10 SonarQube Best Practices

SonarQube is a great tool for helping to improve the quality of your code. But, like any tool, it needs to be used correctly in order to be effective. In this article, we’ll share 10 SonarQube best practices that will help you get the most out of this tool.

1. Use SonarQube as early as possible

The sooner you start using SonarQube, the more accurate your data will be. That’s because SonarQube analyzes code as it is written and not after the fact. So, if you wait to start using SonarQube until after your code is already written, you’re going to have a lot of false positives.

On the other hand, if you start using SonarQube from the very beginning, you’ll get much more accurate data. Not only that, but you’ll also be able to fix issues early on, before they become bigger problems.

So, if you’re not already using SonarQube, make sure to start as soon as possible.

2. Run SonarQube on the Continuous Integration server

When you run SonarQube on the Continuous Integration server, you get immediate feedback about code quality issues. This way, developers can fix them before they even check in their code.

Additionally, running SonarQube on the Continuous Integration server ensures that your code quality reports are always up-to-date. If you only run SonarQube manually, there’s a chance that some code changes will go undetected.

Finally, by running SonarQube on the Continuous Integration server, you make it easier for developers to access the reports. They don’t have to remember to run SonarQube manually; they can just look at the reports when they need to.

3. Fix issues before they are reported by SonarQube

If you have a lot of issues reported by SonarQube, it can be difficult to determine which ones are the most important to fix. By fixing issues before they are reported, you can avoid having to wade through a large number of reports to find the most critical ones.

It’s also important to note that some issues may never be reported by SonarQube if they don’t meet the criteria for being considered an issue by the tool. For example, if an issue only affects a small number of lines of code, it may not be considered an issue by SonarQube.

By fixing issues before they are reported, you can be sure that all potential issues are addressed, and you can avoid the need to investigate why certain issues were not reported.

4. Never ignore an issue

When you ignore an issue, you’re essentially saying that you’re aware of the problem but you’ve decided to do nothing about it. This sends a message to your team that it’s okay to leave technical debt unresolved, which can lead to bigger problems down the road.

It’s much better to address issues as they come up so that you can keep your codebase clean and maintainable. If you don’t have time to fix an issue right away, you can flag it as a false positive or won’t fix. This way, you can still track the issue and make sure it gets fixed eventually.

5. Don’t break the build

If you’re using SonarQube to analyze your code, it’s important that you have a green build. A green build means that all of the tests are passing and there are no new issues introduced by the code changes.

If you break the build, it means that there are new issues introduced by the code changes and the tests are not passing. This can be a big problem because it can prevent developers from being able to deploy their code.

It’s also important to not break the build because it can cause problems for other developers who are working on the same codebase. If they see that the build is broken, they might think that there are problems with their code and they might not be able to fix the issue.

So, to avoid breaking the build, make sure that you’re always running the latest version of SonarQube and that you’re using the latest version of theSonarScanner.

6. Follow a coding standard

When several developers are working on the same codebase, it’s important to have a consistent coding style. This makes the code easier to read and understand, and it also helps to avoid potential bugs.

There are many different coding standards out there, but a popular one is the Google Java Style Guide. You can find it here: https://google.github.io/styleguide/javaguide.html.

To enforce a coding standard in SonarQube, you need to install the appropriate plugin for your programming language. For Java, this is the Checkstyle Plugin. Once you’ve installed the plugin, you need to configure it to use the Google Java Style Guide.

You can find instructions on how to do this here: https://docs.sonarqube.org/display/SONAR/Checkstyle+Plugin.

7. Avoid duplicated code

Duplicated code is often an indication of poor design. It can make code more difficult to understand and maintain, and can lead to bugs and security vulnerabilities.

SonarQube can help you find and fix duplicated code. Its Duplications feature highlights blocks of code that are identical or nearly identical. You can then refactor your code to remove the duplication.

Not only will this improve the quality of your code, but it can also help you reduce its size, making it simpler and easier to maintain.

8. Write unit tests

Unit tests are a great way to ensure that your code is working as intended. By writing unit tests, you can test your code before it’s even integrated into the main codebase. This means that if there are any issues with your code, they’ll be caught early on, before they have a chance to cause problems down the line.

Not only that, but unit tests can also serve as documentation for your code. When someone else is looking at your code, they can see what tests you’ve written and what your code is supposed to do. This makes it much easier for them to understand your code and make changes to it if necessary.

Finally, unit tests can help you catch bugs before they’re released to production. If you have a bug in your code that’s causing your tests to fail, you’ll know about it right away and can fix it before it causes any problems for your users.

9. Keep your technical debt under control

Your technical debt is the amount of time and effort required to fix all of the issues identified by SonarQube. If you have a lot of technical debt, it means that it would take a long time and a lot of effort to fix all of the issues. This can be a problem because it means that your codebase is getting harder and harder to maintain, and eventually it will become unmaintainable.

The best way to keep your technical debt under control is to fix the issues as they are found. This way, you won’t let the debt get too out of hand, and you’ll be able to keep your codebase manageable.

10. Measure coverage

Coverage is a measure of how much of your code is being tested. The more coverage you have, the more confidence you can have in your code’s quality.

SonarQube makes it easy to measure coverage with its built-in tools. Simply run your tests and then use the SonarQube Coverage Report to see your results.

The Coverage Report will show you which lines of code are covered and which are not. This information is valuable because it can help you identify areas of your code that need more testing.

It’s also important to note that coverage is not a perfect measure. Just because a line of code is covered does not mean that it is necessarily well-tested. However, coverage is still a valuable metric that can give you insights into the quality of your code.