How to get the FxCop custom dictionary to work?

Question

How is it possible to get the FxCop custom dictionary to work correctly?

I have tried adding words to be recognised to the file 'CustomDictionary.xml', which is kept in the same folder as the FxCop project file. This does not seem to work, as I still get the 'Identifiers should be spelled correctly' FxCop message, even after reloading and re-running FxCop. Using version 1.36.

Answer 1

If you use it inside Visual Studio...

From Visual Studio Code Analysis Team Blog

To add a custom dictionary to a C# and Visual Basic project is simple:

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click on the project and choose Add -> New Item...
2. Under Templates, select XML File, enter a name for the dictionary, such as CodeAnalysisDictionary.xml and click Add
3. In Solution Explorer, right-click on the XML file and choose Properties
4. In the Properties tool window, under Build Action choose CodeAnalysisDictionary
5. In Solution Explorer, double-click on the newly created dictionary to open it

6. In the XML editor, paste the following, replacing "productname" and "companyname" with your team's equivalents:

   <Dictionary>      <Words>         <Recognized>             <Word>"productname"</Word>             <Word>"companyname"</Word>         </Recognized>     </Words> </Dictionary> 

You are now ready to start entering your own custom words. Simply add a new element for each word in your project that does not exist in the dictionary. Each word is case-insensitive, so any casing of the word will be recognized. Code Analysis will automatically pick up the custom dictionary the next time it is run.

Answer 2

The easiest way is to just call it "CustomDictionary.xml" and put it in your solution folder, where FxCop (1.36 tested here) will pick it up automatically, if you have

<CustomDictionaries SearchFxCopDir="True"                     SearchUserProfile="True"                     SearchProjectDir="True" /> 

in your FxCop project file.

Alternatively you can specify it via the /dictionary command line parameter.