Command Line Interface

TICS can be called from within a command shell by means of TICS [ @ ] { input } ... [ -- { compiler options } ].

Examples of TICS calls are TICS xyz.cpp abc.c and TICS @xyz.vcxproj. The TICS executable accepts multiple files as arguments (including wildcards in directory and file names). It can also process a list of input files from a file list. This is achieved by prefixing the file list with an "at" symbol '@', e.g., TICS @Address.lst. It is not allowed to nest file lists.

Note also that the client will check against the ARCHIVE.txt file(s) unless a list of source files is directly passed to the client, for instance TICS src1.cpp src2.cpp src3.cpp. If it however contains any containers (for instance a file list or a directory) then then the ARCHIVE.txt will be used.

When the -- option is used, all following options will be passed to the compiler. The -- option helps to use TICS as a compiler replacement in makefiles.

The following TICS options are allowed.

-archivefile file
use the given archive file for the archive extraction
-buildrelationsearchdepth int
maximum depth to search for makefiles (relative to the source file)
-calc METRICS
calculate the specified (comma separated) metric type(s). For instance: -calc CODINGSTANDARD
-changed
only check files that have changed with respect to the database
-checkedoutonly
only check files that are checked out
-compiler CodeComposer|Csc|Gcc|Keil|MULTI|None|Qac|Tasking|VC|<string>
use the specified compiler
-compileroptions string
pass the specified (comma separated) options to the compiler
-config string
use the given compiler configuration
-delta string
show new violations relative to a given SCM tag in the database
-deltaonly
show only new violations relative to the database
-exitsqa
use the QA acceptation (yes/no) as exit code
-exitviolations
use the number of violations as exit code
-getrules
generate rule configuration for TicsConfig
-groupfile file
use the given group file
-help
show this help info
-hlpcfg
generate help output for TicsConfig
-ide eclipse|rrt|slickedit|tasking|tornado|vs11|vs12|vs14|vs15|vs16
format output for the specified ide
-ignorefilters
Ignore all ARCHIVE filters. All build files, source files and directories provided to the TICS client as input will be analyzed without an ARCHIVE check.
-level int
show violations upto the specified level
-log int
show diagnostic messages upto the specified log level
-lowpriority
run the TICS client with low priority
-maxresults int
show maximally the specified number of violations
-msbuildinplace
perform MSBuild in the project directory
-nocalc METRICS
do not calculate the specified (comma separated) metric type(s). For instance: -calc ALL -nocalc DUPLICATEDCODE
-noconfig
do not use TICSConfig settings
-nodelta
do not show deltas
-nologo
suppress TICS logo output
-noproject
do not use the TICSPROJECT environment variable
-norecalc METRICS
do not recalculate the specified (comma separated) metric type(s) for unchanged files. For instance: -recalc ALL -norecalc DUPLICATEDCODE
-nowarn
suppress all warnings
-out file
output the analysis results to file in plain text format
-overviews
show violation overview tables [default: on]
-parallel
indicate that the client is running concurrently with other instances
-project string
quality database that is used to compare results
-projfile file
use the given project file
-recalc METRICS
recalculate the specified (comma separated) metric type(s) for unchanged files. For instance: -recalc COMPILERWARNING
-results
show violation messages [default: on]
-rules
generate rule files for the TICS plugin
-showsuppressions
show suppressed violations in violation overview
-showsynopsis
show rule synopsis in violation overview [default: on]
-sort level|linenr|new
sort the violations according to the specified criterion (default 'linenr')
-srcfile file
source file that is used to check header file
-st
dump stack trace in case of errors
-synchronize
synchronize the file server files with the client
-timeinfo
show timing information on individual process stages [default: on]
-tmpdir dir
use the specified directory for intermediate files
-totaloverviews
show cumulative violation overview tables [default: on]
-version
show version info and exit
-xml file
output the analysis results to file in XML format

Controlling TICS

It is possible to control TICS via a graphical user interface TICSConfig.

List of possible metrics

The following metrics can be passed as an argument to the client:

Note that some of these are metric aliases that allow to invoke multiple metrics with a single argument. These are the following:

The following example shows how to use a metric alias:

TICS -calc AVGCYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY,UNITTESTCOVERAGE /home/user/repository

This invocation of the client will invoke the following metrics on the directory /home/user/repository: AVGCYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY, UNITBRANCHCOVERAGE, UNITDECISIONCOVERAGE, UNITFUNCTIONCOVERAGE, UNITSTATEMENTCOVERAGE.

Violation Suppression

It is possible to suppress individual violations. Suppressing a violation can be done by using special comments in the code. These special comments start with "//TICS" or "/*TICS". After the preceding "//TICS" or "/*TICS" one can specify what rules are suppressed by means of a sequence of "-ruleid" statements. E.g.

//TICS -OBJ_16 -DCL_12

The rules specified in the TICS violation suppression comment are suppressed for the remainder of the file, starting at the line that contains the comment. The comment has file scope, i.e., it will not apply to included files or enclosing files. It is allowed to use wildcards to specify rules. To switch on a rule again, one can use "+ruleid" statements. It is also possible to suppress a rule of only one specific source line. This is possible with the option "!ruleid". Anything past whitespace or past either one of the special characters : , \ is treated as a comment.

The following example shows how this facility can be used in practice.

//TICS -OBJ_?: TODO still need to be fixed after discussion
// MainFrm.cpp : implementation of the CMainFrame class
//

#include "stdafx.h"
#include "test.h"

#include "MainFrm.h"

#ifdef _DEBUG
#define new DEBUG_NEW      //TICS !OSD_3:  AppWizard generated code
#undef THIS_FILE
static char THIS_FILE[] = __FILE__;
#endif

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// CMainFrame

IMPLEMENT_DYNAMIC(CMainFrame, CMDIFrameWnd)

//TICS -*: AppWizard and ClassWizard generated code
BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP(CMainFrame, CMDIFrameWnd)
      //{{AFX_MSG_MAP(CMainFrame)
        // NOTE - the ClassWizard will add and remove mapping macros here.
        // DO NOT EDIT what you see in these blocks of generated code !
      ON_WM_CREATE()
      //}}AFX_MSG_MAP
END_MESSAGE_MAP()
//TICS +*

IMPORTANT NOTES