Visual Lint is Riverblade
Visual Lint is Riverblade's solution for developers who require advanced
static code analysis capabilities within the Microsoft Visual Studio and
eMbedded Visual C++ integrated development environments.
Visual Lint - Integrated Static Code Analysis
- Increase developer productivity by eliminating common coding mistakes
- Uses the industry standard Gimpel PC-Lint code analysis tool
- Simple configuration
- Automated incremental analysis of complete solutions and workspaces while
you edit
- Simple lookup of the meanings of identified issues
- Supports Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002, Visual Studio .NET 2003,
Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio 2008, Visual C++ 6.0 and eMbedded Visual C++
4.0
Benefits and Features
Industry standard PC-Lint code analysis
Visual Lint offers close integration within the Visual Studio IDE
PC-Lint is the industry standard code analysis tool for C++, so it makes sense
to use it if you are interested in improving the quality of your code. Once that
decision has been made, you need to determine how to use it effectively.
Visual Lint closely integrates PC-Lint within the development environment,
making analysis results available to the developer in a form which is both
useful and intuitive.
This makes it easier for developers to act on the issues identified - or
(looking at it another way) harder for them to ignore them.
Either way, one of the most common obstacles to making full use of the analysis
capability of PC-Lint is removed.
On-demand code analysis
Source files can be manually analysed at any time
Files can be manually analysed from the add-in toolbar or context menu of the
code editor at any time, with results presented in dedicated displays.
Unlike conventional methods of integrating PC-Lint within development
environments, the analysis will automatically use the correct project settings
and you can keep on working while the analysis progresses.
Easy to interpret displays
The Analysis Results Display presents warning information in an easy to
follow format
There are plenty of code analysis tools out there which dump analysis results
into the Output Window in text form. Whilst that is not too daunting when there
are only a handful of issues reported, it soon becomes a real disincentive to
use a code analysis tool at all.
By contrast, Visual Lint has a dedicated Analysis Results Display which presents
warning information in an easy to follow format, and even provides tooltips to
tell you what each message means. No more hunting through the manual looking for
the meaning of that obscure message...
Of course the raw analysis results are still available if you need them.
Automated background analysis
The Analysis Status Display shows the state of the analysis as it progresses
Most code analysis tools require you to tell the IDE when you want to analyse a
file or project, whereupon you sit back and wait for the analysis to complete
(which can take a long time with large files).
Whilst you can still work this way with Visual Lint, you really don't have to,
as it will quite happily analyse complete projects and solutions as you edit or
chat by the watercooler. When you need analysis results for a particular file,
they are likely to be waiting for you. Multiple files can be analysed
simultaneously, with user preferences determining the maximum number of analysis
threads.
Furthermore, while you are editing files, Visual Lint can re-analyse them as
they are saved in order to ensure that up-to-date analysis results are always
available.
Of course, when you really need the CPU (for example during debugging or
building) background lint analysis is automatically paused.
Single file ("unit checkout") and whole project automated analysis
Multi-pass whole project analysis as it appears in the Analysis Status
Display
PC-Lint can analyse files either singly ("unit checkout analysis") or together
as complete projects ("whole project analysis"), as shown in the screenshot on
the right.
Whilst the former provides the most flexibility and speed, the latter allows
unused and redundant code to be identified.
Visual Lint supports both - all you have to do is choose which you prefer, and
how many analysis passes should be made.
No need to learn complex command lines
PC-Lint command lines can be very complex, and getting them right for a
particular project is often unnecessarily difficult and time consuming -
particularly when you consider that the intricacies of Visual C++ project
configurations must be taken into account when doing so.
Fortunately, you don't need to worry about this when using Visual Lint -
analysis of implementation files automatically takes into account project
settings and the active configuration. There is no need to type in complex
command lines or write batch files, and even annoying little things like the IDE
tab size and for loop compliance settings are automatically handled for you.
In other words all the hard work is done for you, so you can focus on the
important thing - your code.
Simple configuration
Setting up a PC-Lint installation can be fiddly and time consuming. Although
PC-Lint includes an installation wizard which can do some of the preliminary
work for you, you will still have to write include directives to match those
within your IDE (and worse - they could be different on every workstation).
Visual Lint automates this annoying task for you, and also provides a
Configuration Wizard which can write new PC-Lint configuration files directly.
Once the PC-Lint configuration files have been created, you can edit them at any
time using dedicated commands within the IDE.
Easy access to help when you need it
Visual Lint offers a number of ways to find information on a particular lint
issue. Three of them are shown here.
If you have ever struggled to understand the meaning of a PC-Lint warning
message, you are not alone.
Fortunately, Visual Lint's displays include simple explanations of what each
PC-Lint message means. Instead of wondering what they mean, you can concentrate
on fixing them.
On those rare occasions when you may find you need information on specific
PC-Lint options or operation, the PC-Lint manual (a PDF file) is easily
accessible within the Visual Studio IDE via a dedicated command.
Customisable HTML and XML Reports
Customisable HTML reports provide an at a glance summary of the analysis
status of the solution
Need a report to show to your boss to show him the status of the project?
No problem - Visual Lint can generate them automatically, and even update them
dynamically as the analysis progresses.
Visual Lint Professional Edition even allows you to define your own stylesheets,
if you need a custom "look and feel".