Do you have any coding standards for your projects? Microsoft defines , and it could be a starting point to follow. There are many reasons why it is important to apply coding standards for your project: C# coding conventions The same rules for writing code improve software readability by allowing developers to understand new code faster and better. The codebase is almost never fully supported by its original author. Most of the total cost of software is spent on its maintenance. Helps to demonstrate best practices. Like any other product, the software must be "well packaged" and clean. de facto is a standard tool for .NET. It analyzes C# source code to enforce a set of style and consistency rules. Default rules set could be used, or you can configure your own. The cool thing is that warnings and errors are shown in the IDE during the compilation. StyleCop It was introduced in 2008 and is now available in two options: the extension and . The NuGet package is the most convenient method to use StyleCop since it does not require any additional configuration of the IDE. That is great when working in a team. Also, if you use other IDEs than Visual Studio (e.g., JetBrains Rider on Mac), it will perfectly do the job. So let’s dive in. StyleCop Visual Studio StyleCop NuGet package StyleCop Installation As described above NuGet package is the best way to use StyleCop. To add the StyleCop NuGet package to your project, you should run the following command: Install-Package StyleCop.Analyzers The NuGet package manager also could be used to find and install the StyleCop NuGet package directly in the IDE. After the installation, you can compile your project and see if there are any errors or warnings in the output bar. For the simple Hello World console application, you could see something like this: Build started 01/03/2022 23:33:44. "/ConsoleApp1/ConsoleApp1.csproj" (build target) (1) -> (CoreCompile target) -> /ConsoleApp1/Program.cs(1,1): warning SA1633: The file header is missing or not located at the top of the file. /ConsoleApp1/Program.cs(5,11): warning SA1400: Element 'Program' should declare an access modifier /ConsoleApp1/Program.cs(1,1): warning SA1200: Using directive should appear within a namespace declaration /ConsoleApp1/Program.cs(6,6): warning SA1028: Code should not contain trailing whitespace CSC : warning SA0001: XML comment analysis is disabled due to project configuration 5 Warning(s) 0 Error(s) Time Elapsed 00:00:01.35 When the StyleCop NuGet package is installed, the rules set is applied. Most likely, your team would like to have custom rules set to match code styles and conventions defined in your team or organization. default Custom Ruleset As you have noticed, a file is an XML file that could provide the following features: *.ruleset Enable and disable individual rules Configure the severity of violations reported by individual rules I recommend downloading the ruleset and modifying it according to your needs. There is a complete specification of the rules . default here To plug in a custom ruleset to your project you should add file to your project and modify the file by adding tag as follows: *.ruleset csproj CodeAnalysisRuleSet <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk"> <PropertyGroup> ... <CodeAnalysisRuleSet>settings.ruleset</CodeAnalysisRuleSet> </PropertyGroup> ... </Project> Configuring StyleCop Another way to configure StyleCop is to add file to the project. It gives the following opportunities: stylecop.json Specify project-specific text, such as the name of the company and the structure to use for copyright headers Fine-tune the behavior of certain rules For example, to set the value of the number of columns to use for each indentation of code to 4 and use spaces to indent, do the following: { "settings": { "indentation": { "indentationSize": "4", "useTabs": "false" } } } For more details, use configuration specification . here Summary StyleCop analyzes C# source code to enforce a set of style and consistency rules. Use it as a NuGet package which is the best way to work in a team. Use custom and files to tune the StyleCop according to your project needs. *.ruleset stylecop.json
