The Visual Studio Code Analysis Team Blog

Code Analysis and Web Projects

In a recent Visual Studio Team System Dev/Test PU Public Community Chats the following question was posted:

Q: Can I use FxCop/PREfast to analysis the web application codes?  Especially in .aspx.cs?

I wanted to use this as a opportunity to talk about code analysis and asp.Net. In VSTS the managed code analysis tool (FxCop) can be enabled for Web projects. Similar to client projects a developer can chose a set of rules to run against their project, enable analysis as part of a build, or analyze the project as using a explicit command. The results of the analysis will appear in the error list so the developer can investigate the results and resolve the issues in an acceptable way. One area that we have been working on a lot recently with the ASP.Net team is improving the signal-to-noise ratio in analysis over Web projects.

As we continue to improve the analysis, we push towards providing an experience that allows developers to focus on real issues that may impact the quality to their code and limit the time they investigate warnings that do not apply to their project.

Worried about bad code at large? Call FxCop!

I have been told that both Steve Ballmer's keynote featuring VS 2005 Team System and the comprehensive DEV200 break-out session, featuring several people in our unit on the stage representing the different software development roles we find in most software-houses (or the different hats that a single supernatural professional sometimes is commended to wear throughout another exciting day in software development) have been a huge success! I wish I could have been in San Diego for that one [I'm enjoying the world-famous blue skies and shining sun of Redmond, here in our headquarters :-)].

Now, let's talk about code analysis. I'd like to share a bit more about FxCop – one of the tools our team is integrating into VS 2005 Team System. Many of you already know it, but even then you might benefit from reading John Robbins' Bugslayer column on this code analysis tool. John is well known as the author of Debugging Applications for Microsoft .NET and Microsoft Windows, which I proudly have in my own bookshelf. Please note that his column precedes the Visual Studio 2005 Team System, and the tool, as shown in Bugslayer, is not seamlessly integrated with the IDE or the software development life-cycle yet. That is, nonetheless,  a great source of information about code analysis and the benefits you can leverage by using FxCop within your team.

-- Roberto Santos

Tech Ed 2004

Hi there!

This team is responsible for the tools that identify defects before they are ever executed: the code analysis tools. Visual Studio 2005 Team System Developer features two static analysis tools: FxCop and PREfast. The first one spots defects on managed code, while the latter targets common defects in C/C++ source-code. Not only are those tools well integrated with the VS IDE, but also in the life-cycle of the software development project through check-in policies or as part of a nightly build process.

Come back often to read about our journey in supporting the software development industry in the creation of robust and reliable applications. We’re looking forward to receiving your feedback and building a strong community to support our code analysis tools.

If you're attending Tech Ed, don't miss Rick LaPlante's session about VS Team System (DEV200) or Eric Lee's presentation about our tools for developers (DEV 302). As I work in the Quality Assurance over here, I cannot help but suggest you should also attend Tom Arnold's talk about the Team System's tools targeted at software testing :) (that one is DEV 301). None of them overlap, you can enjoy them all!

-- Roberto Santos