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SOFTWARE ANALYZER IN BUSINESS DEVELOPER

  
Using Business developer, extensive EGL-based applications are developed with EGL code. It is very important to avoid any kind of code-related problems by examining the program at the earliest. The Software Analyzer tool detects coding errors, by applying a set of rules while developing a code. It can be run on a specific project, a group of source code or for an entire workspace.

This blog describes the usage of Software Analyzer tool in the Business Developer, detailed steps to apply set of rules on different EGL projects and review the code.

Creating an EGL project in Business Developer:
To create a new EGL project, follow the steps given below:

1. Click on New in the menu bar and select EGL project.
2. Provide a project name and select the type of project to be created (for example: General).
3. For a General project, select the target runtime as either Java or Cobol. Here, the runtime is selected as Java. A general project for Java is now created.
4. Within the project, create a package and a program to develop an EGL code and save the program.

    Working of Software Analyzer:
    The Software Analyzer can be run from the configuration window or from the project explorer. The tool can be run on different EGL projects. In case of RUI handler, since the handler has multiple tabs, it is difficult to locate the exact line in the source code. To avoid this situation, the handler should be opened with standard EGL editor.

    1. To run the Software Analyzer tool on the created project, right-click the project under Project Explorer view and select Software Analyzer. Then, click on Software Analyzer Configurations….


    2. In the configurations window, right-click Software Analyzer and select New. A new configuration gets created. Provide a name to the configuration and select the required scope to analyze. The analysis can be done for an entire workspace, or for the selected project.


    3. After the scope is chosen, select EGL rules in the Rules tab of the configuration. There are set of rules which can be selected from the dropdown in Rule Sets. When Set button is clicked after selection, it only enables the rules which belong to that special category. The number of rules enabled will change for each selection.
    There are 5 special categories of rules in the dropdown.

    • Best practices for JavaGen
    • Best practices for CobolGen
    • Best practices for JavaScriptGen
    • High severity rules
    • EGL coding rules  
    4. Here, for Java project, Best Practices for JavaGen category can be selected where only 8 rules are applied as seen in the below screenshot. Click Apply and Analyze.


    Viewing the Analysis results:
    The analyzed results will be seen in the Software Analysis Results view. The results are stored in the analysis History. When the respective configuration is selected, the results can be viewed.

    From the Analysis tab, double-click the result. It highlights the corresponding line in the EGL editor view. The Analysis tab has the program name along with the line number where the code is violating the applied rules. The developer can fix the code and rerun the same configuration for better results.

    Exporting Analysis results:
    The results from the code review can be exported to XML format. It converts the analysis data into an XML file which can be reused by other projects inside or outside the workspace.


    This saves the formatted XML file of analysis results in the browsed location.


    In this way, the developers can configure & run the Software Analyzer tool to analyze various EGL projects in Business Developer.
     
    Author :
    Ponmanipriya Sukumar
    Software Engineer, Mainframe Products – HCL Software