Is FxCop Dead? Can it be used with VS2015?

Question

I was browsing through Stack Overflow and Google for information about automatic coding style practice tools and found FxCop.

But I haven't found recent articles from Microsoft about FxCop. So, I was wondering if FxCop is dead.

Can FxCop be used with Visual Studio 2015? Will it work for enforcing C# design guidelines?

score 23 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 11 '17 at 19:18

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FxCop functionality is integrated into Visual Studio 2012 and later versions with VS Code analysis. It covers all FxCop functionality with better integration.

Reference: Code Analysis for Managed Code Overview

edited Jul 11 '17 at 19:18

CJBS

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answered May 02 '16 at 12:39

Carbine

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Thank you this makes sense. – Venkataramana Madugula May 02 '16 at 12:53

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered May 02 '16 at 12:40

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From this blog (notice written by a Microsoft program manager):

The old version IL-based FxCop/CA are dead but the new version of CA that based on source-code instead of IL will be in VS “14”. (You can scroll down and see the reply from Alex Turner, the owner for Diagnostics in managed languages. )

So yes, it is dead, but replaced with something better. With CA you have an even better tool to do code analysis. Also, with Roslyn, it is quite easy to create your own analyzers.

answered May 02 '16 at 12:40

Patrick Hofman

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Better is relative... There are benefits of doing IL analysis: 1) it is cross language 2) analyzes what is actually generated from source 3) includes code weaver modifications... – jdehaan Apr 28 '17 at 10:45

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 11 '17 at 14:29

No, not dead, just renamed or reincarnated.

Supplement to CarbineCoder's answer above https://stackoverflow.com/a/36982685/257090

FxCop is now part of all editions of Visual Studio (Community, Pro, Enterprise)

There is a bit of confusion around it, because in the past, Microsoft upcharged for it, you had to buy Visual Studio Premium or Ultimate. As of 2012, as far as I recall, it was made free.

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 02 '18 at 19:10

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FxCop rules have been re-implemented as source based Roslyn analyzers in this open source repo.

See this page for recommended version of NuGet package(s)/VSIX to use to get these analyzers to run during your building/editing experience in Visual Studio.

See this page for further documentation.

edited Jul 02 '18 at 19:10

Amir Fo

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answered Jul 02 '18 at 18:02

Manish Vasani

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Is FxCop Dead? Can it be used with VS2015?

4 Answers4