Panopticode Blog

In the last post we learned that Panopticode 0.2 will allow us to create arbitrary reports using a SPARQL SELECT query. Another feature in Panopticode 0.2 is to use a SPARQL ASK query to break the build.

An ASK query looks very similar to a SELECT but without any elements to return. If the query matches any data it returns true, otherwise it returns false.

Rewriting last post’s SELECT query as an ASK query would look like:

 PREFIX rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>
 PREFIX panopticode: <http://www.panopticode.org/ontologies/panopticode#>
 PREFIX java: <http://www.panopticode.org/ontologies/technology/java#>
 PREFIX emma: <http://www.panopticode.org/ontologies/supplement/emma/1#>
 PREFIX javancss: <http://www.panopticode.org/ontologies/supplement/javancss/1#>

 ASK WHERE
 {
   ?package         rdf:type                       java:Package           .
   ?package         panopticode:name               ?packageName           .
   ?package         java:hasFile                   ?file                  .
   ?file            panopticode:filePath           ?filePath              .
   ?file            java:hasType                   ?class                 .
   ?class           panopticode:name               ?className             .
   ?class           java:hasExecutableMember       ?method                .
   ?method          java:methodSignature           ?methodSignature       .
   ?method          emma:hasLineCoverage           ?lineCoverage          .
   ?method          javancss:cyclomaticComplexity  ?ccn                   .
   ?lineCoverage    emma:coveredPercent            ?lineCoveragePercent   .

   FILTER (?ccn > 1) .
   FILTER (?lineCoveragePercent <= 80.0)
 }

Panopticode 0.2 will come with an Ant task that automatically breaks the build when an ASK query returns true.

In Metrics Must be Interpreted In Context I described one of my preferences when creating rules around metrics. Namely, that one should not look at metrics independently, but within the context of other metrics. I described a rule that said unit test line coverage must be greater then 80% for all code with a cyclomatic complexity over 1. While you could enforce this rule in Panopticode 0.1 by creating a custom report, this is not ideal. Who wants to write Java code every time you make a new rule? This will get much easier in Panopticode 0.2.

Panopticode 0.2 has been re-architected to use RDF as it’s file format and internal data store. This enables you to write queries using SPARQL. Here is a query to find violators of the rule mentioned above:

 PREFIX rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>
 PREFIX panopticode: <http://www.panopticode.org/ontologies/panopticode#>
 PREFIX java: <http://www.panopticode.org/ontologies/technology/java#>
 PREFIX emma: <http://www.panopticode.org/ontologies/supplement/emma/1#>
 PREFIX javancss: <http://www.panopticode.org/ontologies/supplement/javancss/1#>

 SELECT ?packageName ?filePath ?className ?methodSignature ?ccn ?lineCoveragePercent
 WHERE
 {
   ?package         rdf:type                       java:Package           .
   ?package         panopticode:name               ?packageName           .
   ?package         java:hasFile                   ?file                  .
   ?file            panopticode:filePath           ?filePath              .
   ?file            java:hasType                   ?class                 .
   ?class           panopticode:name               ?className             .
   ?class           java:hasExecutableMember       ?method                .
   ?method          java:methodSignature           ?methodSignature       .
   ?method          emma:hasLineCoverage           ?lineCoverage          .
   ?method          javancss:cyclomaticComplexity  ?ccn                   .
   ?lineCoverage    emma:coveredPercent            ?lineCoveragePercent   .

   FILTER (?ccn > 1) .
   FILTER (?lineCoveragePercent <= 80.0)
 }
 ORDER BY DESC(?ccn) ?lineCoveragePercent ?packageName ?filePath ?className ?methodSignature