\n"
+         << "          ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(res);\n"
+         << "  }\n"
+         << "public:\n"
+         << "  " << it->ret_classname() << "() {}\n"
+         << "  " << it->ret_classname() << "(const " << it->ret_type << " &_res) : res(_res) {}\n"
+         << "  " << it->ret_type << " get_data() { return res; }\n"
+         << "};\n";
+    }
+    for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator it=procs.begin();it!=procs.end();++it) {
+       o << "class " << it->cmd_classname() << " : public " << groupClass(group) << "\n"
+         << "{\n"
+         << "private:\n";
+       for (t2n_procedure::Args::const_iterator ait=it->args.begin();ait!=it->args.end();++ait) {
+           o << "      " << ait->second.noref() << " " << ait->first << ";\n";
+       }
+       o << "  friend class boost::serialization::access;\n"
+         << "  template<class Archive>\n"
+         << "  void serialize(Archive & ar, const unsigned int /* version */)\n"
+         << "  {\n"
+         << "          ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_BASE_OBJECT_NVP(" << groupClass(group) << ");\n";
+       for (t2n_procedure::Args::const_iterator ait=it->args.begin();ait!=it->args.end();++ait) {
+           o << "              ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(" << ait->first << ");\n";
+       }
+       
+       // default constructor
+       o << "  }\n"
+         << "\n"
+         << "public:\n"
+         << "  " << it->cmd_classname() << "() {}\n";
+       
+       // constructor taking all arguments
+       o << "  " << it->cmd_classname() << "(";
+       for (t2n_procedure::Args::const_iterator ait=it->args.begin();ait!=it->args.end();++ait) {
+           if (ait!=it->args.begin()) o << ", ";
+           o << ait->second << " _" << ait->first;
+       }
+       o << ") : ";
+       for (t2n_procedure::Args::const_iterator ait=it->args.begin();ait!=it->args.end();++ait) {
+           if (ait!=it->args.begin()) o << ", ";
+           o << ait->first << "(_" << ait->first << ")";
+       }
+       o << " {}\n"
+         << "  libt2n::result* operator()();\n"
+         << "};\n";
+    }
 }
 
-void output_common_cpp(std::ostream &o, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs, const std::string &common_hpp) {
-     std::set<std::string> groups(used_groups(procs));
-
+void output_common_cpp(std::ostream &o, const std::string &group, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs, const std::string &common_hpp) {
      o << "#include \"" << common_hpp << "\"\n"
        << "#include <boost/serialization/export.hpp>\n"
        << "\n"
        << "/* register types with boost serialization */\n";
-     for (std::set<std::string>::iterator it=groups.begin();it!=groups.end();++it) {
-         o << "BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT(cmd_group_" << *it << ")\n";
-     }
+     o << "BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT(" << groupClass(group) << ")\n";
      for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator it=procs.begin();it!=procs.end();++it) {
          o << "BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT("<<it->ret_classname()<<")\n"
            << "BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT("<<it->cmd_classname()<<")\n";
      }
 }
 
-void output_client_hpp(std::ostream &o, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs) {
-     std::set<std::string> groups(used_groups(procs));
-
+void output_client_hpp(std::ostream &o, const std::string &group, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs) {
      o << "#include <command_client.hxx>\n";
 
-     for (std::set<std::string>::iterator it=groups.begin();it!=groups.end();++it) {
-         o << "class cmd_group_" << *it << "_client : public libt2n::command_client\n"
-           << "{\n"
-           << "public:\n"
-           << "cmd_group_" << *it << "_client(libt2n::client_connection &_c,\n"
-           << "        long long _command_timeout_usec=command_timeout_usec_default,\n"
-           << "        long long _hello_timeout_usec=hello_timeout_usec_default)\n"
-           << "        : libt2n::command_client(_c,_command_timeout_usec,_hello_timeout_usec)\n"
-            << "       {}\n";
-         for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator pit=procs.begin();pit!=procs.end();++pit) {
-              if (pit->group==*it) {
-                   o << "      " << *pit << ";\n";
-              }
-         }
-         o << "};\n";
+     o << "class " << groupClass(group) << "_client : public libt2n::command_client\n"
+       << "{\n"
+       << "public:\n"
+       << groupClass(group) << "_client(libt2n::client_connection &_c,\n"
+       << "    long long _command_timeout_usec=command_timeout_usec_default,\n"
+       << "    long long _hello_timeout_usec=hello_timeout_usec_default)\n"
+       << "    : libt2n::command_client(_c,_command_timeout_usec,_hello_timeout_usec)\n"
+       << "    {}\n";
+     for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator pit=procs.begin();pit!=procs.end();++pit) {
+        o << " " << *pit << ";\n";
      }
+     o << "};\n";
 }
 
-void output_client_cpp(std::ostream &o, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs, const std::string &common_hpp, const std::string &common_cpp, const std::string &client_hpp) {
-     std::set<std::string> groups(used_groups(procs));
-
+void output_client_cpp(std::ostream &o, const std::string &group, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs, const std::string &common_hpp, const std::string &common_cpp, const std::string &client_hpp) {
      o << "#include \"" << client_hpp << "\"\n"
        << "#include \"" << common_hpp << "\"\n"
        << "// fake\n";
@@ -440,24 +476,20 @@ void output_client_cpp(std::ostream &o, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs, c
          o << "libt2n::result* " << it->cmd_classname() << "::operator()() { return NULL; }\n";
      }
 
-     for (std::set<std::string>::iterator it=groups.begin();it!=groups.end();++it) {
-         for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator pit=procs.begin();pit!=procs.end();++pit) {
-              if (pit->group==*it) {
-                   o << pit->ret_type << " cmd_group_" << *it << "_client::" << pit->name << "(" << pit->args << ")\n"
-                     << "{\n"
-                     << "      libt2n::result_container rc;\n"
-                     << "      send_command(new " << pit->cmd_classname() << "(";
-                   for (t2n_procedure::Args::const_iterator ait=pit->args.begin();ait!=pit->args.end();++ait) {
-                        if (ait!=pit->args.begin()) o << ", ";
-                        o << ait->first;
-                   }
-                   o << "), rc);\n"
-                     << "      " << pit->ret_classname() << "* res=dynamic_cast<" << pit->ret_classname() << "*>(rc.get_result());\n"
-                     << "      if (!res) throw libt2n::t2n_communication_error(\"result object of wrong type\");\n"
-                     << "      return res->get_data();\n"
-                     << "}\n";
-              }
-         }
+     for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator pit=procs.begin();pit!=procs.end();++pit) {
+        o << pit->ret_type << " " << groupClass(group) << "_client::" << pit->name << "(" << pit->args << ")\n"
+          << "{\n"
+          << " libt2n::result_container rc;\n"
+          << " send_command(new " << pit->cmd_classname() << "(";
+        for (t2n_procedure::Args::const_iterator ait=pit->args.begin();ait!=pit->args.end();++ait) {
+            if (ait!=pit->args.begin()) o << ", ";
+            o << ait->first;
+        }
+        o << "), rc);\n"
+          << " " << pit->ret_classname() << "* res=dynamic_cast<" << pit->ret_classname() << "*>(rc.get_result());\n"
+          << " if (!res) throw libt2n::t2n_communication_error(\"result object of wrong type\");\n"
+          << " return res->get_data();\n"
+          << "}\n";
      }
 
      // include in this compilation unit to ensure the compilation unit is used
@@ -466,7 +498,15 @@ void output_client_cpp(std::ostream &o, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs, c
      o << "#include \"" << common_cpp << "\"\n";
 }
 
-void output_server_cpp(std::ostream &o, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs, const std::string &common_hpp, const std::string &common_cpp) {
+void output_server_hpp(std::ostream &o, const std::string & /* group */, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs, const std::string &common_hpp) {
+     o << "#include \"" << common_hpp << "\"\n";
+
+     // output function declarations
+     for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator it=procs.begin();it!=procs.end();++it)
+       o << *it << ";\n";
+}
+
+void output_server_cpp(std::ostream &o, const std::string &group, const std::list<t2n_procedure> &procs, const std::string &common_hpp, const std::string &common_cpp) {
      o << "#include \"" << common_hpp << "\"\n";
 
      for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator it=procs.begin();it!=procs.end();++it) {
@@ -486,7 +526,7 @@ struct header_file : public std::ofstream
      header_file(const char* fname) : std::ofstream(fname) {
          std::cerr << "create header: '" << fname << "'" << std::endl;
          std::string macro(replace(toupper(fname),'.','_'));
-         *this << "// automatically generated code - do not edit\n" << std::endl;
+         *this << "// automatically generated code (generated by libt2n-codegen " << VERSION << ") - do not edit\n" << std::endl;
          *this << "#ifndef " << macro << "\n"
                << "#define " << macro << "\n";
      }
@@ -506,44 +546,70 @@ struct cpp_file : public std::ofstream
 int
 main(int argc, char* argv[])
 {
-     if (argc != 3) {
-         std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " gccxml-file outputprefix" << std::endl;
-         return 1;
+    // todo: maybe use getopt
+    if ((argc>1)&&(std::string(argv[1])=="--version")) {
+       std::cerr << VERSION << std::endl;
+       return 0;
+    }
+    if (argc < 3)
+    {
+       std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << "default-group gccxml-file1 gccxml-file2 ... " << std::endl;
+       return 1;
+    }
+
+    try{
+         std::string group(argv[1]);
+         std::list<std::string> xmlfiles;
+         for (int i=2;i<argc;++i)
+           xmlfiles.push_back(argv[i]);
+
+         std::string prefix=group+"_";
+         std::list<t2n_procedure> procedures;
+         for (std::list<std::string>::iterator it=xmlfiles.begin();it!=xmlfiles.end();++it) {
+             std::cerr << "Parse " << *it << std::endl;
+             Parser parser(*it);
+             const std::list<t2n_procedure> &p(parser.get_procedures());
+             std::copy(p.begin(), p.end(), std::back_inserter(procedures));
+         }
+
+         std::cerr << "Procedures:" << std::endl;
+         for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator it=procedures.begin();it!=procedures.end();++it)
+              std::cerr << *it << ";" << std::endl;
+
+         std::string common_hpp_fname(prefix+"common.hxx");
+         std::string common_cpp_fname(prefix+"common.cpp");
+         std::string client_hpp_fname(prefix+"client.hxx");
+         std::string client_cpp_fname(prefix+"client.cpp");
+         std::string server_hpp_fname(prefix+"server.hxx");
+         std::string server_cpp_fname(prefix+"server.cpp");
+
+         header_file common_hpp(common_hpp_fname.c_str());
+         common_hpp << "// boost serialization is picky about order of include files => we have to include this one first\n"
+                    << "#include \"codegen-stubhead.hxx\"\n"
+                    << "#include \"" << group << ".hxx\"\n";
+
+         output_common_hpp(common_hpp, group, procedures);
+
+         cpp_file common_cpp(common_cpp_fname.c_str());
+         output_common_cpp(common_cpp, group, procedures, common_hpp_fname);
+
+         header_file client_hpp(client_hpp_fname.c_str());
+         client_hpp << "// boost serialization is picky about order of include files => we have to include this one first\n"
+                    << "#include \"codegen-stubhead.hxx\"\n"
+                    << "#include \"" << group << ".hxx\"\n";
+         output_client_hpp(client_hpp, group, procedures);
+
+         cpp_file client_cpp(client_cpp_fname.c_str());
+         output_client_cpp(client_cpp, group, procedures, common_hpp_fname, common_cpp_fname, client_hpp_fname);
+
+         header_file server_hpp(server_hpp_fname.c_str());
+         output_server_hpp(server_hpp, group, procedures, common_hpp_fname);
+
+         cpp_file server_cpp(server_cpp_fname.c_str());
+         output_server_cpp(server_cpp, group, procedures, common_hpp_fname, common_cpp_fname);
+     }catch(const parse_error &e){
+       std::cerr << e.what() << std::endl;
+       return EXIT_FAILURE;
      }
-     std::string filepath(argv[1]);
-     std::string prefix(argv[2]);
-  
-     Parser parser(filepath);
-     std::list<t2n_procedure> procedures(parser.get_procedures());
-
-     std::cerr << "Procedures:" << std::endl;
-     for (std::list<t2n_procedure>::const_iterator it=procedures.begin();it!=procedures.end();++it)
-         std::cerr << *it << ";" << std::endl;
-
-     std::set<std::string> groups(used_groups(procedures));
-     std::cerr << "Used groups:" << std::endl;
-     for (std::set<std::string>::const_iterator it=groups.begin();it!=groups.end();++it)
-         std::cerr << *it << std::endl;
-
-     std::string common_hpp_fname(prefix+"common.hxx");
-     std::string common_cpp_fname(prefix+"common.cpp");
-     std::string client_hpp_fname(prefix+"client.hxx");
-     std::string client_cpp_fname(prefix+"client.cpp");
-     std::string server_cpp_fname(prefix+"server.cpp");
-
-     header_file common_hpp(common_hpp_fname.c_str());
-     output_common_hpp(common_hpp, procedures);
-
-     cpp_file common_cpp(common_cpp_fname.c_str());
-     output_common_cpp(common_cpp, procedures, common_hpp_fname);
-
-     header_file client_hpp(client_hpp_fname.c_str());
-     output_client_hpp(client_hpp, procedures);
-
-     cpp_file client_cpp(client_cpp_fname.c_str());
-     output_client_cpp(client_cpp, procedures, common_hpp_fname, common_cpp_fname, client_hpp_fname);
-
-     cpp_file server_cpp(server_cpp_fname.c_str());
-     output_server_cpp(server_cpp, procedures, common_hpp_fname, common_cpp_fname);
-     return 0;
+     return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }