codingpolicyjs

JavaScript coding policy engine for architectonical rules. This module is available as node module, command line interface and grunt plugin.

Modules purpose

This module is used for running architectonical rules against source code (ES5, ES6, HTML5, LESS). It is designed as a supporting tool for continous integration environments. The architectonical rules should check stuff beyond jshint, eslint and others.

Command Line Interface

The cli of codingpolicy encapsules the node module. The tool has the following interface:

codingpolicyjs: USAGE: codingpolicy [options] arguments
options:
    -V, --version       Print tool version and exit.
    -h, --help          Print this help and exit.
    -v, --verbose       Print verbose processing information.
    -r ARG, --root=ARG  Root directory for include files.

Grunt Plugin

The grunt plugin requires Grunt >=0.4.0 and encapsules the node module.

If you haven't used Grunt before, be sure to check out the Getting Started guide, as it explains how to create a Gruntfile as well as install and use Grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, you may install this plugin with this command:

npm install codingpolicyjs --save-dev

Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript:

grunt.loadNpmTasks('codingpolicyjs');

codingpolicy Task

Run this task with the grunt codingpolicy command.

The tasks input is a file or directory directing to the initial codingpolicy.yaml file.

Task Options

Option	Default value	Description
root	"."	Root directory for include files.

Task Example

    grunt.initConfig({
        codingpolicy: {
            "all": {
                src: ["."],
                options: {
                    root: "../../src/app"
                }
            },
            "test": {
                src: ["codingpolicyTest.yaml"],
                options: {
                    root: "../../src/test"
                }
            }
        }
    });

codingpolicy.yaml

The codingpolicy.yaml file registers and defines the concrete rules for the policy check. Since a single rule might be used several times with different options we work with alias names for the concrete rules. In order to get the policy check work correctly the rules must be registered with its alias name. The module is enabled to support delegated rule configurations. The codingpolicy.yaml therefore is able to import other config files.

Importing other config files

An import for another codingpolicy.yaml config file is done within the codingpolicy.yaml using a collection within the import attribute.

You can import using

• a glob pattern like - **/rules*.yaml. In this case a single file or a list of files can be imported.
• a node module name - codingpolicyjs. In this case the import looks for a codingpolicy.yaml inside the node modules root.

Register coding policy rules

In order to be able to use rules you have to register the concrete rule class within a register block in the config file

The rules.yaml file demonstrates the registration of a rule. The file location is always relative to the config file.

register:
  RegExpRule: ./RegExpRule.js

Define coding policy rules

Concrete coding policy rules can be defined within the rules block in the config file. The syntax is described as followed:

rules:
  <ruleName>:
    ruleText: <ruleText>
    fixText: <fixText>
    rule: <RuleAlias>
    options:
      includeFiles: <globPattern>
	  <any>: <value>

The <ruleName> must be unique. The <ruleText> will be displayed on coding policy execution. The <fixText> will be displayed if a rule violation is found. The <ruleAlias> is the alias name of a registered rule. The options will be handed over to any ruleas first function argument. You can add <any> attribute to this block and will be able to access it in a concrete rule. The includeFiles attribute inside the options is the a predefined attribute that will be handed to the concrete rule even if it is not set. Default value for includeFiles is **/*.js.

Example codingpolicy.yaml

The following example imports a specific rule file with the given glob pattern and defines the copding policy rules in the stated order. The alias names for RegExpRule has been defined in the imported rules.yaml.

import:
# use the glob pattern to import other config files
- rules/rules.yaml
# use a node module name to import that modules codingpolicy.yaml 
- codingpolicyjs

rules:
# define a new rule with the proper attributes and options
  ConsoleLogRule:
    ruleText: "console.log usage"
    fixText: "do not check 'console.log' in - it should not be committed into the master repo - please delete it before commit"
    rule: RegExpRule
    options:
# RegExpRule needs the desired regExp as option
      regExp: '/^(.*console\.log.*)$/mg'
      includeFiles: "*(bin|lib|tasks|rules)/**/*.js"
# define a new rule with the proper attributes and options
  NoLooseEndsRule:
    ruleText: "unfinished business (TODO, FIXME etc.)"
    fixText: "tie up the loose ends"
    rule: RegExpRule
    options:
      regExp: '/^(.*(?:FIXME|TODO).*)$/img'
      includeFiles: "*(bin|lib|tasks|rules)/**/*.js"

Example Rules

For testing the different adapter (for JS, TS, HTML) there are some test rules. You can find them under test/testRules. The tests are included in the condingpolicyTest.yaml. To execute the test rules open a Command Line Interface and enter npm run test.

Rule interface

The coding policy is executing concrete rules according to the configuration file. A concrete rule must therefor match the proper signature to be executed correctly:

    return function (options, tools) {
		
		return findings
	}

Rule options

The options are taken from the condingpolicy.yaml as stated above. You can access any options from the config file as you defined it. Beside the includeFiles you will also be able to access the root attribute that is handed over to the concrete rule. The root attribute is coming either from the command line interface or the grunt plugin.

Rule tools

The tools are a predefined set of internal tools that help you handling your source code.

You will be able to work with the following tools:

astJS

This tool encapsules Esprima and astq. Esprima is used for reading JavaScript source code files into an AST (abstract syntax tree). astq is used for queries on JavaScript ast objects.

Attribute	Type	Description
astq	node module	Direct access to the astq node module for JavaScript AST queries
astToString	function (ast)	Morphs an ast object into the corresponding source code using escodegen
findViolations	function (ast, file, query)	Executes the given query on the ast and reports back an finding object pointing to the given file if the query returns results.
findAstList	function (root, clazzRegexp, excludedFiles)	This function reads a list of files using the root value, classRegexp pattern and excludedFiles list. Each file will be transformed into an ast.
findAndLoopAstList	function (root, clazzRegexp, excludedFiles, callback)	This function loops through a list of files using the root value, classRegexp pattern and excludedFiles list. Each file will be transformed into an ast and will be handed back to the callback method. The callback method has the signature function (ast, file).

astTS

This tool encapsules ts-morph and astq. ts-morph is used for reading TypeScript source code files into an AST (abstract syntax tree). astq is used for queries on TypeScript ast objects.

Attribute	Type	Description
astq	node module	Direct access to the astq node module for TypeScript AST queries
astToString	function (ast)	Morphs an ast object into the corresponding source code using ts-morph
findViolations	function (ast, file, query)	Executes the given query on the ast and reports back an finding object pointing to the given file if the query returns results.
findAstList	function (root, clazzRegexp, excludedFiles)	This function reads a list of files using the root value, classRegexp pattern and excludedFiles list. Each file will be transformed into an ast.

astHTML5

This tool encapsules parse5 and astq. parse5 is used for reading HTML5 source files into an AST. astq is used for queries on HTML5 ast objects.

Attribute	Type	Description
astq	node module	Direct access to the astq node module for HTML5 AST queries
astToString	function (ast)	Morphs an ast object into the corresponding source code using parse5
findViolations	function (ast, file, query)	Executes the given query on the ast and reports back an finding object pointing to the given file if the query returns results.
findAstList	function (root, clazzRegexp, excludedFiles)	This function reads a list of files using the root value, classRegexp pattern and excludedFiles list. Each file will be transformed into an ast.

astStylesheet

This tool encapsules gonzales-pe and astq. gonzales-pe is used for reading Stylesheet (CSS/LESS/SASS/SCSS) source files into an AST. astq is used for queries on Stylesheet ast objects.

Attribute	Type	Description
astq	node module	Direct access to the astq node module for Stylesheet AST queries
astToString	function (ast)	Morphs an ast object into the corresponding source code using gonzales-pe
findViolations	function (ast, file, query)	Executes the given query on the ast and reports back an finding object pointing to the given file if the query returns results.
findAstList	function (options)	This function reads a list of files with the given syntax (options.syntax, which can be CSS, LESS, SASS or SCSS) using the root (options.root) value, classRegexp (options.classRegexp) pattern and excludedFiles (options.excludedFiles) list. Each file will be transformed into an ast.

regExpFileScanner

This tool enables you to run RegExp matches on file contents.

Attribute	Type	Description
scan	function (root, clazzRegexp, excludedFiles, searchRegexp)	This function loops through a list of files using the root value, classRegexp pattern and excludedFiles list. All matches for the given searchRegexp will be transformed into a finding object

Finding objects

A finding object is a simple object defining two attributes: file and text. The file is the file name where a violation was found. The text is the display text for the violation and should in most cases be the extract of the source code that violates against the rule.

Example finding object

{
  file: "bin\codingpolicy.js",
  text: "    console.log('foo');"
}

Included rules

We already included a single rule named RegExpRule since it is often required and globally usable due to config settings.

RegExpRule

The RegExpRule is registered when you import codingpolicyjs as node module in your own codingpolicy.yaml file.

It's options enable you to define your regExp in the config file. The other options used by this rule are common for all rules

• root - the root directory for all files
• includeFiles - a list of files where the RegExp search should be applied to
• excludedFiles - a list of files that can be excluded from the search