pmd/pmd_userdocs_extending_defining_properties.html

1907 lines
58 KiB
HTML
Raw Blame History

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters

This file contains Unicode characters that might be confused with other characters. If you think that this is intentional, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal them.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<meta name="description" content="Learn how to define your own properties both for Java and XPath rules.">
<meta name="keywords" content="extendinguserdocs, ">
<title>Defining rule properties | PMD Source Code Analyzer</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="assets/fontawesome-free-5.15.4-web/css/all.min.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="assets/bootstrap-4.5.2-dist/css/bootstrap.min.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/syntax.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/modern-business.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/customstyles.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/theme-green.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/pmd-customstyles.css">
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="images/logo/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon">
<link rel="icon" href="images/logo/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon">
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="" href="feed.xml">
</head>
<body>
<!-- Content is offset by the height of the topnav bar. -->
<!-- There's already a padding-top rule in modern-business.css, but it apparently doesn't work on Firefox 60 and Chrome 67 -->
<div id="topbar-content-offset">
<!-- Navigation -->
<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg fixed-top navbar-dark">
<div class="container topnavlinks">
<a class="navbar-brand fas fa-home fa-lg" href="index.html">&nbsp;<span class="projectTitle"> PMD Source Code Analyzer Project</span></a>
<button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarSupportedContent" aria-controls="navbarSupportedContent" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
<span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
</button>
<div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarSupportedContent">
<ul class="navbar-nav mr-auto mt-2 mt-lg-0"></ul>
<ul class="navbar-nav">
<!-- toggle sidebar button -->
<li class="nav-item"><a id="tg-sb-link" class="nav-link" href="#"><i id="tg-sb-icon" class="fas fa-toggle-on"></i> Nav</a></li>
<!-- entries without drop-downs appear here -->
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="https://github.com/pmd/pmd/releases/latest" target="_blank">Download</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="https://github.com/pmd/pmd" target="_blank">Fork us on github</a></li>
<!-- entries with drop-downs appear here -->
<!-- conditional logic to control which topnav appears for the audience defined in the configuration file.-->
</ul>
<form class="form-inline my-2 my-lg-0">
<input class="form-control mr-sm-2" type="search" placeholder="search..." id="search-input">
<ul id="results-container"></ul>
</form>
</div>
</div>
</nav>
<!-- Page Content -->
<div class="container-toc-wrapper">
<div class="container">
<div class="col-lg-12">&nbsp;</div>
<!-- Content Row -->
<div class="row">
<!-- Sidebar Column -->
<div class="col-md-3" id="tg-sb-sidebar">
<ul id="mysidebar" class="nav">
<li class="sidebarTitle">PMD 7.0.0-SNAPSHOT</li>
<div class="sidebarTitleDate">Release date: 27-May-2023</div>
<li>
<a href="#">About</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_release_notes.html">Release notes</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_release_notes_pmd7.html">Release notes (PMD 7)</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_about_help.html">Getting help</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#">User Documentation</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_installation.html">Installation and basic CLI usage</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_making_rulesets.html">Making rulesets</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_configuring_rules.html">Configuring rules</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_best_practices.html">Best practices</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_suppressing_warnings.html">Suppressing warnings</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_incremental_analysis.html">Incremental analysis</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_cli_reference.html">PMD CLI reference</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_report_formats.html">PMD Report formats</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_3rdpartyrulesets.html">3rd party rulesets</a></li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">CPD reference</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_cpd.html">Copy-paste detection</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_cpd_report_formats.html">CPD Report formats</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Extending PMD</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_extending_writing_rules_intro.html">Introduction to writing rules</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_extending_your_first_rule.html">Your first rule</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_extending_writing_xpath_rules.html">XPath rules</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_extending_writing_java_rules.html">Java rules</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_extending_designer_reference.html">Rule designer reference</a></li>
<li class="active"><a href="pmd_userdocs_extending_defining_properties.html">Defining rule properties</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_extending_rule_guidelines.html">Rule guidelines</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_extending_testing.html">Testing your rules</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Tools / Integrations</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_tools_maven.html">Maven PMD Plugin</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_tools_gradle.html">Gradle</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_tools_ant.html">Ant</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_tools_java_api.html">PMD Java API</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_tools_ci.html">CI integrations</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_userdocs_tools.html">Other Tools / Integrations</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#">Rule Reference</a>
<ul>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Apex Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_apex.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_apex_bestpractices.html">Best Practices</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_apex_codestyle.html">Code Style</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_apex_design.html">Design</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_apex_documentation.html">Documentation</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_apex_errorprone.html">Error Prone</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_apex_performance.html">Performance</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_apex_security.html">Security</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">HTML Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_html.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_html_bestpractices.html">Best Practices</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Java Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_java.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_java_bestpractices.html">Best Practices</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_java_codestyle.html">Code Style</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_java_design.html">Design</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_java_documentation.html">Documentation</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_java_errorprone.html">Error Prone</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_java_multithreading.html">Multithreading</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_java_performance.html">Performance</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_java_security.html">Security</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Java Server Pages Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_jsp.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_jsp_bestpractices.html">Best Practices</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_jsp_codestyle.html">Code Style</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_jsp_design.html">Design</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_jsp_errorprone.html">Error Prone</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_jsp_security.html">Security</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">JavaScript Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_ecmascript.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_ecmascript_bestpractices.html">Best Practices</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_ecmascript_codestyle.html">Code Style</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_ecmascript_errorprone.html">Error Prone</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Kotlin Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_kotlin.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_kotlin_bestpractices.html">Best Practices</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_kotlin_errorprone.html">Error Prone</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Maven POM Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_pom.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_pom_errorprone.html">Error Prone</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Modelica Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_modelica.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_modelica_bestpractices.html">Best Practices</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">PLSQL Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_plsql.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_plsql_bestpractices.html">Best Practices</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_plsql_codestyle.html">Code Style</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_plsql_design.html">Design</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_plsql_errorprone.html">Error Prone</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Salesforce VisualForce Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_vf.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_vf_security.html">Security</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Scala Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_scala.html">Index</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Swift Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_swift.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_swift_bestpractices.html">Best Practices</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_swift_errorprone.html">Error Prone</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">VM Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_vm.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_vm_bestpractices.html">Best Practices</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_vm_design.html">Design</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_vm_errorprone.html">Error Prone</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">WSDL Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_wsdl.html">Index</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">XML Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_xml.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_xml_errorprone.html">Error Prone</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">XSL Rules</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_xsl.html">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_xsl_codestyle.html">Code Style</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_rules_xsl_performance.html">Performance</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#">Language-Specific Documentation</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_configuration.html">Language configuration</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_apex.html">Apex</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_java.html">Java</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_js_ts.html">JavaScript / TypeScript</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_jsp.html">JSP</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_kotlin.html">Kotlin</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_plsql.html">PLSQL</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_visualforce.html">Visualforce</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_xml.html">XML and XML dialects</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_html.html">HTML</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_gherkin.html">Gherkin</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_julia.html">Julia</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_languages_coco.html">Coco</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#">Developer Documentation</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_development.html">Developer resources</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_building.html">Building PMD from source</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/pmd/pmd/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md" target="_blank">Contributing</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_writing_documentation.html">Writing documentation</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_roadmap.html">Roadmap</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_how_pmd_works.html">How PMD works</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_pmdtester.html">Pmdtester</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_rule_deprecation_policy.html">Rule Deprecation Policy</a></li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Major contributions</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_major_rule_guidelines.html">Rule Guidelines</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_major_adding_new_language_javacc.html">Adding a new language (JavaCC)</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_major_adding_new_language_antlr.html">Adding a new language (ANTLR)</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_major_adding_new_cpd_language.html">Adding a new CPD language</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Experimental features</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_devdocs_experimental_ast_dump.html">Creating (XML) dump of the AST</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#">Project documentation</a>
<ul>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Trivia about PMD</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_trivia_news.html">PMD in the press</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_trivia_products.html">Products & books related to PMD</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_trivia_similarprojects.html">Similar projects</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_trivia_meaning.html">What does 'PMD' mean?</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_logo.html">Logo</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_faq.html">FAQ</a></li>
<li><a href="license.html">License</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_credits.html">Credits</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_release_notes_old.html">Old release notes</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_decisions.html">Decisions</a></li>
<li class="subfolders">
<a href="#">Project management</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_committers_infrastructure.html">Infrastructure</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_committers_releasing.html">Release process</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_committers_merging_pull_requests.html">Merging pull requests</a></li>
<li><a href="pmd_projectdocs_committers_main_landing_page.html">Main Landing page</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<!-- Content Column -->
<div class="col-md-9" id="tg-sb-content">
<header>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-lg-12">
<a href="./" role="button"
><i class="fa fa-home fa-lg"></i
></a>
» Defining rule properties
<a
target="_blank"
href="https://github.com/pmd/pmd/blob/master/docs/pages/pmd/userdocs/extending/defining_properties.md"
class="float-right"
role="button"
><i class="fab fa-github fa-lg"></i> Edit on GitHub</a
>
</div>
</div>
<hr />
</header>
<div class="post-header">
<h1 class="post-title-main">Defining rule properties</h1>
</div>
<div class="post-content" data-github-edit-url="https://github.com/pmd/pmd/blob/master/docs/pages/pmd/userdocs/extending/defining_properties.md">
<div class="summary">Learn how to define your own properties both for Java and XPath rules.</div>
<div id="inline-toc"><!-- empty, move TOC here when screen size too small --></div>
<p>Rule properties are a way to make your rules configurable directly from the
ruleset XML. Their usage is described on the <a href="pmd_userdocs_configuring_rules.html#rule-properties">Configuring Rules</a> page.</p>
<p>If youre a rule developer, you may want to think about what would be useful for
a user of your rule to parameterise. It could be a numeric report level, a boolean
flag changing the behaviour of your rule… Chances are there <em>is</em> some detail
that can be abstracted away from your implementation, and in that case, this
page can help you squeeze that sweet flexibility out of your rule.</p>
<h2 id="overview-of-properties">Overview of properties</h2>
<p>The basic thing you need to do as a developer is to define a <strong>property descriptor</strong> and declare that your rule uses it. A property descriptor defines a number of attributes for your property:</p>
<ul>
<li>Its <em>name</em>, with which the user will refer to your property;</li>
<li>Its <em>description</em>, for documentation purposes;</li>
<li>Its <em>default value</em></li>
</ul>
<p>Dont worry, all of these attributes can be specified in a single Java statement (or xml element for XPath rules).</p>
<h2 id="for-java-rules">For Java rules</h2>
<p>The procedure to define a property is quite straightforward:</p>
<ul>
<li>Create a property descriptor of the type you want, by using a
builder from <a href="https://docs.pmd-code.org/apidocs/pmd-core/7.0.0-SNAPSHOT/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/PropertyFactory.html#"><code>PropertyFactory</code></a></li>
<li>Call <a href="https://docs.pmd-code.org/apidocs/pmd-core/7.0.0-SNAPSHOT/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/PropertySource.html#definePropertyDescriptor(net.sourceforge.pmd.properties.PropertyDescriptor)"><code>definePropertyDescriptor(PropertyDescriptor)</code></a>` in the rules noarg constructor.</li>
</ul>
<p>You can then retrieve the value of the property at any time using <a href="https://docs.pmd-code.org/apidocs/pmd-core/7.0.0-SNAPSHOT/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/PropertySource.html#getProperty(net.sourceforge.pmd.properties.PropertyDescriptor)"><code>getProperty(PropertyDescriptor)</code></a>.</p>
<h3 id="creating-a-descriptor">Creating a descriptor</h3>
<p>Properties can be built using type-specific <strong>builders</strong>, which can be obtained
from the factory methods of <a href="https://docs.pmd-code.org/apidocs/pmd-core/7.0.0-SNAPSHOT/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/PropertyFactory.html#"><code>PropertyFactory</code></a>. For example, to build a
string property, youd call</p>
<div class="language-java highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nc">PropertyFactory</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="na">stringProperty</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="s">"myProperty"</span><span class="o">)</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">desc</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="s">"This is my property"</span><span class="o">)</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">defaultValue</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="s">"foo"</span><span class="o">)</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">build</span><span class="o">();</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>This is fairly more readable than a constructor call, but keep in mind the description and the default value are not optional.</p>
<div class="alert alert-info" role="alert"><i class="fas fa-info-circle"></i> <b>Note:</b> As of version 6.10.0, all property concrete classes are deprecated for
removal in 7.0.0. See the <a href="pmd_release_notes_pmd7.html#properties-framework">detailed list of planned removals</a> for
information about how to migrate.</div>
<p>For <strong>numeric properties</strong>, you can add constraints on the range of acceptable values, e.g.</p>
<div class="language-java highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nc">PropertyFactory</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="na">intProperty</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="s">"myIntProperty"</span><span class="o">)</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">desc</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="s">"This is my property"</span><span class="o">)</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">defaultValue</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="mi">3</span><span class="o">)</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">require</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="n">positive</span><span class="o">())</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">range</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="o">,</span> <span class="mi">100</span><span class="o">)</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">build</span><span class="o">();</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>The <a href="https://docs.pmd-code.org/apidocs/pmd-core/7.0.0-SNAPSHOT/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/constraints/NumericConstraints.html#positive()"><code>positive</code></a> method is part of
the <a href="https://docs.pmd-code.org/apidocs/pmd-core/7.0.0-SNAPSHOT/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/constraints/NumericConstraints.html#"><code>NumericConstraints</code></a> class, which provides some
other constraints. The constraint mechanism will be completely unlocked with 7.0.0,
since well be migrating our API to Java 8.</p>
<p><strong>Enumerated properties</strong> are a bit less straightforward to define, though they are
arguably more powerful. These properties dont have a specific value type, instead,
you can choose any type of value, provided the values are from a closed set. To make
that actionable, you give string labels to each of the acceptable values, and the user
will provide one of those labels as a value in the XML. The property will give you back
the associated value, not the label. Heres an example:</p>
<div class="language-java highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="kd">static</span> <span class="nc">Map</span><span class="o">&lt;</span><span class="nc">String</span><span class="o">,</span> <span class="nc">ModeStrategy</span><span class="o">&gt;</span> <span class="n">map</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="k">new</span> <span class="nc">HashMap</span><span class="o">&lt;&gt;();</span>
<span class="kd">static</span> <span class="o">{</span>
<span class="n">map</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="na">put</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="s">"easyMode"</span><span class="o">,</span> <span class="k">new</span> <span class="nc">EasyStrategy</span><span class="o">());</span>
<span class="n">map</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="na">put</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="s">"hardMode"</span><span class="o">,</span> <span class="k">new</span> <span class="nc">HardStrategy</span><span class="o">());</span>
<span class="o">}</span>
<span class="kd">static</span> <span class="nc">PropertyDescriptor</span><span class="o">&lt;</span><span class="nc">ModeStrategy</span><span class="o">&gt;</span> <span class="n">modeProperty</span>
<span class="o">=</span> <span class="nc">PropertyFactory</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="na">enumProperty</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="s">"modeProperty"</span><span class="o">,</span> <span class="n">map</span><span class="o">)</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">desc</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="s">"This is my property"</span><span class="o">)</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">defaultValue</span><span class="o">(</span><span class="k">new</span> <span class="nc">EasyStrategy</span><span class="o">())</span>
<span class="o">.</span><span class="na">build</span><span class="o">();</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<h3 id="example">Example</h3>
<p>You can see an example of properties used in a PMD rule <a href="https://github.com/pmd/pmd/blob/d06b01785a712e61d33f366520f37c2473f5bd1a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/design/SingularFieldRule.java#L43-L52">here</a>.
There are several things to notice here:</p>
<ul>
<li>The property descriptors are declared <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">static final</code>, which should generally be
the case, as descriptors are immutable and can be shared between instances of the same rule;</li>
<li>The property is declared using <a href="https://docs.pmd-code.org/apidocs/pmd-core/7.0.0-SNAPSHOT/net/sourceforge/pmd/properties/PropertySource.html#definePropertyDescriptor(net.sourceforge.pmd.properties.PropertyDescriptor)"><code>definePropertyDescriptor</code></a>` <em>in the constructor</em>,
which ensures the property gets recognised by PMD at the time the properties
are overridden (which happens before rule execution);</li>
<li>The value of the property is <em>not retrieved in the constructor</em>, but in one of
the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">visit</code> methods (typically on the highest node in the tree, since the property
doesnt change).</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="for-xpath-rules">For XPath rules</h2>
<p>XPath rules can also define their own properties. To do so, you must add a <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">property</code> element in the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">properties</code> element of your rule, which <strong>declares the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">type</code> attribute</strong>. This attribute conditions what type the underlying property has, and can have the following values:</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th><code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">type</code> attribute</th>
<th>XSD type</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Integer</td>
<td>xs:integer</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Long</td>
<td>xs:integer</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Double</td>
<td>xs:decimal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Boolean</td>
<td>xs:boolean</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>String</td>
<td>xs:string</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Character</td>
<td>xs:string</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Regex</td>
<td>xs:string</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div class="alert alert-info" role="alert"><i class="fas fa-info-circle"></i> <b>Note:</b> In XPath 1.0 mode, all values are actually represented as
string values, which is mostly fine as there is no type
checking. This is a problem when <a href="pmd_userdocs_extending_writing_xpath_rules.html#migrating-from-10-to-20">migrating from XPath 1.0
to 2.0</a> though</div>
<p>Note that enumerated properties are not available in XPath rules (yet?).</p>
<p>Properties defined in XPath also <em>must</em> declare the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">description</code> attribute.
Numeric properties also expect the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">min</code> and <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">max</code> attributes for now. Here are
a few examples to sum it up:</p>
<div class="language-xml highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nt">&lt;property</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"stringProp"</span> <span class="na">type=</span><span class="s">"Boolean"</span> <span class="na">value=</span><span class="s">"true"</span> <span class="na">description=</span><span class="s">"A BooleanProperty."</span><span class="nt">/&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;property</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"intProp"</span> <span class="na">type=</span><span class="s">"Integer"</span> <span class="na">value=</span><span class="s">"3"</span> <span class="na">min=</span><span class="s">"1"</span> <span class="na">max=</span><span class="s">"20"</span> <span class="na">description=</span><span class="s">"An IntegerProperty."</span><span class="nt">/&gt;</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>You can then use the property in XPath with the syntax <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">$propertyName</code>, for example:</p>
<div class="language-xml highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nt">&lt;rule</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"MyXpathRule"</span> <span class="err">...</span><span class="nt">&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;properties&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;property</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"maxStatements"</span> <span class="na">type=</span><span class="s">"Integer"</span> <span class="na">value=</span><span class="s">"10"</span> <span class="na">min=</span><span class="s">"1"</span> <span class="na">max=</span><span class="s">"40"</span>
<span class="na">description=</span><span class="s">"Max number of statements per method"</span><span class="nt">/&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;property</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"xpath"</span><span class="nt">&gt;</span>
<span class="cp">&lt;![CDATA[
//MethodDeclaration/Block[count(//BlockStatement) &gt;</span> $maxStatements]
]]&gt;<span class="nt">&lt;/property&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;/properties&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;/rule&gt;</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<h3 id="multivalued-properties">Multivalued properties</h3>
<p>Multivalued properties are also allowed and their <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">type</code> attribute has the form
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">List[Boolean]</code> or <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">List[Character]</code>, with every above type allowed. These
properties <strong>require XPath 2.0</strong> to work properly, and make use of the
<strong>sequence datatype</strong> provided by that language. You thus need to set the
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">version</code> property to <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">2.0</code> to use them. Properties can also declare the
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">delimiter</code> attribute.</p>
<div class="language-xml highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nt">&lt;rule</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"MyXpathRule"</span> <span class="err">...</span><span class="nt">&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;properties&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;property</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"version"</span> <span class="na">value=</span><span class="s">"2.0"</span> <span class="nt">/&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;property</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"intProp"</span> <span class="na">type=</span><span class="s">"List[Integer]"</span> <span class="na">value=</span><span class="s">"1,2,5"</span> <span class="na">description=</span><span class="s">"An IntegerMultiProperty."</span> <span class="nt">/&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;property</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"reportedIdentifiers"</span> <span class="na">type=</span><span class="s">"List[String]"</span> <span class="na">value=</span><span class="s">"foo$bar"</span> <span class="na">delimiter=</span><span class="s">"$"</span>
<span class="na">description=</span><span class="s">"A StringMultiProperty."</span> <span class="nt">/&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;property</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"xpath"</span><span class="nt">&gt;</span>
<span class="cp">&lt;![CDATA[
//VariableDeclaratorId[@Image = $reportedIdentifiers]
]]&gt;</span><span class="nt">&lt;/property&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;/properties&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;/rule&gt;</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>Notice that in the example above, <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">@Image = $reportedIdentifiers</code> doesnt test
<code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">@Image</code> for equality with the whole sequence <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">('foo', 'bar')</code>, it tests whether
the sequence <em>contains</em> <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">@Image</code>. That is, the above rule will report all variables
named <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">foo</code> or <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">bar</code>. All other XPath 2.0 <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/xpath-functions/#sequence-functions">functions operating on sequences</a>
are supported.</p>
<div class="alert alert-success" role="alert"><i class="fas fa-check-square-o"></i> <b>Tip:</b> You can also <a href="pmd_userdocs_extending_designer_reference.html#rule-properties">define properties directly in the designer</a></div>
<div class="tags">
<b>Tags: </b>
<a href="tag_extending.html" class="btn btn-outline-secondary navbar-btn cursorNorm" role="button">extending</a>
<a href="tag_userdocs.html" class="btn btn-outline-secondary navbar-btn cursorNorm" role="button">userdocs</a>
</div>
</div>
<footer>
<hr />
<div>
This documentation is written in markdown. <br />
If there is something missing or can be improved, edit this page on
github and create a PR:
<a
target="_blank"
href="https://github.com/pmd/pmd/blob/master/docs/pages/pmd/userdocs/extending/defining_properties.md"
role="button"
><i class="fab fa-github fa-lg"></i> Edit on GitHub</a
>
</div>
<hr />
<div class="row">
<div class="col-lg-12 footer">
&copy;2023 PMD Open Source Project. All rights
reserved. <br />
<span>Page last updated:</span>
February 2020 (6.22.0)<br /> Site last generated: May 28, 2023 <br />
<p>
<img src="images/logo/pmd-logo-70px.png" alt="PMD
logo"/>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</footer>
</div>
<!-- /.row -->
</div>
<!-- /.container -->
</div>
<!-- Sticky TOC column -->
<div class="toc-col">
<div id="toc"></div>
</div>
<!-- /.toc-container-wrapper -->
</div>
</div>
<script type="application/javascript" src="assets/jquery-3.5.1/jquery-3.5.1.min.js"></script>
<script type="application/javascript" src="assets/anchorjs-4.2.2/anchor.min.js"></script>
<script type="application/javascript" src="assets/navgoco-0.2.1/src/jquery.navgoco.min.js"></script>
<script type="application/javascript" src="assets/bootstrap-4.5.2-dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js"></script>
<script type="application/javascript" src="assets/Simple-Jekyll-Search-1.0.8/dest/jekyll-search.js"></script>
<script type="application/javascript" src="assets/jekyll-table-of-contents/toc.js"></script>
<script type="application/javascript" src="js/tabstate.js"></script>
<script type="application/javascript" src="js/customscripts.js"></script>
</body>
</html>