Static Code Analysis

Static code analysis software (aka linter) analyzes the program without actually executing it.

Commonly this is preformed in order to:

• Look for common coding mistakes that can lead to bugs or maintenance issues in the future
• Ensure required coding standards are used

Static code analysis available for C/C++ using clang-tidy

Structured Text is planned but not currently available.

Install Clang-tidy

Clang-tidy is part of the LLVM project.

Download the latest version of llvm and install it on your machine.

Included Template files

In our templates directory we have included a package that can be added to your Automation Studio project.

This includes the following:

File	Description
RunClangTidy.bat	For running clang-tidy
clang-tidy.opt	Configuration options for clang-tidy
Get-AsContent.ps1	powershell script to read the contents of the Automation Studio project
helpermod.psm1	powershell helper module
Read-AsBuildOptions.ps1	powershell script to read the current build settings of the Automation Studio project
Set-JsonDatabase.ps1	powershell script to create the needed json database for clang-tidy

Setup up a Post-Build step in Automation Studio

Open Change Runtime Versions

In the Automation Studio project goto to the Project->Change Runtime Versions... button

Edit Build Events

Setup the Post-Build step

"$(AS_PROJECT_PATH)/Logical/StaticCodeAnalysis/RunClangTidy.bat" "$(AS_PROJECT_PATH)" $(AS_CONFIGURATION)

Build Project

Now on successful builds of the Automation Studio project clang-tidy will automatically be run. Any warnings from clang-tidy will show up as warnings in Output Results window.

Double clicking on the warning Automation Studio will open the file and highlight the line with the potential problem

Customization

By default we have enabled all checks except llvmlibc-restrict-system-libc-headers. If you need to disable any additional checks edit the clang-tidy.opt file.

See here for a full list of available checks

Any checks that you do not want add a line to the Checks: section of the file with a - infront of the check name (Note that wildcards are supported)

For example if you want to use our recommended checklist below:

Checks: "*,
        -llvmlibc-restrict-system-libc-headers*,
        -abseil-*,
        -altera-*,
        -android-*
        -darwin-*,
        -fuchsia-*,
        -google-*,
        -llvm-*,
        -objc-*,
        -zircon-*
        "

Recommended Checks

Check prefix	Description	Recommended
abseil-*	Google abseil project specific checks	No
altera-*	OpenCL programming for FPGAs specific checks	No
android-*	Android specific checks	No
bugprone-*	Common coding bugs	Yes
cert-*	Known vulnerabilities in specific language features	Yes
clang-analyzer-*	Clang static analyzer checks	Yes
cppcoreguidelines-*	Well vetted guidelines from across the C++ community	Yes
darwin-*	Darwin project specific checks	No
fuchsia-*	Google fuchsia project specific checks	No
google-*	Google specific checks	No
hicpp-*	high performance features, identifies conversions that you may not be aware of	Yes
llvm-*		No
misc-*	miscellaneous checks, that didn't fit anywhere else	Yes
modernize-*	Update older style code to new standards	Yes
objc-*	Objective C specific checks	No
performance-*	Performance related checks	Maybe
readability-*	various readability checks	Depends (some checks are very opinionated)
zircon-*	Zircon kernel project specific checks	No