FxCop – Part III (A detailed explanation over Project)

FxCop – Part III (A detailed explanation over Project and its functionalities)


In the Part I we saw the introduction to FxCop and in Part II we saw about the startup usage of FxCop. In this Part III we are going to see in detail about FxCop Project and its features.



Here we dived the explanations over the Project into 2, they are:

· Basics of Project

· Advanced features of Project



Basics of Project:

In this we will see the basics of FxCop Project which needs little explanation. The topics we are going to cover here are:

1. Creating a new project

2. Open an existing project

3. Saving project

4. Opening Recent Projects

5. Saving Reports

6. Importing Reports

7. Adding Targets

8. Adding Rules

9. Analyzing a Project

10. Viewing Analysis Summary



1. Creating a new Project:

To create a new project,

Click File > New Project.



2. Open an existing project

To open an exiting project,

· File > Open Project

· Select the project file you want to open from the location you stored it or the location in which it is available.

· Click Open button.



3. Saving project

You can save the project in 2 ways, as follows,

i) When you are saving it for the first time

ii) When you are saving one more copy of the project.



a) When you are saving it for the first time

· Click File > Save Project or Ctrl S

· Select the path where you want to save it

· Enter the name of the project you want to save in

· Click Save





b) When you are saving one more copy of the project

· Click File > Save Project as

· Select the path where you want to save it

· Enter the name of the project you want to save in

· Click Save



4. Opening Recent Projects

To open Opening Recent Projects,

a) Click File > Recent Projects

b) Select the desired project



5. Saving Reports

To save reports,

· Click File > Save Report as

· Select the path where you want to save it

· Enter the name of the Report you want to save in

· Click Save



6. Importing Reports

To Import Reports,

· Click File > Import Reports or Ctrl I

· Select the Report file you want to open from the location you stored it or the location in which it is available.

· Click Open button



7. Adding Targets

To add Target,

· Project > Add Targets.

· Select the desired assembly you want to analyze(it can either be a dll or an exe).



8. Adding Rules

To Add Rules,

· Project > Add Rules.

· Select the desired Rules dll from the location you are having the rules.



9. Analyzing a Project

To analyze a project, its given in detail in the earlier chapters. Anyhow its given here once more for continuity or completeness of the topic.

· Select the desired assembly you want to analyze (it can either be a .dll or an .exe).

· For example, I am selecting here a .net application (Which was downloaded from internet)

· If you have selected multiple assemblies then select any one of them (the one you want to analyze first) and then click Project > Analyze or press F5 or Click Analyze from toolbar.

· Analyzing with introspection Engine dialog box will appear when the analysis is under process.

· Then it will display list of messages in the right pane.



10. Viewing Analysis Summary

To view Analysis Summary report,

· Click Project > Analysis summary

· Analysis summary window will appear.

· Click ok to close the window.



Advanced features of Project:

In this we will Advanced features of FxCop Project which needs some explanation. The topics we are going to cover here are:

1. General Project settings

2. Saving and Compression settings

3. Spelling and Analysis settings

4. Preferences Settings

5. Font and colors settings

6. Analysis Engine settings



1. General Project settings
For doing General Project settings,

· Click Project > Options

· Select General tab



Here you can do the things like:

(1) Changing Project name

(2) Changing Report style sheet path

(3) Save messages settings for Project and Reports



2. Saving and Compression settings

For doing this,

· Click Project > Options

· Select Saving and Compression tab



Here you can do the things like:

(1) Project Save settings

(2) Project File name Rule settings

(3) Compression settings



3. Spelling and Analysis settings

For doing this,

· Click Project > Options

· Select Spelling and Analysis tab



Here you can do the things like:

(1) Multithreading settings

(2) GAC settings

(3) Spelling and analysis settings





4. Preferences Settings
For doing this,

· Click Tools > Settings

· Select Preferences tab



Here you can do the things like:

(1) General preference settings like checking for updates in startup,etc

(2) Filtering messages

(3) Launching in source code editor

(4) Command line settings



5. Font and colors settings

For doing this,

· Click Tools > Settings

· Select Font and colors tab



As the name implies, it does the font and color related settings.



6. Analysis Engine settings

For doing this,

· Click Tools > Settings

· Select Analysis Engine tab



Here you can do the things like:

(1) Engine related settings

(2) Some more advanced settings.