CA Library Implementation

The code for Code Analysis is located at three different places in the EVE source:

1. The framework—the by far largest part, with the rule checking, the rules, the control flow graph functionality, and more—is represented as a library;
2. The graphical user interface can be found in the interface cluster of EVE;
3. The command-line interface for code analysis is a single class in the tty cluster of EVE.

code_analysis library

The whole code analysis framework is located in the library code_analysis.

Interface

In this section it is explained from a client view how to use the code analyzer. The code analyzer is represented by the class CA_CODE_ANALYZER, so a client must have or access an instance of this class. Before the analyzer can be launched all the classes that shall be analyzed must be added using one of the following features. If you use more than one of these commands then the added classes from all commands will be conjoined.

{CA_CODE_ANALYZER}.add_whole_system 

Adds all the classes that are part of the current system. Classes of referenced libraries will not be added. So, for example, if your system consists of the classes MY_MAIN, MY_BOX, and MY_ITEM then these three classes will be added to the list of classes to be analyzed.

.add_class (a_class: attached CONF_CLASS) 

Adds a single class.

.add_classes (a_classes: attached ITERABLE [attached CONF_CLASS]) 

Adds a list of classes.

.add_cluster (a_cluster: attached CLUSTER_I) 

Adds all classes of a cluster (and all the classes of the sub-clusters recursively).

.add_group (a_group: attached CONF_GROUP) 

Adds all classes of a configuration group. An example of a configuration group is a library.

Here are other features which can be called before starting to analyze:

{CA_CODE_ANALYZER}.clear_classes_to_analyze 

Removes all classes that have been added to the list of classes to analyze.

.add_completed_action (a_action: attached PROCEDURE [ANY, TUPLE [ITERABLE [TUPLE [detachable EXCEPTION, CLASS_C]]]]) 

Adds `a_action' to the list of procedures that will be called when analysis has completed. The procedures have one argument, a list of exceptions (with the corresponding class). In the case an exception is thrown during analysis the exception is caught by the code analyzer and is added to this list. In the graphical user interface such exceptions would show up as errors at the top of the list of rule violations.

.add_output_action (a_action: attached PROCEDURE [ANY, TUPLE [READABLE_STRING_GENERAL]]) 

Adds `a_action' to the procedures that are called for outputting status. The final results (rule violations) are not given to these procedures. These output actions are used by the command-line mode and by the status bar in the GUI.

is_rule_checkable (a_rule: attached CA_RULE): BOOLEAN 

Tells whether `a_rule' will be checked based on the current preferences and based on the current checking scope (whole system or custom set of classes).

Then, to start analyzing simply call {CA_CODE_ANALYZER}.analyze.

Rule checking

Graphical User Interface

Command-line Interface

The whole command-line functionality of the code analyzer is located in the class {EWB_CODE_ANALYSIS}. It is located in the tty cluster of EVE. {EWB_CODE_ANALYSIS} is invoked by {ES}, the root class for the batch (command-line) version of EiffelStudio. In {ES}, the invocation looks as follows:

elseif option.is_equal ("-code-analysis") then
  l_at_args := arguments_in_range (current_option + 1, argument_count)
  current_option := argument_count + 1
  create {EWB_CODE_ANALYSIS} command.make_with_arguments (l_at_args)

Any command-line arguments after -code-analysis are passed on to {EWB_CODE_ANALYSIS}. This class, in its creation procedure, processes the arguments as described in Command Line Usage. Classes that were passed as command-line arguments are added to the analyzer. Then the actual execution happens in the procedure execute. EWB_CODE_ANALYSIS of course uses the code_analysis library and the previously described interface of CA_CODE_ANALYZER. After analysis a list of rule violations is output to the command-line. In the code it looks like this:

across l_code_analyzer.rule_violations as l_vlist loop
  if not l_vlist.item.is_empty then
    l_has_violations := True
      -- Always sort the rule violations by the class they are referring to.
    output_window.add (ca_messages.cmd_class + l_vlist.key.name + "':%N")
 
      -- See `{CA_RULE_VIOLATION}.is_less' for information on the sorting.
    across l_vlist.item as ic loop
      l_rule_name := ic.item.rule.title
      l_rule_id := ic.item.rule.id
      if attached ic.item.location as l_loc then
        l_line := ic.item.location.line.out
        l_col := ic.item.location.column.out
        output_window.add ("  (" + l_line + ":" + l_col + "): "
          + l_rule_name + " (" + l_rule_id + "): ")
      else -- No location attached. Print without location.
        output_window.add ("  "	+ l_rule_name + " (" + l_rule_id + "): ")
      end
      ic.item.format_violation_description (output_window)
      output_window.add ("%N")
    end
  end
end
 
if not l_has_violations then output_window.add (ca_messages.no_issues + "%N") end