Modifier is removed when removing an annotation.

[nimakarimipour]

When using LexicalPreservation printer, it mistakenly removes the modifier when we are removing an annotation from a Node under the following circumstances:

1. Node is of type FieldDeclaration.
2. FieldDeclaration contains a modifier.
3. FieldDeclaraion contains an annotation.
4. Modifier is written on the left side of the annotation. (e.g. public @Annot Object field;).

I tested the above issue with all modifiers (e.g. public, private, static and ...) and all cases had the same issue.

Please find the code below where the error reported in this issue is reproduced:

CompilationUnit tmp =
        StaticJavaParser.parse(
            "public class Foo{" + "\n" + "    protected @Nullable Object bar;" + "\n" + "}");
    LexicalPreservingPrinter.setup(tmp);
    Optional<ClassOrInterfaceDeclaration> optional = tmp.getClassByName("Foo");
    optional
        .get()
        .getMembers()
        .forEach(
            bodyDeclaration ->
                bodyDeclaration.ifFieldDeclaration(
                    fieldDeclaration -> {
                      NodeList<VariableDeclarator> vars =
                          fieldDeclaration.asFieldDeclaration().getVariables();
                      for (VariableDeclarator v : vars) {
                        if (v.getName().asString().equals("bar")) {
                          fieldDeclaration
                              .getAnnotations()
                              .removeIf(
                                  annotationExpr ->
                                      annotationExpr.getName().asString().equals("Nullable"));
                        }
                      }
                    }));
System.out.println(LexicalPreservingPrinter.print(tmp));

The output of the code above is:

public class Foo{
    @Nullable Object bar;
}

The annotation is not removed and the modifier is deleted. Please let me know if you recommend another way of removing annotation from Nodes or need more information.

Best,

Nima

[jlerbsc]

Thank you for reporting this bug. I will try to look at this issue over the next few days. Thank you for your patience.

[jlerbsc]

It looks more complex than I thought because annotations can be placed before or after the modifier. I think it's related to the concrete syntax model declaration but I'm not sure. Also when we declare concrete syntax model differently (with a mix) we generate other errors on the tests related to the Lexical Preserving Printer (the end of line characters are no longer in conformity with what should be). Maybe @MysterAitch or @matozoid can help us to resolve this issue.

[matozoid]

I'm not touching that thing ever again :-)

[msridhar]

@jlerbsc should this issue be marked as fixed now? Thanks so much for digging in, we really appreciate it!

[jlerbsc]

Yes this issue is fixed.

[nimakarimipour]

Hi all, thank you very much for resolving this issue, Lexical Preserving Printer is crucial for our tool. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Thanks again for your great tool.

[matozoid]

@nimakarimipour - there is tons of work to do, if you want to help, come to the gitter channel and chat :-)