Support (a subset of) interpolated strings in Attribute parameters

baronfel commented 10 months ago

I propose we allow using interpolated string expressions in Attributes, as long as the constructs involved in the interpolated string are valid for use as literals.

After this change, the Obsolete attribute parameter on the Deprecated member below would be valid:


/// Represents information about programming constructs like variables, classes,
/// interfaces etc.
type SymbolInformation =
  { /// The name of this symbol.
    Name: string

    /// The kind of this symbol.
    Kind: SymbolKind

    /// Tags for this symbol.
    Tags: SymbolTag [] option

    /// Indicates if this symbol is deprecated.
    /// @deprecated Use tags instead
    [<Obsolete($"Use nameof(Unchecked.defaultof<SymbolInformation>.Tags) instead")>]
    Deprecated: bool option

    /// The location of this symbol. The location's range is used by a tool
    /// to reveal the location in the editor. If the symbol is selected in the
    /// tool the range's start information is used to position the cursor. So
    /// the range usually spans more then the actual symbol's name and does
    /// normally include things like visibility modifiers.
    ///
    /// The range doesn't have to denote a node range in the sense of a abstract
    /// syntax tree. It can therefore not be used to re-construct a hierarchy of
    /// the symbols.
    Location: Location

    /// The name of the symbol containing this symbol. This information is for
    /// user interface purposes (e.g. to render a qualifier in the user interface
    /// if necessary). It can't be used to re-infer a hierarchy for the document
    /// symbols.
    ContainerName: string option }

The existing way of approaching this problem in F# is to not use interpolated strings and instead build up strings using concatenation of literal portions.

Pros and Cons

The advantages of making this adjustment to F# are consistency in string handling across the language.

The disadvantages of making this adjustment to F# are extension of the compile-time computation feature of some interpolated strings, potentially raising end user confusion about when constructs are allowed to run.

Extra information

Estimated cost (XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL): M

Related suggestions: None that I could find

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Please tick all that apply:

[x] This is not a breaking change to the F# language design
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T-Gro commented 10 months ago

Would the "subset" include more than concatenation?

baronfel commented 10 months ago

That's all my immediate use case required, bit I didn't want to immediately go to supporting arbitrary interpolated strikes because I know that won't work with the requirement that attribute arguments be literals, basically.

fsharp / fslang-suggestions