Frequently Asked Questions
On this page you will find answers to
some common questions about Visual Lint.
If there is anything you need to know
which is not covered here, please do not
hesitate to
contact us.
Can I use
Visual Lint on its own?
Which platforms
does Visual Lint support?
Which versions
of Visual Studio and Visual C++ is
Visual Lint compatible with?
Which editions
of Visual Studio and Visual C++ is
Visual Lint compatible with?
Which
versions of PC-Lint is Visual Lint
compatible with?
Which
programming languages does Visual Lint
support?
How closely
integrated into Visual Studio is Visual
Lint?
Can I
pass my own parameters to the PC-Lint
executable?
I
have Windows XP SP2, and some of the
links in the reports don't work
I
tried to register the add-in using
Visual Studio 6.0 or Visual C++ 6.0, and
received lots of error messages
What features are
included in the Visual Lint Free
Edition?
No. To use Visual Lint, you
must have a licenced copy of PC-Lint.
If you need to purchase a copy of
PC-Lint and are located within Europe,
we recommend
PhaedruS SystemS - the only European
distributor able to supply PC-Lint and
Flexe-lint site licences.
Please contact
Gimpel Software
for support and other information
regarding PC-Lint.
Visual Lint has been tested on
Windows 2000 SP4, Windows Server 2003
SP1, Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista.
Please note that in order to install
current versions of Visual Lint under
Windows Vista the procedure described in
Running Visual Lint under Windows Vista
should be followed. We aim to have a new
installer installer available soon which
will remove the need for this procedure
to be followed.
Please
contact us if you have any queries
about compatibility with a particular
platform or service pack level.
Visual Lint 1.5 is compatible with
eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0, Microsoft
Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Studio .NET
2002, Visual Studio .NET 2003, Visual
Studio 2005 and (from 1.5.5.69 onwards)
Visual Studio codename "Orcas" Beta 1.
Visual Lint 1.0 is compatible with
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002,
Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual
Studio 2005.
Please
contact us if you have any queries
about compatibility with a particular
environment or service pack level.
Visual Lint is compatible with all
editions of Visual C++ and Visual
Studio, with the exception of Visual
Studio Express Editions.
This restriction is not one of our
choosing - unfortunately the Visual
Studio Express Editions do not allow the
loading of third party add-ins and
extension packages. This is a limitation
imposed directly by Microsoft
themselves.
Visual Lint has been tested with
version 8.00q onwards of PC-Lint. Builds
from version 1.0.3.45 onwards are also
compatible with version 7.50r of
PC-Lint.
Visual Lint currently supports the
same languages supported by PC-Lint - namely C
and C++.
If you require support for another
language we encourage you to write to Gimpel Software
and ask them about support for the
language you are interested in.
Alternatively, if you know of an
alternative command line lint tool which
provides the analysis capability you
need, please
contact us and we will look into
integrating it into Visual Lint.
Visual Studio .NET 2002, Visual
Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005
allow extremely close integration
into the IDE. Under these environments,
Visual Lint will integrate its commands
into the Visual Studio menubar and
command bars, and even add a "Perform
Lint Analysis" command to the
context menu in the code editor. The
three Visual Lint toolwindows can be
docked anywhere in the IDE, and can be
pinned and autohidden just like any
other window.
Under Visual C++ 6.0 and eMbedded
Visual C++ 4.0 the level of integration
we can offer is, unfortunately, rather
more limited. Visual Lint will still
create its own toolbar (named "VisLint"
rather than "Visual Lint" due to the
rather low level method we have to use
to set the name), but it cannot add
commands to the menubar or control the
state of the toolbar commands (disabled,
selected etc.) as the IDE simply does
not provide the capability for add-ins
to do this. Even worse, the IDE does not
provide any capabilities to integrate
third party toolwindows. We have,
however, been able to integrate them
into the Workspace View (but not the
Output Window - at least not yet) using
window subclassing techniques.
The good news is that we hope to
address the two major outstanding issues
(integration into the Output Window and
control of the state of command buttons
on the Visual Lint toolbar) in the not
too distant future. Both features are
currently planned to be included in
Visual Lint 2.0.
Yes. The Command Line page in
the Options Dialog provides a control
which allows you to enter parameters to
pass to the PC-Lint executable.
Registered copies of Visual Lint
Professional Edition also provide a
similar capability on a per solution or
per project basis.
Please
contact us if you have specific
requirements.
This is a direct result of the "Local
Machine Zone Lockdown" policy introduced
in Windows XP SP2, which prevents
Javascript code (which is included in
the HTML reports to provide table
sorting facilities) from running when
HTML pages are accessed locally.
The following articles discuss the
lockdown and its implications:
According to the articles
we've read on this, it should be
possible to circumvent this by
adding "The mark of the web" (in
Microsoft terminology to the
generated HTML. Unfortunately,
so far this has proved
unreliable - possibly due to the
way the XSLT transformation
formats line endings. We will
continue to look for a way to
circumvent this restriction, but
for now simply click on the
Information Bar when the warning
appears and select the "Allow
Blocked Content"
option.
Note that this issue only affects Internet Explorer.
Other browsers should be unaffected.
When the add-in is loaded by browsing it via the
Visual Studio 6.0 "Customize" dialog, Visual Studio 6.0
will enumerate the COM interfaces registered by the
add-in, and (rather unfortunately) will assume that any
interfaces it finds are Visual Studio 6.0 add-in
interfaces.
As a result, as well as the VS6 Visual Lint add-in
itself (titled as "Visual Lint for VC6" in the
"Customize" dialog) the interfaces for the
VS2002/2003/2005 add-in and all ActiveX controls
implemented within the add-in will also be displayed
within the "Customize" page:
Consequently, error messages will be seen if any of
the non-VS6 interfaces are selected when the "Close"
button is pressed. To avoid this, deselect the following
interfaces before pressing "Close":
- WarningLookupToolWindowCtrl class
- AnalysisStatusToolWindowCtrl class
- AnalysisResultsToolWindowCtrl class
- AnalysisGraphToolWindowCtrl class
- Connect Class
As with all IDE bugs, we are researching workarounds
for this issue. As Visual Studio 6.0 and Visual C++ 6.0
are no longer supported by Microsoft, a fix for the bug
itself is highly unlikely.
The Free Edition has been
provided to offer a basic level
of analysis capability for those
who do not require the advanced
automated analysis features
offered by the registered
version.
It supports the following
features:
- Manual Lint analysis,
with results presented in
the Lint Analysis Results
pane in the Output Window.
- Access to the PC-Lint
manual within the IDE.
- Editing of PC-Lint
configuration files within
the IDE
- Access to the Visual Lint Getting Started Guide
For further information, please see Product Editions.
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