Calculate cyclomatic complexity from file in different programming language via script

Question

I am working on writing a script that outputs information about my written source code. So far, I am analysing the code with Python scripts that I have written. There is a Test.cs class which is used for this analysis.
Now I want to calculate the cyclomatic complexity from Test.cs.

Currently I am working on Visual Studio Code. I am aware that Visual Studio offers such a functionality and there are also packages that I can use for this.

However, I wanted to find out whether it is possible

• a.) to write a Python script which can analyse my Test.cs class or
• b.) to create a C# project to analyse the corresponding Test.cs class and if so, how can I pass the value for my script?

Because I would like to output and evaluate this value separately for the user.

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Also I found this interesting documentation:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/code-quality/how-to-generate-code-metrics-data?view=vs-2022#metricsexe

But here it is not clear to me how I could build and call up the Metrics.exe accordingly.

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Or are there other approaches I could pursue?

I look forward to your feedback.

Answer 1

The easiest method is probably to call and parse the output of Metrics.exe.

If you don't provide /out, it will print to stdout, so you can capture it in Python.

I don't use Windows, so I can't test this, but something along the lines of this should work:

import subprocess
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

o = subprocess.run("Metrics.exe", "/project:ConsoleApp20.csproj", capture_output=True, check=True, text=True)
root = ET.fromstring(o.stdout)
print(root)

From there, just select the metrics you're looking for.