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README.md

Visual Studio Code extension

Requirements

Before using GZoltar's Visual Studio Code extension, a few requirements have to be met in order to use its capabilities to the fullest:

  • JDK GZoltar's Visual Studio Code extension requires Java 8, as GZoltar does execute fault localization on Java projects.

  • Build Tool GZoltar's Visual Studio Code extension extension is automatically activated on projects that use one of the following build tools: Apache Maven or Gradle.

  • Environment Linux and MacOS users can immediately start using the extension if the previous requirements are already met. Windows users however, must take some additional steps. This is due to an underlying bug in GZoltar which causes the execution to produce incorrect results.

    • Windows users First step is to install a Windows subsystem for Linux of your choosing. As long as you are able to use a Linux terminal in your computer, you should be good to go. The next step is to install the extension Remote - WSL. This extension allows you to use Visual Studio Code to build Linux applications that run on the Windows Subsystem for Linux. After installing this extension, open a new window of VS Code and click on the green arrows in the bottom left corner to open a remote window.

    Remote Dev Status Bar

Now, you are able to start working with GZoltar just like you would with a regular Visual Studio Code window.

Install GZoltar's Visual Studio Code extension from the marketplace

There are two possible ways to install GZoltar's Visual Studio Code extension from the marketplace. The first method can be done from inside Visual Studio Code itself, on the Extensions icon in the tree view container. From there, you can search for GZoltar on the prompt and install it.

GZoltar inside VS Code

Alternatively, the extension can be found and installed from the marketplace webpage.

GZoltar in the Marketplace

Usage

To open GZoltar's menu, click on its icon in the activity bar.

GZoltar Activity Bar

To run GZoltar on a project that is currently in your workspace, click on the icon next to the project's name.

GZoltar Commands

While GZoltar is running, you are able to see on the lower right corner of the status bar what phase it is currently on.

GZoltar Status Bar

After it has finished, a new window will appear showcasing the results of the fault detection analysis. The colors in the charts indicate the code's suspicion levels. Green means the segment has no suspicion, yellow is for medium likelihood, orange for high likelihood and red for very high likelihood. The further you zoom in into the chart, the finer grained it becomes. Meaning that at the beginning you are viewing the project in its entirety (at the root level), and at the deepest level you are viewing a single line of code.

GZoltar Results

It is possible to navigate through the chart by double clicking on each segment. A right click will reset the chart back to its initial state. Clicking on an edge segment (which corresponds to a single line of code) will open the file associated with that line of code.

You can also change the visualization that is currently being shown. On the activity bar menu, under the project that was just used to perform an analysis, you can choose one of the three charts to change the visualization to better suit your taste.

GZoltar Options

When a file is opened after performing an analysis, it will show an icon to indicate the level of suspiciousness for each line of code. The icon's colors are the same as the ones represented in the charts.

GZoltar Open File

Build GZoltar's Visual Studio Code extension from the source code

  1. Collect the set of required dependencies by executing the get_deps.sh script.
  2. Install npm (in case it is not installed already).
  3. Install project's dependencies (i.e., npm install).
  4. Compile the extension's source code by executing the command npm run compile.

Publish GZoltar's Visual Studio Code extension

  1. To package the extension into a VSIX file, execute the following command vsce package on the command line. Note: in case vsce is not available, run npm install -g vsce.

  2. There are two possible ways to publish GZoltar's Visual Studio Code extension. Assuming you are a member of the GZoltar Publisher, you can obtain a Personal Access Token (PAT) in here. Then, you should run the following commands:

vsce login GZoltar
Personal Access Token for publisher 'GZoltar': <insert your PAT>
vsce publish

Alternatively, you can do both steps in one single command:

vsce publish -p <token>