How to create a custom rule set
If you would like to only pick some of the rules that come with PHPMD and you want to customize some of the predefined thresholds, you can do this by creating your own rule set file that references a custom collection of rules with an individual configuration.
Starting with an empty ruleset.xml file
The simplest way to start with a new rule set is to copy one of the
existing files and remove all the rule-tags from the document body.
Otherwise you can use the following example as a template for your own
rule set file. You should change the content of the @name attribute
and <description /> element to something that describes the purpose
of this set. :
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="My first PHPMD rule set"
xmlns="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd">
<description>
My custom rule set that checks my code...
</description>
</ruleset>
Adding rule references to the new ruleset.xml file
The first thing we would like to do is to add all unused code rules
to the new rule set file. This can simply be done with a <rule />
element that references the entire unused code rule set that comes
with PHPMD.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="My first PHPMD rule set"
xmlns="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd">
<description>
My custom rule set that checks my code...
</description>
<!-- Import the entire unused code rule set -->
<rule ref="rulesets/unusedcode.xml" />
</ruleset>
That's it. Now the custom rule set applies all unused code rules against the analyzed source code.
We would also like to use the cyclomatic complexity rule from the
existing codesize set in our custom rule set. To achieve this we can
reuse the same syntax with a <rule /> element and a @ref attribute.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="My first PHPMD rule set"
xmlns="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd">
<description>
My custom rule set that checks my code...
</description>
<!-- Import the entire unused code rule set -->
<rule ref="rulesets/unusedcode.xml" />
<!-- Import the entire cyclomatic complexity rule -->
<rule ref="rulesets/codesize.xml/CyclomaticComplexity" />
</ruleset>
Now that the new rule set uses the cyclomatic complexity rule we would
also like to customize some of the rule's properties. First we will
increase the rule's priority to the highest possible priority value 1
and we also decrease the threshold when the rule reports a violation. This
customization can be done with same xml elements that are used to configure
the original rule, so that you can take a look at one of the original rule
set file.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="My first PHPMD rule set"
xmlns="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd">
<description>
My custom rule set that checks my code...
</description>
<!-- Import the entire unused code rule set -->
<rule ref="rulesets/unusedcode.xml" />
<!--
Import the entire cyclomatic complexity rule and
customize the rule configuration.
-->
<rule ref="rulesets/codesize.xml/CyclomaticComplexity">
<priority>1</priority>
<properties>
<property name="reportLevel" value="5" />
</properties>
</rule>
</ruleset>
You should know that PHPMD handles all custom settings additive. This means that PHPMD keeps the original configuration for every setting that isn't customized in a rule reference.
Excluding rules from a rule set
We would like to reuse the naming rule set of PHPMD. But we don't like
the two variable naming rules, so that we must exclude them from out rule
set file. This exclusion can be achieved by declaring an <exclude />
element within the rule reference. This element has an attribute @name
which specifies the name of the excluded rule.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="My first PHPMD rule set"
xmlns="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd">
<description>
My custom rule set that checks my code...
</description>
<!-- Import the entire unused code rule set -->
<rule ref="rulesets/unusedcode.xml" />
<!--
Import the entire cyclomatic complexity rule and
customize the rule configuration.
-->
<rule ref="rulesets/codesize.xml/CyclomaticComplexity">
<priority>1</priority>
<properties>
<property name="reportLevel" value="5" />
</properties>
</rule>
<!-- Import entire naming rule set and exclude rules -->
<rule ref="rulesets/naming.xml">
<exclude name="ShortVariable" />
<exclude name="LongVariable" />
</rule>
</ruleset>
Changing individual properties in a rule set
We would like to use the clean code rule set, but our code uses the
static constructors of the PHP date and time classes. This causes rule
violations with the StaticAccess rule. To modify the exceptions
property of that rule while still keeping the rest of the rule set, we
need to import the whole rule set, excluding the StaticAccess rule
and then include the StaticAccess rule individually. Instead of using
a value attribute for the property you can also use a <value> tag
to make it more readable.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="My first PHPMD rule set"
xmlns="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="
http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd">
<description>
My custom rule set that checks my code...
</description>
<!-- Import the entire unused code rule set -->
<rule ref="rulesets/unusedcode.xml" />
<!--
Import the entire cyclomatic complexity rule and
customize the rule configuration.
-->
<rule ref="rulesets/codesize.xml/CyclomaticComplexity">
<priority>1</priority>
<properties>
<property name="reportLevel" value="5" />
</properties>
</rule>
<!-- Import entire naming rule set and exclude rules -->
<rule ref="rulesets/naming.xml">
<exclude name="ShortVariable" />
<exclude name="LongVariable" />
</rule>
<!-- Import entire clean code rule set, modify StaticAccess rule -->
<rule ref="rulesets/cleancode.xml">
<exclude name="StaticAccess" />
</rule>
<rule ref="rulesets/cleancode.xml/StaticAccess">
<properties>
<property name="exceptions">
<value>
\DateTime,
\DateInterval,
\DateTimeZone
</value>
</property>
</properties>
</rule>
</ruleset>
Conclusion
With PHPMD's rule set syntax it is possible to customize all aspects of rules for your own needs and you can reuse every existing rule set xml file in your own set. You should take a look at PHPMD's rule documentation if it happens that you don't know what rules exist or you don't know exactly, which settings are available for one rule, while you create your own set of rules. Another good source of information are the rule set files that are shipped with PHPMD.