Template haskell/Instance deriving example

type Func_name = Name
type Constructor = (Name, [(Maybe Name, Type)])
type Cons_vars = [ExpQ]
type Function_body = ExpQ
type Gen_func = Constructor -> Cons_vars -> Function_body
type Funcs = [(Func_name, Gen_func)] 

-- construct an instance of class class_name for type for_type
-- funcs is a list of instance method names with a corresponding
-- function to build the method body
gen_instance :: Name -> TypeQ -> [Constructor] -> Funcs -> DecQ
gen_instance class_name for_type constructors funcs = 
  instanceD (cxt [])
    (appT (conT class_name) for_type)
    (map func_def funcs) 
      where func_def (func_name, gen_func) 
                = funD func_name -- method name
                  -- generate function body for each constructor
                  (map (gen_clause gen_func) constructors)

-- Generate the pattern match and function body for a given method and
-- a given constructor. func_body is a function that generations the
-- function body
gen_clause :: (Constructor -> [ExpQ] -> ExpQ) -> Constructor -> ClauseQ
gen_clause func_body data_con@(con_name, components) = 
      -- create a parameter for each component of the constructor
   do vars <- mapM var components
      -- function (unnamed) that pattern matches the constructor 
      -- mapping each component to a value.
      (clause [(conP con_name (map varP vars))]
            (normalB (func_body data_con (map varE vars))) [])
       -- create a unique name for each component. 
       where var (_, typ) 
                 = newName 
                   $ case typ of 
                     (ConT name) -> toL $ nameBase name
                     otherwise   -> "parm"
               where toL (x:y) = (toLower x):y

unCapalize :: [Char] -> [Char]
unCapalize (x:y) = (toLower x):y

-- Generate an intance of the class TH_Render for the type typName
gen_render :: Name -> Q [Dec]
gen_render typName =
  do (TyConI d) <- reify typName -- Get all the information on the type
     (type_name,_,_,constructors) <- typeInfo (return d) -- extract name and constructors                  
     i_dec <- gen_instance (mkName "TH_Render") (conT type_name) constructors
                      -- generation function for method "render"
                      [(mkName "render", gen_render)]
     return [i_dec]  -- return the instance declaration
             -- function to generation the function body for a particular function
             -- and constructor
       where gen_render (conName, components) vars 
                 -- function name is based on constructor name  
               = let funcName = makeName $ unCapalize $ nameBase conName 
                 -- choose the correct builder function
                     headFunc = case vars of
                                     [] -> "func_out"
                                     otherwise -> "build" 
                      -- build 'funcName parm1 parm2 parm3 ...
                   in appsE $ (varE $ mkName headFunc):funcName:vars -- put it all together
             -- equivalent to 'funcStr where funcStr CONTAINS the name to be returned
             makeName funcStr = (appE (varE (mkName "mkName")) (litE $ StringL funcStr))