Product Features

NDepend is a .NET tool that provides deep insight into code bases. The tool empowers developers, architects and executives to make intelligent decisions on projects. The community name it the "Swiss Army Knife" for .NET programmers.

Easily Manage Large Projects

Most companies have large systems that work together, often in mysterious ways. NDepend's in-depth reporting and toolset can help your company enforce its own coding standards and maintain complex projects.

Code Rule and Code Query

Hundreds of default code rules to check against best practices. Support for Code Query over C# LINQ (CQLinq) to easily customize rules and query code.

Powerful Dependency Graph and Matrix

Explore how the code is actually structured and shed light on architectural flaws thanks to the most powerful code dependency graph and dependency matrix available in the tool industry.

Smart Technical Debt Estimation

For each issue, the cost to fix and the severity are estimated through smart and customizable C# formulas. Thus estimations proposed are realistic.

Continuous Code Quality

A unique approach to continuously keep the technical debt under control and reimburse it with time.

Quality Gates

Quality Gates are C# LINQ (CQLinq) queries that implement PASS/FAIL criteria to code quality.

Monitor the Health of Your Application

NDepend allows your team to accurately gauge the overall health of your application, no matter how complex it is.

Trend Monitoring

Get Trend Charts about pretty much any code metrics to master the evolution of your application.

Code Diff since Baseline

Compare two versions of a code base and its issues set, and browse diff and changes in any way you can think of.

Reduce Friction Between Your Developer Teams

NDepend's reporting and analysis helps architects and developers to communicate and reduce confusion.

Continuous Integration Reporting

Integrate NDepend analysis into your build process and get highly customized and detailed reports to see progression and prevent code quality degradation.

Working with Legacy Code is Now Easier

By mapping out the structure of the project, it is much easier to see how components and dependencies are connected.

Real-World Proof

Full Visual Studio and Azure DevOps integration, super fast and lightweight analysis, integration within all CI/DevOps systems, NDepend is conceived for real-world programmers.

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Code Rule and Code Query over LINQ (CQLinq)

NDepend lets query the code base over LINQ queries thanks to CQLinq.
For example the following CQLinq query matches all public methods that have more than 30 lines of code:

from m in Application.Methods  
where m.NbLinesOfCode >  30  && m.IsPublic
select m

Around 200 default queries and rules are provided when you create a new NDepend project. They are easy to read and easy to adapt to your need.
Writing CQLinq queries and constraints is straightforward both because it is C# LINQ syntax and because NDepend provides a CQLinq editor which supports:

  • code completion / intellisense
  • live compile error description
  • integrated tooltip documentation
NDepend Code Query Edition with Intellisense and Documentation

Also, once the query is compiled, it gets executed immediately and its result is well displayed and is easy to browse:

Browsing NDepend Code Query Result

Powerful and elaborated queries and rules can be written with CQLinq, like the following one for example:

// <Name>UI layer shouldn't use directly DB types</Name>
warnif count > 0

// UI layer is made of types using a UI framework
let uiTypes = Application.Types.UsingAny(Assemblies.WithNameIn(
                
"PresentationFramework", "System.Windows", "System.Windows.Forms", "System.Web"))

// You can easily customize this part to define what are DB types.
let dbTypes = ThirdParty.Assemblies.WithNameIn("System.Data", "EntityFramework", "NHibernate").ChildTypes()
              
.Except(ThirdParty.Types.WithNameIn("DataSet", "DataTable", "DataRow"))

from uiType in uiTypes.UsingAny(dbTypes)
let dbTypesUsed = dbTypes.Intersect(uiType.TypesUsed)

let dbTypesAndMembersUsed = dbTypesUsed.Union(dbTypesUsed.ChildMembers().UsedBy(uiType))

// Per defaut this rule estimates a technical debt
// proportional to the coupling between the UI and DB types.
let couplingPerUIType = 2 +
   
uiType.Methods.UsingAny(dbTypesUsed).Count() +
   
dbTypesAndMembersUsed.Count()

select new { 
   
uiType, 
   
dbTypesAndMembersUsed,
   
Debt = (4 * couplingPerUIType).ToMinutes().ToDebt(),
   
Severity = Severity.Major
}
      
//<Description>
// This rule is more a *sample rule to adapt to your need*,
// than a rigid rule you should abide by. It shows how to
// define code layers in a rule and how to be warned about  
// layers dependencies violations.
//
// This rule first defines the UI layer and the DB framework 
// layer. Second it checks if any UI layer type is using 
// directly any DB framework layer type.
//
// • The **DB framework layer** is defined as the set of *third-party*
// types in the framework *ADO.NET*, *EntityFramework*, 
// *NHibernate* types, that the application is consuming. 
// It is easy to append and suppress any DB framework.
//
// • The UI layer (**User Interface Layer**) is defined as the
// set of types that use *WPF*, *Windows Form*, *ASP.NET*.
//
// *UI using directly DB frameworks* is generally considered 
// as *poor design* because DB frameworks accesses should be 
// a concept hidden to UI, encapsulated into a **dedicated 
// Data Access Layer (DAL)**.
//
// Notice that per defaut this rule estimates a technical debt
// proportional to the coupling between the UI and DB types. 
//</Description>

//<HowToFix>
// This rule lists precisely which UI type uses which 
// DB framework type. Instead of fixing matches one by one,
// first imagine how DB framework accesses could be 
// encapsulated into a dedicated layer.
//</HowToFix>

Note how a C# formula can be used to estimate the technical-debt and issues severity. Also note that a description and how-to-fix guideline can be provided. This text will be rendered nicely for non-developers.


Short CQLinq queries can be written (or even generated) to get some immediate answers to questions about a code base:

  • Is the code layered correctly?

    from n in Namespaces where n.Level == null select n
  • Which methods have been refactored since the last release and are not thoroughly covered by tests?

    from m in Application.Methods where 
    m.CodeWasChanged()  &&  m.PercentageCoverage <  100
    select new { m, m.PercentageCoverage } 
  • Which classes implement a particular interface?

    from t in Types 
    where t.IsClass && t.Implement("System.IDisposable")
    select t
  • Which methods create objects of a particular class?

    from m in Methods where m.CreateA ("MyNamespace.MyClass") select m
  • Which methods assign a particular field?

    from m in Methods 
    where m.AssignField("MyNamespace.MyClass.m_Field")
    select m
  • What are the 10 most complex methods?

    (from m in Methods 
     
    orderby m.CyclomaticComplexity
     
    select new { m, m.CyclomaticComplexity }).Take(10) 
  • Which method could have a more restricted visibility?

    from m in Application.Methods 
    where m.Visibility != m.OptimalVisibility
    select new { m, 
                 
    m.Visibility , 
                 
    CouldBeDeclared = m.OptimalVisibility,
                 
    m.MethodsCallingMe }
  • Which complex method is not enough commented?

    from m in Application.Methods 
    where m.CyclomaticComplexity >  15 && m.PercentageComment <  10
    select new { m, m.CyclomaticComplexity, m.PercentageComment }

CQLinq can also be used to write Quality Gates. A Quality Gate is a criterion that must be verified before going to production

A dozen of default Quality Gates checks criteria such as overall Code Coverage by tests or extra Technical Debt since baseline.

  • This Quality Gate ensures a minimum percentage coverage by tests on new methods introduced since baseline.

    // <QualityGate Name="Percentage Coverage on New Code" Unit="%" />
    failif value < 70%
    warnif value < 80%
    let newMethods = Application.Methods.Where(m => m.WasAdded() && m.NbLinesOfCode > 0)
    let locCovered = newMethods.Sum(m => m.NbLinesOfCodeCovered)
    let loc = newMethods.Sum(m => m.NbLinesOfCode)
    select 100d * locCovered / loc
  • This Quality Gate ensures a maximum of Technical Debt ratio on the code base.

    // <QualityGate Name="Percentage Debt" Unit="%" />
    failif value > 30%
    warnif value > 20%
    let timeToDev = codeBase.EffortToDevelop()
    let debt = Issues.Sum(i => i.Debt)
    select 100d * debt.ToManDay() / timeToDev.ToManDay()

You can also be warned automatically when a CQLinq query returns a certain result. Such a CQLinq code query is actually a code rule such as:

  • Static fields should not be named m_XXX (Custom naming conventions):

    warnif count > 0 
    from f in Fields where f.NameLike (@"^m_") && f.IsStatic
    select f
  • Methods out of MyAssembly and MyAssembly2 should not have more than 30 lines of code:

    warnif count > 0  
    from  m in Application.Assemblies.WithNameNotIn("MyAssembly1", "MyAssembly2").ChildMethods() 
    where m.NbLinesOfCode > 30
    select new { m, m.NbLinesOfCode }
  • Public methods should not be removed to avoid API breaking changes:

    warnif count > 0 
    from m in codeBase.OlderVersion().Application.Methods 
    where m.IsPublic && m.WasRemoved()
    select m
  • Types tagged with the attribute MyNamespace.FullCoveredAttribute must be thoroughly covered by tests:

    warnif count > 0  
    from  t in Application.Types 
    where t.HasAttribute ("NDepend.Attributes.FullCoveredAttribute") && 
          
    t.PercentageCoverage <  100
    select new { t, t.PercentageCoverage }

Related Documentation:
Default Rules and Queries
CQLinq Syntax
CQLinq Features
CQLinq Performance
CQL to CQLinq Conversion
Declare CQLinq rules in C# or VB.NET source code