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<title>Chapter 5. Using the FindBugs GUI</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.76.1"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="FindBugs™ Manual"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="FindBugs™ Manual"><link rel="prev" href="running.html" title="Chapter 4. Running FindBugs™"><link rel="next" href="anttask.html" title="Chapter 6. Using the FindBugs™ Ant task"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Chapter 5. Using the <span class="application">FindBugs</span> GUI</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="running.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center"> </th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="anttask.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></div><div class="chapter" title="Chapter 5. Using the FindBugs GUI"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a name="gui"></a>Chapter 5. Using the <span class="application">FindBugs</span> GUI</h2></div></div></div><div class="toc"><p><b>Table of Contents</b></p><dl><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="gui.html#d0e1092">1. Creating a Project</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="gui.html#d0e1134">2. Running the Analysis</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="gui.html#d0e1139">3. Browsing Results</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="gui.html#d0e1154">4. Saving and Opening</a></span></dt></dl></div><p>
This chapter describes how to use the <span class="application">FindBugs</span> graphical user interface (GUI).
</p><div class="sect1" title="1. Creating a Project"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="d0e1092"></a>1. Creating a Project</h2></div></div></div><p>
After you have started <span class="application">FindBugs</span> using the <span class="command"><strong>findbugs</strong></span> command,
choose the <span class="guimenu">File</span> → <span class="guimenuitem">New Project</span>
menu item. You will see a dialog which looks like this:
</p><div class="mediaobject"><img src="project-dialog.png"></div><p>
</p><p>
Use the "Add" button next to "Classpath to analyze" to select a Java archive
file (zip, jar, ear, or war file) or directory containing java classes to analyze for bugs. You may add multiple
archives/directories.
</p><p>
You can also add the source directories which contain
the source code for the Java archives you are analyzing. This will enable
<span class="application">FindBugs</span> to highlight the source code which contains a possible error.
The source directories you add should be the roots of the Java
package hierarchy. For example, if your application is contained in the
<code class="varname">org.foobar.myapp</code> package, you should add the
parent directory of the <code class="filename">org</code> directory
to the source directory list for the project.
</p><p>
Another optional step is to add additional Jar files or directories as
"Auxiliary classpath locations" entries. You should do this if the archives and directories you are analyzing
have references to other classes which are not included in the analyzed
archives/directories and are not in the standard runtime classpath. Some of the bug
pattern detectors in <span class="application">FindBugs</span> make use of class hierarchy information,
so you will get more accurate results if the entire class hierarchy is
available which <span class="application">FindBugs</span> performs its analysis.
</p></div><div class="sect1" title="2. Running the Analysis"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="d0e1134"></a>2. Running the Analysis</h2></div></div></div><p>
Once you have added all of the archives, directories, and source directories,
click the "Analyze" button to analyze the classes contained in the
Jar files. Note that for a very large program on an older computer,
this may take quite a while (tens of minutes). A recent computer with
ample memory will typically be able to analyze a large program in only a
few minutes.
</p></div><div class="sect1" title="3. Browsing Results"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="d0e1139"></a>3. Browsing Results</h2></div></div></div><p>
When the analysis completes, you will see a screen like the following:
</p><div class="mediaobject"><img src="example-details.png"></div><p>
</p><p>
The upper left-hand pane of the window shows the bug tree; this is a hierarchical
representation of all of the potential bugs detected in the analyzed
Jar files.
</p><p>
When you select a particular bug instance in the top pane, you will
see a description of the bug in the "Details" tab of the bottom pane.
In addition, the source code pane on the upper-right will show the
program source code where the potential bug occurs, if source is available.
In the above example, the bug is a stream object that is not closed. The
source code window highlights the line where the stream object is created.
</p><p>
You may add a textual annotations to bug instances. To do so, type them
into the text box just below the hierarchical view. You can type any
information which you would like to record. When you load and save bug
results files, the annotations are preserved.
</p></div><div class="sect1" title="4. Saving and Opening"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="d0e1154"></a>4. Saving and Opening</h2></div></div></div><p>
You may use the <span class="guimenu">File</span> → <span class="guimenuitem">Save as...</span>
menu option to save your work. To save your work, including the jar
file lists you specified and all bug results, choose
"FindBugs analysis results (.xml)" from the drop-down list in the
"Save as..." dialog. There are also options for saving just the jar
file lists ("FindBugs project file (.fbp)") or just the results
("FindBugs analysis file (.fba)").
A saved file may be loaded with the
<span class="guimenu">File</span> → <span class="guimenuitem">Open...</span>
menu option.
</p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="running.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"> </td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="anttask.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Chapter 4. Running <span class="application">FindBugs</span>™ </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Chapter 6. Using the <span class="application">FindBugs</span>™ <span class="application">Ant</span> task</td></tr></table></div></body></html>