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Custom Rules Programming Interface

Debugging your rules​

You can write console.log() statement to debug and troubleshoot your rules. The output is shown in the rule writer.

Reporting an error​

Build an error​

tip

When building an error, use the start and end attribute of the AST of Pattern.

To report an error, use the reportError function

reportError(startLine, startCol, endLine, endCol, message, severity, category);

With the following arguments:

  • startLine: the line where the error starts
  • startCol: the column where the error starts
  • endLine: the line where the error ends
  • endCol: the column where the error ends
  • message: the error message to show
  • severity: one string with one of the following values: CRITICAL, ERROR, WARNING, INFORMATIONAL
  • category: one string with one of the following values: ERROR_PRONE, CODE_STYLE, BEST_PRACTICE, SAFETY, SECURITY, DESIGN, DEPLOYMENT.

Report the error​

To report the error, use the function addError as follow:

addError(error);

The following code builds an error and reports it.

// Build the error
const error = buildError(
  exception.start.line,
  exception.start.col,
  exception.end.line,
  exception.end.col,
  "generic exception",
  "WARNING",
  "BEST_PRACTICES"
);

// Add the error
addError(error);

Generating a fix​

A fix is made of several edits. Edits are executed sequentially in the IDE plugins.

caution

All edits in a fix are executed sequentially by the IDE plugins. If you edit the same location in the code, make sure that all fixes can be applied sequentially.

Generate an edit​

Use the function buildEdit. This function has the following signature:

buildEdit(startLine, startCol, endLine, endCol, editType, content);

This function takes the following parameter:

  • startLine: starting line of the edit
  • startCol: starting column of the edit
  • endLine: ending line of the edit (null if this )
  • endCol: ending column of the edit
  • editType: can have the value add, remove, update: the type of the action
  • content: the new text added or updated. The value is null if editType is remove.

There is an example that builds an edit to update from 1:10 to 1:20 with the content "foobar".

const edit = buildEdit(1, 10, 1, 20, "update", "foobar");

Helper Functions​

  • buildEditUpdate(startLine, startCol, endLine, endCol, content): create an edit that updates the code from starLine:startCol to endLine:endCol
  • buildEditRemove(startLine, startCol, endLine, endCol): remove content from startLine:startCol to endLine:endCol
  • buildEditAdd(startLine, startCol, content): add the string content at startLine:startCol

Build the fix​

The function buildFix builds a fix. It takes the description of the fix and a list of edits that are applied for this fix.

const fix = buildFix("remove the write flag", [edit]);

Attach the fix to an error​

Use the function .addFix to the error.

const errorWithFix = error.addFix(fix);

You can report an error with a fix using the following function:

addError(error.addFix(fix));
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