3.2. Creating a new language specification

Follow this quick start guide to create a new Spoofax language specification project to define your own language.

  1. Choose Create New Project from the welcome dialog, or the File → New → Project… menu item, to open the New Project dialog.

  2. Select the Spoofax Language project type.

  3. Select the Metaborg SDK as the project’s SDK.

    ../../../../../_images/newprojectform_langspec_selectmetaborgsdk.pngSelect the "Metaborg SDK"

    Note

    If the Project SDK displays <None> and you can’t select the Metaborg SDK, then you need to add it first.

    1. Click the New… button next to the Project SDK field.

      ../../../../../_images/newproject_langspec_newsdk.png

    2. You may get a warning if you have no Java JDK configured. Click OK and configure the JDK’s home location. The suggested home directory is usually correct. Click OK.

    3. Select a home directory for the Metaborg SDK. The default is the Spoofax plugin’s lib/ folder, which is sufficient as it contains all the core dependencies.

    4. Click OK.

  4. Change the fields to suit your needs.

    ../../../../../_images/newprojectform_langspec_inputfields.pngChange the fields

  5. Click Next.

  6. Pick a project name and location, and click Finish.

    ../../../../../_images/newprojectform_langspec_projectname.pngPick a project name

The created Spoofax language specification project will have a metaborg.yaml file, which specifies the configuration and language dependencies of the specification.