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Refactoring Catalog Map

How DFRefactor's catalog relates to the refactorings in Martin Fowler's Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (Addison-Wesley; 2nd edition, 2019).

The catalog has two distinct parts:

  1. Canonical refactorings from Fowler's book, adapted to DataFlex syntax.
  2. DataFlex-specific legacy-syntax modernizations — transformations with no analogue in Fowler's catalog because they address constructs unique to DataFlex's evolution from the 1980s onward.

The DataFlex-specific section is the larger part of the catalog. That's intentional: DataFlex carries a longer history of accumulated legacy syntax than most living languages, and DFRefactor exists primarily to mechanize the modernization of that syntax. The Fowler-book refactorings are present because they're useful at the same time — they're a natural complement, not the primary focus.

Direct mappings to Fowler's catalog

Fowler refactoring DFRefactor function Notes
Remove Dead Code (Remove Unused Variable) RemoveUnusedLocals Scans every Function/Procedure body and drops locals that are never referenced.
Find Dead Code (read-only precursor) ReportUnusedSourceFiles, ReportUnusedUseStatements Identify source files and Use statements that are never referenced. Generate a report; do not modify code.
Replace Class (structural replacement) RefactorGridToCJGrid, RefactorDbGridTocDbCJGrid Replace legacy (Db)Grid class hierarchies with the modern c(Db)CJGrid family, including column-object generation.
Decompose Conditional (in spirit) SplitInlineIfElseLine Expands a single-line If…Else into a multi-line Begin/End block, making each branch its own statement. Configurable via EnumList.

DataFlex-specific transformations

These have no analogue in Fowler's catalog. They exist because DataFlex evolved over four decades and accumulated syntax that has since been deprecated or replaced.

Legacy syntax modernization

DFRefactor function What it does
ChangeLegacyIndicators Rewrites 1980s square-bracket [Found] indicator syntax into modern If / Move expressions.
ChangeSquareBracketsIndicators Lighter pass — converts [Found] / [FindErr] to (Found) / (FindErr) expressions only.
ChangeCurrent_ObjectToSelf Replaces the legacy Current_Object reference with the modern Self.
ChangeIfNotCommandToExpression Rewrites the legacy If Not command form into a modern expression form.
ChangeInToContains Replaces the deprecated In operator with the modern Contains function.
ChangeUClassToRefClass Replaces the obsolete UClass keyword with RefClass.
ChangeDfTrueDfFalse Replaces the deprecated DFTRUE / DFFALSE legacy constants with the standard literals True / False.
ChangeSysdate4 Modernizes the obsolete Sysdate4 call.
ChangeGetAddress Modernizes legacy Get_Address syntax.
ChangeLegacyOperators Updates deprecated operator syntax.
ChangeLegacyShadow_State Updates the legacy Shadow_State syntax.
ChangeCalcToMoveStatement Rewrites the legacy Calc keyword into a modern Move statement.

Command-to-function conversions

DataFlex's evolution moved string operations from statement-style commands to function-call expressions. These all rewrite the older form:

ChangeInsertCommandToFunction, ChangeLeftCommandToFunction, ChangeRightCommandToFunction, ChangeLengthCommandToFunction, ChangePosCommandToFunction, ChangeReplaceCommandToFunction, ChangeTrimCommandToFunction, ChangeZeroStringCommandToFunction.

Removal of deprecated decorators

DFRefactor function What it does
RemoveLocalKeyWord Drops the now-redundant Local keyword from variable declarations.
RemovePropertyPrivate / RemovePropertyPublic Strips visibility decorators that are no longer required.
RemoveProjectObjectStructure Removes obsolete project-object scaffolding.
RemoveSansSerif Removes a deprecated font directive.

Formatting and hygiene

These aren't refactorings in Fowler's strict sense — they don't change structure — but they leave the code in a better state and are typically run as a final polish pass:

EditorNormalizeCase, EditorReIndent, NormalizeArrayNotation, RemoveMultipleBlankLines, RemoveTrailingSpaces, RemoveEndComments, RemoveStudioGeneratedComments, RemoveOldStudioMarkers, RestyleDDOs, A_InsertSpaceAfterParenthesis.

Notes for readers coming from Fowler's book

  • The mapping above is partial — not every DFRefactor function maps to a named Fowler refactoring, and not every named Fowler refactoring is mechanized in DFRefactor.
  • Some DFRefactor functions are looser interpretations of Fowler's catalog (SplitInlineIfElseLine is "in the spirit of" Decompose Conditional rather than a literal implementation).
  • The full source for each function lives in AppSrc/oRefactorFuncLib.pkg. Each function carries a {Description} meta-tag with a human-readable summary and example transformations.