devMetrics Reports

devMetrics generates two different HTML reports during analysis:

The project report provides a high-level summary of the project metrics while the member report provides a detailed set of metrics for each member (function, property, method, event, etc.) found in the code analyzed.

Report Location

The output directory for the reports may be controlled through the following methods:

Project Report

The project report provides a summary of metrics for the projects analyzed.

Definition of Measures

Project Elements

These are the major elements measured during analysis

Project

This is the name of the project. If the project name is longer than 30 characters it will be truncated for display. Placing the mouse over the name will provide the full name and path. Clicking on the project name will take you to the detail report of members.

Files

This is the number of C# files in the project (those files with the extension “.cs”)

Classes

This is the number of classes, interfaces and structures in the project.

Members

This is the number of members in the project and includes all fields and member functions (events, properties, constructors, methods, etc.)

Lines

This is the total number of lines counted in C# files and includes blank lines and comments.

Statements

This is the total number of C# statements in all C# files. Statements are not the same as a line of code. A line may contain more than one statement and there may be many lines in a file that are not statements. Statements typically represent executable code and are a much better measure of code size than lines of code. For a more detailed definition of C# statements, please see ECMA’s C# Language Specification – ECMA-334 

Comments

This section summarizes the comment measures which are found in the C# files of the project, and includes both regular comments (// and /* .. */) as well as document comments (///). Measures of comments can be indicative of the maintainability and understandability of your code. Low or zero values indicate code that should be commented more.

Count – Total count of comments for all C# files in the project.

Density – This is the percentage of comments relative to the lines of code and is calculated by [Lines]/[Comment Count].

Code Complexity

Code complexity is the cyclomatic code complexity introduced by Thomas McCabe in 1976 and defined by the SEI . Code complexity is a measure of the number of linearly-independent paths through a program module and is calculated by counting the number of decision points found in the code (if, else, do, while, throw, catch, return, break, etc.). Code complexity is calculated for each member that contains code statements. Members that have a high code complexity should be reviewed for possible refactoring. The SEI provides a basic risk assessment based on the values of code complexity:

Cyclomatic Complexity	Risk Evaluation
1 to 10	a simple program, without very much risk
11 to 20	a more complex, moderate risk
21 to 50	a complex, high risk program
> 50	an untestable program (very high risk)

 

Avg - This is the average cyclomatic code complexity for all members of the project that contain statements.

Max -This is the code complexity for the member found with the highest cyclomatic code complexity measure in the project.

 

Statements/Member

Statements per member is the number of statements found in each member having at least one statement. The measure can be indicative of large modules of code. Many believe that there is no need to have large modules and any large modules found should be refactored to improve maintainability. Large members are typically associated with a high value for cyclomatic code complexity (see above).

Avg – This is the average number of statements per member for all members that contain at least one statement.

Max – This is the number of statements found in the largest member within the project.

Members/Class

Members per class is the number of members each of the classes of the project has and includes all fields and member functions (events, properties, constructors, methods, etc.). A large numbers of member in a class can indicate an overly complex class that is most likely a candidate for refactoring.

Avg – This is the average number of members per class for the entire project.

Max – This is the number of members for the class with greatest number of members in the project.

The last row of the report table is an overall summary of metrics for all projects analyzed. Addition information provided on the report consists of the date and time the analysis was run, a link to this help file, a link to the detail member report at the bottom as well as a link to the Anticipating Minds web site. If any errors occur in the analysis of a specific project, there will also be a link to an error report. If you experience any problems, please contact Anticipating Minds support at support@anticipatingminds.com

For information on customizing the report format, please see the configuration section below

Member Report

The member report provides a detailed list of metrics for each member in all the projects analyzed.

Definition of Measures

Member Locations

Project

This is the name of the project the member is located in. If the project name is longer than 30 characters it will be truncated for display. Placing the mouse over the name will provide the full name and path.

Class

This is the class, interface or structure that the member belongs to. If the class name is longer than 30 characters it will be truncated for display. Placing the mouse over the name will provide the full class name.

Member

This is the name of the member for which the metrics are gathered. For constructors, the name will be the name of the class, interface or structure it is a member of. If there are overloads of the member they will not be distinguished in the report (i.e. they will each have the same name). If the member name is longer than 30 characters it will be truncated for display. Placing the mouse over the name will provide the full member name.

Member Measures

Member measures provide specific metrics for each member analyzed. Measures are only provided for members that have at least one statement.

 

Statements

This is the total number of C# statements in the member. Statements are not the same as a line of code. A line may contain more than one statement and there may be many lines in a member that are not statements. Statements typically represent executable code and are a much better measure of code size than lines of code. Many believe that there is no need to have large modules and any large modules found should be refactored to improve maintainability. Large members are typically associated with a high value for cyclomatic code complexity (see below). For a more detailed definition of C# statements, please see ECMA’s C# Language Specification – ECMA-334

Comments

This is the total number of comments found in a member. Comments that are considered in the member count include both regular comments (// and /* .. */) as well as document comments (///). Document comments (///) just before the member are also considered part of the member.

Comment Ratio

This is the ratio member comments to the number of statements. This number is provided as a factor to differentiate it from the common measure of Comment Density shown in the project report. Low or zero values indicate code that should be commented more.

Complexity

Code complexity is the cyclomatic code complexity introduced by Thomas McCabe in 1976 and defined by the SEI . Code complexity is a measures the number of linearly-independent paths through a program module and is calculated by counting the number of decision points found in the code (if, else, do, while, throw, catch, return, break, etc.). Code complexity is calculated for each member that contains code statements. Members that have a high code complexity should be reviewed for possible refactoring. The SEI provides a basic risk assessment based on the values of code complexity:

Cyclomatic Complexity	Risk Evaluation
1 to 10	a simple program, without very much risk
11 to 20	a more complex, moderate risk
21 to 50	a complex, high risk program
> 50	an untestable program (very high risk)

   

Report Configuration

The reports offer some basic configuration options to meet more specific needs you may have. The types of configuration are:

Report Path

The report path can be used to configure the default location where the reports are placed. The value is set in the registry is: 

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Anticipating Minds\devMetrics\1.0\ReportPath]

 

This value can be modified to be any valid file location that the process has permissions and visibility to write to. By default the value is:

 

[drive:\Program Files]\Anticipating Minds\devMetrics\Reports

 

Style Sheet

The reports use a default style which is embedded within the HTML documents to allow for maximum portability. The reports also reference an external cascading style sheet that can be modified to provide a more customized look and feel. By default, the reports reference the cascasding style sheet set in the registry

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Anticipating Minds\devMetrics\1.0\StyleSheet]

 

By default, this registry value is not set, and the report will reference a style sheet located in the report directory called devMetrics.css .  By changing this registry value you can reference your own style sheet locally or even accessible over the internet. A sample customized style sheet is provided with the installation and is located at:

 

[drive:\Program Files]\Anticipating Minds\devMetrics\SampleStyle.css

See Also

Visual Studio .NET Add-In | Command Line