Static code analysis can find hundreds of opportunities in VBA code.
Rubberduck builds its own internal representation of the code, and then proceeds to analyze it. Each individual inspection can easily be disabled, or configured to issue inspection results at different severity levels ranging from Hint to Error.
Use the Inspection Results toolwindow to review Rubberduck’s findings, search, filter, regroup results by inspection, location, type, or severity. Each inspection result comes with a detailed description of what’s being flagged and why, so you can make an enlightened decision.
Unless configured otherwise, Rubberduck automatically runs inspections after the a parser/resolver cycle completes (regardless of whether the inspection results toolwindow is displayed or not).
For the best experience, it would be recommended to first try Rubberduck with an empty project, add a new module, and write, say, a loop that counts 1 to 10 and outputs to the debug pane - then to parse that and review the inspection results; carefully review the inspection settings, and consider disabling the inspections that irreconcilably clash with your preferences: use meaningful names alone can easily produce hundreds upon hundreds of results if you’re not that much into using vowels, or if you, say, prefix all your variable names; these inspections can be re-enabled anytime you’re ready!
This tab lists all items found in the .xml documentation assets from the latest pre-release build. To modify this content, a pull request must be merged into the [next] branch.
Identifies line labels that are never referenced, and therefore superfluous.
Default severity: Warning
Line labels are useful for GoTo, GoSub, Resume, and On Error statements; but the intent of a line label can be confusing if it isn't referenced by any such instruction.
Warns about member calls against an extensible interface, that cannot be validated at compile-time.
Default severity: Warning
Extensible COM types can have members attached at run-time; VBA cannot bind these member calls at compile-time. If there is an early-bound alternative way to achieve the same result, it should be preferred.
Flags the value-parameter of a property mutators that are declared with an explict ByRef modifier.
Default severity: Warning
Regardless of the presence or absence of an explicit ByRef or ByVal modifier, the value-parameter of a property mutator is always treated as though it had an explicit ByVal modifier. Exception: UserDefinedType and Array parameters are always passed by reference.
Warns about a malformed Rubberduck annotation that is missing one or more arguments.
Default severity: Error
Some annotations require arguments; if the required number of arguments isn't specified, the annotation is nothing more than an obscure comment.
Indicates that a Rubberduck annotation is documenting the presence of a VB attribute that is actually missing.
Default severity: Warning
Rubberduck annotations mean to document the presence of hidden VB attributes; this inspection flags annotations that do not have a corresponding VB attribute.