How to Flag External Types/Methods as Deprecated/Obsolete in .NET?

Question

We're trying to flag usage of external types (like ConfigurationManager ) at build time.

A custom code analysis dictionary could help [1] but only in scenarios where source is included in the project. Similarly the Obsolete attribute works on types included in the project.

I'm not even sure if Code Analysis rules are capable of inspecting method bodies? [2].

Any suggestions on how we can flag usage of external types/methods at build-time?

[1] - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb514188.aspx

[2] - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd172127(v=vs.90).aspx

Answer 1

One way to do that is to create a custom FxCop rule, checking fields during code analysis phase with something like this:

internal sealed class SampleRule : BaseIntrospectionRule
{

    public override ProblemCollection Check(Member member)
    {
        const string typeName = "System.DateTime";
        var field = member as Field;
        if (field == null || field.Type.FullName != typeName)
            return null;
        return new ProblemCollection 
        { 
            new Problem(new Resolution(field.Name.Name, "Type {0} is obsolete", typeName)) 
        };
    }
}

I'd recommend having a look at this tutorial .