Learn about the usage and features of the rule designer.
Installing, running, updatingThe designer is part of PMDâs binary distributions. To install a distribution, see the documentation page about installing PMD.
The app needs JRE 1.8 or above to run. Be aware that on JRE 11+, the JavaFX distribution should be installed separately. Visit the JavaFX download page to download a distribution, extract it, and set the JAVAFX_HOME environment variable.
If the bin directory of your PMD distribution is on your shellâs path, then you can launch the app with
Note: pmd-ui.jar is not a runnable jar, because it doesnât include any PMD language module, or PMD Core.
This is to allow easy updating, and let you choose the dependencies youâre interested in. The available language modules are those on the classpath of the appâs JVM. Thatâs why itâs recommended to use the standard PMD startup scripts, which setup the classpath with the available PMD libraries.
UpdatingThe latest version of the designer currently works with PMD 6.12.0 and above. You can simply replace pmd-ui-6.X.Y.jar with the latest build in the installation folder of your PMD distribution, and run it normally. Note that updating may cause some persisted state to get lost, for example the code snippet.
Usage referenceThe rule designer is both a tool to inspect the tree on which PMD rules run on, and to write XPath rules in an integrated manner. This page describes the features that enable this.
AST inspectionYou can enter source code in the middle zone.
There are several ways to focus a node for inspection:
Search
button and enter a search query. You can cycle through results with CTRL+TAB
or CTRL+F3
, and cycle back with CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
or CTRL+SHIFT+F3
The left panel displays the following information:
The bottom part of the UI is dedicated to designing XPath rules:
The center is an XPath expression. As you type it, the matched nodes are updated on the right, and highlighted on the code area. Autocompletion is available on some languages.
Note: you can keep several rules in the editor (thereâs a tab for each of them).
Rule propertiesAbove the XPath expression area, the âPropertiesâ button allows you to define new properties for your prototype rule. You can also edit the existing properties.
When you click on it, a small popup appears:
The popup contains in the center a list of currently defined properties, displaying their name and expected type.
The edition menu of a property looks like the following:
The little export icon next to the gear icon opens a menu to export your rule. This menu lets you fill-in the metadata necessary for an XPath rule to be included in a ruleset.
Rule export demo Testing a rulePMD has its own XML format to describe rule tests and execute them using our test framework. The designer includes a test editor, which allows you to edit such files or create a new one directly as you edit the rule. This is what the panel left of the XPath expression area is for.
See also the test framework documentation.
Testing modelA rule test describes
When executing a test, the rule is run on the source with the given configuration, then the violations it finds are compared to the expected ones.
Adding testsTests can be added in one of four ways:
From the current source: A new test case with a default configuration is created, with the source that is currently in the editor
With an empty source: A new test case with a default configuration is created, with an empty source file. You must edit the source yourself then.
From an existing test case: Each test case list item has a âCopyâ button which duplicates the test and loads the new one.
In the designer, the test panel is a list of test cases. Their status (passing, failing, error, unknown) is color coded.
Test status color coding examplesAll tests passing (green):
A failing test (orange):
Loading a test caseEach test has a piece of source, which you can edit independently of the others, when the test is loaded in the editor. Additional rule configuration options can be chosen when the test is loaded.
Loading is done with the Load button:
Test loading demoOnly one test case may be loaded at a time. If the loaded test is unloaded, the editor reverts back to the state it had before the first test case was loaded.
Editing a loaded test caseWhen a test is loaded, the source you edit in the code area is the source of the test. Changes are independent from other tests, and from the piece of source that was previously in the editor.
When a test is loaded, an additional toolbar shows up at the top of the code area:
Expected violationsThe âExpected violationsâ button is used to add or edit the expected violations.
Initially the list of violations is empty. You can add violations by dragging and dropping nodes onto the button or its popup, from any control that displays nodes. For example:
Adding a violation demo Test case rule configurationRule properties can be configured for each test case independently using the âProperty mappingâ button. For example:
Test rule property demoThis configuration will be used when executing the test to check its status.
Exporting testsWhen youâre done editing tests, itâs a good idea to save the test file to an XML file. Exporting is done using the âExportâ button above the list of test cases:
Test export demoNote that the exported file does not contain any information about the rule. The rule must be in a ruleset file somewhere else.
If you want to use PMDâs test framework to use the test file in your build, please refer to the conventions explained in the test framework documentation.
RetroSearch is an open source project built by @garambo | Open a GitHub Issue
Search and Browse the WWW like it's 1997 | Search results from DuckDuckGo
HTML:
3.2
| Encoding:
UTF-8
| Version:
0.7.4