Analyzing VC++ projects

Purpose

The Visual studio analyzer is intended to determine dependencies between C/C++ source files based on header file includes. Also IDL files and their generated files are taken into account.

This analyzer used the Microsoft.Build.Evaluation API. For proper analysis it is required that solutions compile successfully.

Selectable model view

The element hierarchy used to visualize the DSM can be based on:

• DirectoryView: The element hierarchy is based on directories.
• SolutionView: The element hierarchy is based on solution folders and project filters. Namespaces and types are not taken into account.

Merging source and header files

A C++ module consists in most cases of a header and a source file. In many cases externally visible header files are located in a different directory the private header files or source files. For proper analysis it is better to merge them to a single location in the DSM. Three strategies are possible:

• None: The model is unchanged.
• MoveHeaderFileToSourceFile: The header file is move next to the source file with an identical name.
• MergeHeaderAndSourceFileDirectory: Entire header file directory contents is moved to a source file directory based on a configurable naming rule.

This analyzer provides more accurate results than the C++ analyzer, because include path per visual studio project are taken into account. Therefor if you analyzer VC++ chose this analyzer and not the C++ analyzer.

Pre requisites

• Visual Studio 2012 or higher.

Performing an analysis

• Create an analyzer settings file. This can be done by:
  • Using the example below or
  • Running the analyzer with a not existing settings file. A settings file using default settings will be created.
• Edit the analyzer settings file if required:
  • Add one or more Visual Studio solutions to the settings file. If one or a few Visual Studio solutions are analyzed put them in an uinnamed group. If many solutions are added theey can be organized in groups.
  • Select if yo want to create and phsyical or logical view.
  • Add system include paths to SystemIncludeDirectories
  • Add third party include paths to ExternalIncludeDirectories. Add a name to whcih these direcrories should be resolved in the DSM. the AssemblyDirectory setting to point to the directory where the assemblies to be anayzed have been located.
  • Add interface include paths to InterfaceIncludeDirectories. These directories will be searched for interface files.
  • Update the OutputFilename to the name of the product.
  • Update LogLevel if required.
• Run the analyzer from the command line with the analyzer settings filename as argument.
• The analyzer will:
  • Scan all Visual Studio solutions and projects for source files.
  • Parse all found source files for include dependencies. It will take into account include paths defined in property file.
  • It will try to resolve the relative include filenames into absolute filenames. It will do this as follows:
    • It will first check if the file can be found in the interfaces directories. It the file can be found here is a clone of a file in one of the solutions the absolute path of this will be be used.
    • It will then test if is is an external of system include fiel.
    • Finally it will check igf the include file in in one
  • The found files and dependencies are written to the OutputFilename.
  • At the end of the analysis the percentage of the relations that could be resolved is shown. This is an indication of the reliability of the dependency model.
• If the percentage lower than 100% look at the log files to find out the reason.
  • If it is due to a missing system include path add it to SystemIncludeDirectories.
  • If it is due to a third party include path add it to ExternalIncludeDirectories and resolve it in the proper way.
  • If it is due to a interface include path add it to InterfaceIncludeDirectories.
  • If it is because the include file missing in the Visual Studio projects add its path to ExternalIncludeDirectories and resolve it in the proper way.
• Import the DSI file in the DSM viewer.

Command line usage

Use the following command to run a analysis:

"C:\Program Files\DsmSuite\Analyzers\VisualStudio\DsmSuite.Analyzer.VisualStudio.exe" AnalyzerSettings.xml

Settings

The following settings are defined:

AnalyzerSettings.xml example

Example for analyzing C++ in a D:\MyProject\MyProject.sln directory.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<AnalyzerSettings xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <LogLevel>Error</LogLevel>
  <Input>
    <Filename>C:\Example.sln</Filename>
    <RootDirectory>C:\</RootDirectory>
    <SystemIncludeDirectories>
      <string>C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Include\um</string>
      <string>C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Include\shared</string>
      <string>C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.10240.0\ucrt</string>
      <string>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\include</string>
      <string>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\atlmfc\include</string>
    </SystemIncludeDirectories>
    <ExternalIncludeDirectories>
      <ExternalIncludeDirectory>
        <Path>C\:External</Path>
        <ResolveAs>External</ResolveAs>
      </ExternalIncludeDirectory>
    </ExternalIncludeDirectories>
    <InterfaceIncludeDirectories />
  </Input>
  <Analysis>
    <ToolsVersion>14.0</ToolsVersion>
    <ViewMode>SolutionView</ViewMode>
  </Analysis>
  <Transformation>
    <IgnoredNames />
    <AddTransitiveIncludes>false</AddTransitiveIncludes>
    <HeaderSourceFileMergeStrategy>None</HeaderSourceFileMergeStrategy>
    <MergeHeaderAndSourceFileDirectoryRules>
      <TransformationMergeRule>
        <From>Header Files.</From>
        <To>Source Files.</To>
      </TransformationMergeRule>
    </MergeHeaderAndSourceFileDirectoryRules>
  </Transformation>
  <Output>
    <Filename>Output.dsi</Filename>
    <Compress>true</Compress>
  </Output>
</AnalyzerSettings>

Additional Logging

The following additional logging files defined.

The user messages log shows what percentage of the relations could be resolved. This is an indication of the reliability of the dependency model.

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