What are the static tool analysis options (apart from CAST) via plug-ins for Java code with framework?

Question

Need to know about static tool analysis options via Eclipse plug-ins for Java code with framework especially for Struts, Spring and Hibernate. The purpose is primarily analysis (and not Quality metrics) of references (similar to References option in Eclipse). The task to accomplis is impact analysis for applications with a lot of framework based code.

Answer 1

PMD is widely used and can integrate with Eclipse. I'm not sure that it looks for issues relating to particular frameworks, however, as opposed to issues with Java code alone.

Answer 2

FindBugs is another static tool analysis tool which I've found very helpful in reporting issues with the Java code. But not sure if it reports any errors specific to the frameworks you've listed.

Answer 3

Looks like what you are trying to do is some kind of Dependency Analysis.

PMD and FindBugs are primarily for finding potential issues with the Java code. I don't know if they have analysis of references.

Goto http://www.eclipseplugincentral.com/modules.php and search for 'Dependency Analysis'. I do see that there are some free plugins. You may want to try some of them.

Answer 4

To list some: PMD, FindBugs, Checkstyle, JDepend