cutter/docs/code.md

# Contributing

This page shows some hints about the coding conventions.
**Disclaimer:** It is a work and progress and we will provide soon a fully documented API.

## Coding advices

### CutterCore class

This is the main class where every link with r2 is made. It is *unique* accross the whole process. To access it, simply call `Core()`.

Example:
```c++
Core()->getOffset();
```

### Calling a radare2 command

There are two ways to do it:
* `CutterCore::cmd()` *(Discouraged)* Only use it for commands which yells no output
* `CutterCore::cmdj()` To be used with json commands like `cmdj("agj")` or `cmdj("aflj")`. It is way easier to parse a json output.

Example:
```c++
QJsonArray array = Core()->cmdj("pdj 1 @ main").array();
```

### Seek the current file

To modify radare2 seek use `CutterCore::seek(const RVA offset)`. This is important because it will emit a `CutterCore::seekChanged(RVA offset)` signal.
Never ever call `cmd("s offset")`;

Example:
```c++
Core()->seek(0xdeadbeef);
```

### Creating a widget

Make sure to connect the `CutterCore::seekChanged(RVA offset)` signal so your widget refreshes its output when radare2 seek is modified (switching to another function, etc.).

## General coding guidelines

### Coding style

We follow [these guidelines](https://wiki.qt.io/Qt_Coding_Style) to format the code.
If in doubt, you can use [AStyle 2.06](https://sourceforge.net/projects/astyle/files/astyle/astyle%202.06/) to format the code. The command line for formatting the code according to the style is:

```bash
astyle --project=src/Cutter.astylerc src/filename.cpp
```

#### Loops

We use C++11 foreach loop style which means any "foreach" loop should look like:
```c++
for (QJsonValue value : importsArray) {
    doSomething(value);
}
```

#### Nullptr

Please do not use `0` nor `Q_NULLPTR`, only use `nullptr`.

Example:
```c++
QObject *object = nullptr;
```

#### Connecting signals

To connect a signal to a slot, this is the preferred way to do it:
```c++
connect(sender, &QObject::destroyed, this, &MyObject::objectDestroyed);
```
The main reason is that this syntax allows the use of lambda functions.

### Functions documentation

It's good to add some documentation to your functions when needed. To do so we follow these [rules](http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qdoc-guide-writing.html).