NDepend 6.0
NDepend 6.0 was released a few months ago, and due to my workload I have been unable to blog about it until now. This version contains a ton of new features. I have been working with this product since 2009, I think (Sorry but I cannot remember the version back then) and I must say that with every new version the product gets better. It has been two and a bit years since version 5 came out, so many of you must be wondering what’s new in this version?
The first new feature you’ll notice is right there on the welcome screen and the additional integrations they have added to the product. It used to be just “Install Visual Studio Extension” that has been available since version 3, but now it integrates into TFS, TeamCity, SonarQube and Reflector.
NDepend is a very powerful tool and if you haven’t used it before, fear not. It provides a pseudo-wizard that allows developers to select what to do with the source code that’s been analyzed.
The resulting report (post-analysis) has improved a lot by adding “how to fix” information to rule failures.
They have also added support for async/await methods, specially in the code coverage analysis. The metrics view now can be resized and even add this kind of “heat map” color style to it.
Rules now can be exported and share and I must say it’s a pretty handy feature when there are more developers doing code analysis. This feature provides the flexibility of creating a rule file outside the project file.
Once you have created a custom rules file, it can be referenced from your project. It is preferable to use relative paths so it works the same on your development machine and the build server.
In summary, it’s a great tool and must have for every .NET developer’s toolbox. It keeps getting better and better. At the same time, if you need to analyze C++ code they also have CppDepend which is awesome as well. I must publicly thank Patrick for always providing me with a personal license.
Angel
Filed under: Microsoft - @ January 8, 2016 9:01 am
Tags: .NET, NDepend, Visual Studio