Question

I have a class that uses filesystem entities to manipulate data. We have several methods specifically designed to (attempt to) cope with some of the issues we face with this approach (file locking, non-existent files, etc.). Ideally I’d like to be able to issue a warning if another developer attempts access the filesystem directly via System.IO rather than using the helper methods.

Is this possible? The behaviour I’m looking for is to effectively mark methods such as File.ReadAllText() as if they were obsolete, but only within this project (NOT solution-wide).

I’ve done some digging around, and it looks like my only option is “tell them to make sure they use your methods”. I’m hoping someone can give me a different, and more helpful answer. 🙂

–EDIT–
The suggestions of a custom StyleCop or FxCop rule are good, but unfortunately impractical in this scenario (not every developer in the department uses these excellent tools), and the legitimate methods that do the file access do use System.IO. Adding “ignore” attributes to the legit methods is a dangerous idea, too. If someone sees how I’ve “broken” my own rule, they’ll likely copy the attribute to their own method.

Answer 1

Use a static analysis tool (such as StyleCop or FxCop) with a rule that captures “Do not use System.IO directly.” Then integrate it as part of your automated build process and throw up if someone does try to use System.IO directly. No one likes to break the build.