CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netvb.netattributescompiler-warnings
Micah
Micah

Reputation: 116050

Custom Compiler Warnings

When using the ObsoleteAtribute in .Net it gives you compiler warnings telling you that the object/method/property is obsolete and somthing else should be used. I'm currently working on a project that requires a lot of refactoring an ex-employees code. I want to write a custom attribute that I can use to mark methods or properties that will generate compiler warnings that give messages that I write. Something like this

[MyAttribute("This code sux and should be looked at")]
public void DoEverything()
{
}

<MyAttribute("This code sux and should be looked at")>
Public Sub DoEverything()
End Sub

I want this to generate a compiler warning that says, "This code sux and should be looked at". I know how to create a custom attribute, the question is how do I cause it to generate compiler warnings in visual studio.

Upvotes: 144

Views: 62672

Answers (10)

Douglas Mayle
Douglas Mayle

Reputation: 21747

In some compilers you can use #warning to issue a warning:

#warning "Do not use ABC, which is deprecated. Use XYZ instead."

In Microsoft compilers, you can typically use the message pragma:

#pragma message ( "text" )

You mentioned .Net, but didn't specify whether you were programming with C/C++ or C#. If you're programming in C#, than you should know that C# supports the #warning format.

Upvotes: 63

FreakyAli
FreakyAli

Reputation: 16409

If like me you are here through how can I create [experimental] tag in c# which throws a compiler warning question,

With C# 12 they have added a feature which you can use to mark a class as Experimental, the only way to use this class would be using a NoWarn or a Pragma suppression.

[Experimental("Risky for usage")]
public class ExperimentalClass
{

}

Usage:

#pragma warning disable Risky
     var data = new ExperimentalClass();
#pragma warning restore Risky

Feel free to reach out for queries

Upvotes: 1

ljs
ljs

Reputation: 37807

Update

This is now possible with Roslyn (Visual Studio 2015). You can build a code analyzer to check for a custom attribute

Original outdated answer:

I don't believe it's possible. ObsoleteAttribute is treated specially by the compiler and is defined in the C# standard. Why on earth is ObsoleteAttribute not acceptable? It seems to me like this is precisely the situation it was designed for, and achieves precisely what you require!

Also note that Visual Studio picks up the warnings generated by ObsoleteAttribute on the fly too, which is very useful.

Don't mean to be unhelpful, just wondering why you're not keen on using it...

Unfortunately ObsoleteAttribute is sealed (probably partly due to the special treatment) hence you can't subclass your own attribute from it.

From the C# standard:-

The attribute Obsolete is used to mark types and members of types that should no longer be used.

If a program uses a type or member that is decorated with the Obsolete attribute, the compiler issues a warning or an error. Specifically, the compiler issues a warning if no error parameter is provided, or if the error parameter is provided and has the value false. The compiler issues an error if the error parameter is specified and has the value true.

Doesn't that sum up your needs?... you're not going to do better than that I don't think.

Upvotes: 33

Pablo Fernandez
Pablo Fernandez

Reputation: 105210

This is worth a try.

You can't extend Obsolete, because it's final, but maybe you can create your own attribute, and mark that class as obsolete like this:

[Obsolete("Should be refactored")]
public class MustRefactor: System.Attribute{}

Then when you mark your methods with the "MustRefactor" attribute, the compile warnings will show. It generates a compile time warning, but the error message looks funny, you should see it for yourself and choose. This is very close to what you wanted to achieve.

UPDATE: With this code It generates a warning (not very nice, but I don't think there's something better).

public class User
{
    private String userName;

    [TooManyArgs] // Will show warning: Try removing some arguments
    public User(String userName)
    {
        this.userName = userName;   
    }

    public String UserName
    {
        get { return userName; }
    }
    [MustRefactor] // will show warning: Refactor is needed Here
    public override string ToString()
    {
        return "User: " + userName;
    }
}
[Obsolete("Refactor is needed Here")]
public class MustRefactor : System.Attribute
{

}
[Obsolete("Try removing some arguments")]
public class TooManyArgs : System.Attribute
{

}

Upvotes: 108

johnny 5
johnny 5

Reputation: 20987

Here is the Roslyn Implementation, so you can create your own attributes that give warnings or errors on the fly.

I've create an attribute Type Called IdeMessage which will be the attribute which generates warnings:

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple = true, Inherited = true)]
public class IDEMessageAttribute : Attribute
{
    public string Message;

    public IDEMessageAttribute(string message);
}

In order to do this you need to install the Roslyn SDK first and start a new VSIX project with analyzer. I've omitted some of the less relevant piece like the messages, you can figure out how to do that. In your analyzer you do this

public override void Initialize(AnalysisContext context)
{
    context.RegisterSyntaxNodeAction(AnalyzerInvocation, SyntaxKind.InvocationExpression);
}

private static void AnalyzerInvocation(SyntaxNodeAnalysisContext context)
{
    var invocation = (InvocationExpressionSyntax)context.Node;

    var methodDeclaration = (context.SemanticModel.GetSymbolInfo(invocation, context.CancellationToken).Symbol as IMethodSymbol);

    //There are several reason why this may be null e.g invoking a delegate
    if (null == methodDeclaration)
    {
        return;
    }

    var methodAttributes = methodDeclaration.GetAttributes();
    var attributeData = methodAttributes.FirstOrDefault(attr => IsIDEMessageAttribute(context.SemanticModel, attr, typeof(IDEMessageAttribute)));
    if(null == attributeData)
    {
        return;
    }

    var message = GetMessage(attributeData); 
    var diagnostic = Diagnostic.Create(Rule, invocation.GetLocation(), methodDeclaration.Name, message);
    context.ReportDiagnostic(diagnostic);
}

static bool IsIDEMessageAttribute(SemanticModel semanticModel, AttributeData attribute, Type desiredAttributeType)
{
    var desiredTypeNamedSymbol = semanticModel.Compilation.GetTypeByMetadataName(desiredAttributeType.FullName);

    var result = attribute.AttributeClass.Equals(desiredTypeNamedSymbol);
    return result;
}

static string GetMessage(AttributeData attribute)
{
    if (attribute.ConstructorArguments.Length < 1)
    {
        return "This method is obsolete";
    }

    return (attribute.ConstructorArguments[0].Value as string);
}

There are no CodeFixProvider for this you can remove it from the solution.

Upvotes: 4

user4089256
user4089256

Reputation: 131

What you are trying to do is a misuse of attributes. Instead use the Visual Studio Task List. You can enter a comment in your code like this:

//TODO:  This code sux and should be looked at
public class SuckyClass(){
  //TODO:  Do something really sucky here!
}

Then open View / Task List from the menu. The task list has two categories, user tasks and Comments. Switch to Comments and you will see all of your //Todo:'s there. Double clicking on a TODO will jump to the comment in your code.

Al

Upvotes: 12

Tomasz Modelski
Tomasz Modelski

Reputation: 460

In VS 2008 (+sp1) #warnings don't show properly in Error List after Clean Soultion & Rebuild Solution, no all of them. Some Warnings are showed in the Error List only after I open particular class file. So I was forced to use custom attribute: 

[Obsolete("Mapping ToDo")]
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class | AttributeTargets.Property)]
public class MappingToDo : System.Attribute
{
    public string Comment = "";

    public MappingToDo(string comment)
    {
        Comment = comment;
    }

    public MappingToDo()
    {}
}

So when I flag some code with it

[MappingToDo("Some comment")]
public class MembershipHour : Entity
{
    // .....
}

It produces warnings like this:

Namespace.MappingToDo is obsolete: 'Mapping ToDo'.

I can't change the text of the warning, 'Some comment' is not showed it Error List. But it will jump to proper place in file. So if you need to vary such warning messages, create various attributes.

Upvotes: 8

Ted Elliott
Ted Elliott

Reputation: 3493

We're currently in the middle of a lot of refactoring where we couldn't fix everything right away. We just use the #warning preproc command where we need to go back and look at code. It shows up in the compiler output. I don't think you can put it on a method, but you could put it just inside the method, and it's still easy to find.

public void DoEverything() {
   #warning "This code sucks"
}

Upvotes: 54

bdukes
bdukes

Reputation: 155895

Looking at the source for ObsoleteAttribute, it doesn't look like it's doing anything special to generate a compiler warning, so I would tend to go with @technophile and say that it is hard-coded into the compiler. Is there a reason you don't want to just use ObsoleteAttribute to generate your warning messages?

Upvotes: 2

technophile
technophile

Reputation: 3676

I don't think you can. As far as I know support for ObsoleteAttribute is essentially hardcoded into the C# compiler; you can't do anything similar directly.

What you might be able to do is use an MSBuild task (or a post-build event) that executes a custom tool against the just-compiled assembly. The custom tool would reflect over all types/methods in the assembly and consume your custom attribute, at which point it could print to System.Console's default or error TextWriters.

Upvotes: 2

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