Start an analysis

Start Project Analyzer and select Analyze in the File menu.

Different ways to analyze

Analyze regular VB projects. Analyze one or more Visual Basic projects, project groups or solutions by choosing Analyze in the File menu.
Analyze directory. To analyze all source files in a directory path, along with files in sub-directories, choose Analyze directory in the File menu.
Analyze VBA. To analyze a VBA project, run VBA Plug. You can also choose Analyze Office VBA in the File menu of Project Analyzer.
Analyze list file. To analyze a large number of projects, you can write a .lst file and analyze it. See Analysis with list files.

Project Analyzer supported project types
Extension	File type	What you need to analyze
.vbp, .vbproj, .mak	VB project	Any Project Analyzer edition
.ebp, .vbdproj	Device project	Any Project Analyzer edition (see Supported languages for the details)
.vbg, .sln	Project group or solution	Enterprise Edition
.lst	List file	Enterprise Edition
.accdb, .xls, .doc etc.	Office file	VBA Plug and any Project Analyzer edition. Run VBA Plug first.
D:\path\.	Directory path	Any edition. Enterprise Edition is required if several projects are found along the path.

Multi-project analysis allows you to analyze a .vbg project group, a .sln solution or several individual projects in one run. Read more in How to start a multi-project analysis.

Select files to analyze dialog box

After you have selected the system to analyze, a dialog box opens. In this dialog you can select what to analyze, file by file.

Select files to analyze dialog box

Source code files	Enterprise Edition features
In this list, select the (Visual Basic) source code files that you want to include in the analysis. Usually it's best to analyze all the files. If you're interested in just a part of the code, you can select only those files. If you're running a demo, you can select a maximum of 10 source files in this list. A partial analysis happens when not all of the source code files have been selected. In a partial analysis, some information is not available or will be misleading. For example, calls to/from the unanalyzed files will not be available. Because of this, some problem detection features, such as dead code detection, will probably yield unreliable results. This is perfectly normal. Only a full analysis will give accurate results. Hints for evaluation You may correctly think that evaluating Project Analyzer would require analyzing a complete project. After all, analyzing just a few files may show incomplete results. There are a lot of sample projects in the sub-directories of your Visual Basic installation, many of which contain max 10 source files. To do a complete analysis, analyze one of these projects. As Project Analyzer is designed to work with all types of Visual Basic code, it's guaranteed to work with your code too, regardless of the size or the complexity of your projects.	The following features require the Enterprise Edition. In the demo, and also in the full Standard and Pro Editions, you can try COM analysis, DLL analysis and multi-project analysis in demo mode. In this case, select a maximum of 10 source code files to analyze. COM files and .NET assemblies The binary files that your code references appear in this list. Select them to conduct a COM analysis or a .NET assembly analysis. Analyze DLL files If your project(s) contain Declare statements or <DLLImport> attributes, you can use DLL analysis to reveal the contents of the referenced libraries. Normally, Project Analyzer reads the Declare statements only. DLL analysis reads also the target library files. DLL analysis is not available for 16-bit library files. For this reason, the checkbox is disabled for VB3 projects. Add project(s) button You can add more projects to the analysis with this button. Note that multi-project analysis requires Enterprise Edition. Dependencies button You can review dependencies between projects and add any missing dependencies via this button. You don't normally need to change the dependencies, though. Multi-project analysis You can analyze several projects together in multi-project analysis. Read more about How to start a multi-project analysis.

Source code files

Enterprise Edition features

In this list, select the (Visual Basic) source code files that you want to include in the analysis. Usually it's best to analyze all the files. If you're interested in just a part of the code, you can select only those files.

If you're running a demo, you can select a maximum of 10 source files in this list.

A partial analysis happens when not all of the source code files have been selected. In a partial analysis, some information is not available or will be misleading. For example, calls to/from the unanalyzed files will not be available. Because of this, some problem detection features, such as dead code detection, will probably yield unreliable results. This is perfectly normal. Only a full analysis will give accurate results.

Hints for evaluation

You may correctly think that evaluating Project Analyzer would require analyzing a complete project. After all, analyzing just a few files may show incomplete results. There are a lot of sample projects in the sub-directories of your Visual Basic installation, many of which contain max 10 source files. To do a complete analysis, analyze one of these projects. As Project Analyzer is designed to work with all types of Visual Basic code, it's guaranteed to work with your code too, regardless of the size or the complexity of your projects.

The following features require the Enterprise Edition. In the demo, and also in the full Standard and Pro Editions, you can try COM analysis, DLL analysis and multi-project analysis in demo mode. In this case, select a maximum of 10 source code files to analyze.

COM files and .NET assemblies

The binary files that your code references appear in this list. Select them to conduct a COM analysis or a .NET assembly analysis.

Analyze DLL files

If your project(s) contain Declare statements or <DLLImport> attributes, you can use DLL analysis to reveal the contents of the referenced libraries. Normally, Project Analyzer reads the Declare statements only. DLL analysis reads also the target library files.

DLL analysis is not available for 16-bit library files. For this reason, the checkbox is disabled for VB3 projects.

Add project(s) button

You can add more projects to the analysis with this button. Note that multi-project analysis requires Enterprise Edition.

Dependencies button

You can review dependencies between projects and add any missing dependencies via this button. You don't normally need to change the dependencies, though.

Multi-project analysis

You can analyze several projects together in multi-project analysis. Read more about How to start a multi-project analysis.

Configuration setting (.NET projects only)

Visual Studio .NET supports several configurations, such as Debug and Release. If you use project-level (or solution-level) conditional compilation settings, select the configuration to analyze here.

The selected configuration has an effect on the following information.

Conditional compilation via #If..#Else..#End If, including the DEBUG and TRACE constants. If you include/exclude code via compiler constants, pay attention to the configuration especially when using cross-references and dead code information.
Compiler optimization and library base address. There are code review rules that use this information.
Executable file path. The standard DLL files that the program calls via Declare statements are searched in this directory.

Tip: Select the Release configuration to analyze the program the way you wish to compile it. Select the Debug configuration if you use #If DEBUG Then to exclude large blocks from Release builds. This way you get to analyze the DEBUG sections as well.

Troubleshooting

If Project Analyzer Standard or Pro Edition suddenly appears to have gone into demo mode, please verify that you are analyzing a single project, no binary files are selected and DLL analysis is unchecked.

Start an analysis

Different ways to analyze

Select files to analyze dialog box

Source code files

Enterprise Edition features

Hints for evaluation

COM files and .NET assemblies

Analyze DLL files

Add project(s) button

Dependencies button

Multi-project analysis

Configuration setting (.NET projects only)

Troubleshooting

See also