Learning Objectives Avoiding Common Code Smells in C# using NDepend Prerequisites First, Install the latest Visual Studio . here Download NDepend Trail Edition . here Unzip the download, and install the VS extension. Official Documentation f or more info .Net Code Analysis - NDepend Part-1 Getting Started .NET developers can evaluate and visualize the codebase using the robust static analysis tool NDepend. It aids programmers in understanding the quality and maintainability of the code, spotting bugs and other possible problems, and monitoring code metrics. Refactoring Types with Too Many Methods Refactoring a type with too many methods involves splitting the type into smaller, more manageable types that each has a single responsibility to make the code easier to understand and maintain and reduce the risk of introducing bugs in the future. Code Example Suppose a class called “Customer” has the following methods: public class Customer
{
    public void AddOrder(Order order) { ... }
    public void RemoveOrder(Order order) { ... }
    public void UpdateOrder(Order order) { ... }
    public void GetOrders() { ... }
    public void GetCustomerDetails() { ... }
    public void GetCustomerHistory() { ... }
    // ... more than 20 methods
} NDepend Error Refactored Solution The class has too many methods and violates the Single Responsibility Principle. To refactor the class, split it into three separate classes. CustomerOrderService CustomerDetailsService CustomerHistoryService Each class will have a single responsibility, making the code easier to understand and maintain, as shown below in the refactored solution. public class CustomerOrderService
{
    public void AddOrder(Customer customer, Order order) { ... }
    public void RemoveOrder(Customer customer, Order order) { ... }
    public void UpdateOrder(Customer customer, Order order) { ... }
    public void GetOrders(Customer customer) { ... }
}

public class CustomerDetailsService
{
    public void GetCustomerDetails(Customer customer) { ... }
}

public class CustomerHistoryService
{
    public void GetCustomerHistory(Customer customer) { ... }
}

// Refactor remaining methods as well Refactoring the “Customer” class into these three smaller classes improved the code’s maintainability and reduced the risk of introducing bugs in the future. Avoiding Non-Readonly Static Fields To avoid non-read-only static fields, mark all static fields as read-only unless they need to be modified. Keeping a field read-only ensures that it cannot be changed after initializing, making it thread-safe and easier to maintain. Static fields in C# are used to share data across instances of a class. Once initialized, it maintains value throughout the lifetime of the application domain. Code Example public class MyClass
{
    public static int Count = 0;
    
    public void IncrementCount()
    {
        Count++;
    }
} If numerous instances of the class are created, and if all can edit the field, then it may result in unexpected behavior. MyClass Count NDepend Error It is advised to specify static fields as read-only wherever possible to prevent these problems. When a static field is designated as read-only, either in the declaration, its value can only be changed once. It lowers the possibility of subtle problems and makes it simpler to reason about the program's state. Refactored Solution public class MyClass
{
    public static readonly int Count = 0;
    
    static MyClass()
    {
        Count = 10;
    }
} Don’t Assign Static Fields From Instance Methods. All class instances share the value passed to a static field from an instance method. If numerous class instances edit the static field simultaneously, this could result in unexpected behavior. Think about the following code for instance: Code Example public class MyClass
{
    public static int Count = 0;

    public void IncrementCount()
    {
        Count++;
    }
} NDepend Error Using NDepend to identify the issues in the codebase and refactoring is to avoid them. Moreover, it can improve the quality and maintainability of the code. Refactored Solution public class MyClass
{
    public static int Count = 0;

    static MyClass()
    {
        IncrementStaticCount();
    }
    private static void IncrementStaticCount()
    {
        Count++;
    }
} Finally, I added a private static method called to this refactored code that increases the value of the static field. The method now invokes the method as an instance method. IncrementStaticCount Count IncrementCount IncrementStaticCount Check out the rule explorer for more information NDepend Rules Explorer Thank you for reading, and I hope you liked the article. Please provide your feedback in the comment section. Stay tuned for more posts on Code Analysis with . NDepend Follow me on , , , , C# Publication LinkedIn Instagram Twitter Dev.to Similar Articles Run SonarQube Locally — .Net How to run SonarQube locally for .Net solutions medium.com Enforce code cleanup on build — .Net Create code cleanup profiles and run on the build-in Visual Studio. medium.com GitHub SonarQube workflow — .Net How to set up GitHub SonarQube workflow on pull request for .Net repositories medium.com Also published here

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