Allow customization of `TODO` keyword

[bnichell]

Allow customization of `TODO` keyword

[jmgrassau]

Hi,

yes, I actually considered this already, but didn't follow up on it yet, because it would require introducing some central settings that apply to multiple rules (and we simply don't have a place for that yet).

I guess what you'd need is to allow editing the prefix (default "TODO:") and the suffix (default "(ABAP cleaner)"), and the actual message would be put in the middle?

Changing this (or using different settings within a team) would mean, however, that ABAP cleaner might not be able to remove comments that were created with different settings (e.g. if a variable was unused but is now used).

Kind regards,
Jörg-Michael

[bnichell]

Hi Jörg-Michael,

I guess what you'd need is to allow editing the prefix (default "TODO:") and the suffix (default "(ABAP cleaner)"), and the actual message would be put in the middle?

Yes, that would be the two options I would see as well.

Changing this (or using different settings within a team) would mean, however, that ABAP cleaner might not be able to remove comments that were created with different settings (e.g. if a variable was unused but is now used).

That's correct, but I assume that would already be the case for other formatting rules, if the setup is not consistent within a team.
Thus, I would see this issue as a team responsibility, to use a shared configuration and to ensure, that each member keeps the configuration up to date.

The only scenario I see, would be, that if unhandled comments are still present in the code base, at the time the configuration is being changed, it would not catch those and would add a duplicate comment.
I am not sure, if there is an elegant way to avoid this.

Possibilities I see:

1. Check for single-line comments containing the main message, e.g. "variable is assigned but never used" and replace them.
   Problem: if additional information has been added by the user in the same line, this would be lost.
2. Check for single-line comments containing the main message, e.g. "variable is assigned but never used". If it exists, skip adding a new comment (even if the format is incorrect).
3. Check for all known complete comments, e.g. all combinations of prefixes + message + suffixes (optionally with storing previously set pre-/suffixes) and replace them.
   Should be safe?!
4. If a single-line comments containing the main message, e.g. "variable is assigned but never used" is found and does not match the current style: add additional suffix like "(comment does not match configuration; remove comment and rerun ABAP cleaner to update it)", if it is not present already. This could be made toggleable, with fallback to option 2.

My preference would be option 2 or 4 (with fallback to 2).

Cheers,
Benedikt