In this section, you will learn to look for artefacts the hard way by using filters and search. For a more automated way to find artefact that fit a specific category, take a look at the section called “Finding Artefacts Using Highlights”.

Click the Filter icon () above the Artefact Tree to show the filter options and select only the levels E and F:

The filter popup with the boxes checked to filter artefacts rated E or F

Click Apply to apply the changes, and the Artefact Tree should refresh to show only artefacts in the levels selected, as shown below:

The filtered Artefact Tree showing artefacts rated E or F

The notice Filter active is always displayed above the Artefact Tree when you are using a filter. The tree now only shows artefacts rated E or F, along with their ancestors (i.e. their parents and their parents' parents), even though the ancestors may not be rated E or F.

While a filter is active, you can still search for other artefacts by typing a search term in the search box. Try typing ma in the search box above the Artefact Tree, and watch the search results list get populated as you type:

The search results for the term entered in the search box

If you select the first search result in the list above, you will open the dashboard for machine.c.

Let's go back to our filtered tree. The filter singled out two artefacts with the required score range: machine_plays() and send_score(int). The function machine_plays() deteriorated in version 6. Click on the function machine_plays() to view its dashboard. Note how the score card indicates that the cyclomatic complexity, non-conformity count and non-compliance to rules have all gone up. Now click on the Control Flow Chart, to see the function's complexity.

The Control Flow Chart for machine_plays()

The Control Flow Chart is a graphical representation of the way the code of a function can be executed. The line representing the entry into the function starts on the left and branches every time it reaches a logical operator, represented on the chart as described below:

More importantly, you can compare this version's Control Flow chart with the one generated for the previous analysis of the Earth project. Click on V5 in the the Project Portfolios and watch the dashboard refresh to show the analysis results for version 5. Observe how much simpler the control graph is for this version:

The Control Flow graph for version 5 of machine_plays()

Another convenient way to try and find why a project's quality is deteriorating is to filter on the evolution of an artefact.

Select the current version of Earth again and edit the active filter: Uncheck the boxes for levels E and F, and select the Deteriorated category in the Evolution column. When applying the filter, you should see the artefacts in the tree that have the icon next to their name.

The artefacts that deteriorated in the current version of Earth

The functions you looked at earlier are still here, but there are more deteriorated artefacts that you can start reviewing. If you click on player.c for example, which is rated C.

In order to find out where the degradation took place, you can look at the indicators tree to understand where the decline in quality comes from. Expand all the nodes in the indicators tree to reveal the issues with the artefact:

The Indicator Tree for player.c

Squore makes it easy to spot the irregularities quickly, like the fact that the Non Compliant Changeability Rules causes many of the indicators to get a worse score in the latest version than before. This is probably the first item to review in this function.

Take a look at the Rule Checking section of the artefact's scorecard to confirm the results:

The scorecard for player.c

By clicking the link icon, you can directly view the violations for this artefact in the Findings tab.

You can dive further into the analysis results by looking at the information contained in other tabs and assign action items to your team by referring to Chapter 6, Managing Your To-Do List With Squore or report your progress as explained in Chapter 9, Communicating With Squore.

In the previous section (the section called “Finding Artefacts Using Filters and Search”), you got familiar with searching and filtering to find the artefact that have a negative impact on the overall rating of a project. in this section, you will learn to master the Highlights functionality, which aims to make the process of finding certain categories of artefacts easier.

Highlights are flat lists of artefacts ordered in predefined categories for a model.

Let's try to confirm our findings about the worst and most deteriorated artefacts in Earth. Click on the current version of Earth and clear the filter. Click the Highlights tab of the Explorer and select the Top 10 worst artefacts category. The list appears as shown below:

The Top 10 worst artefacts in the current version of Earth

The list confirms that the artefacts with the worst rating are machine_plays() and send_score(int). The Highlights table shows you the artefact rating, name and path, and allows you to go to the artefact's dashboard directly by clicking the artefact name.

Now you can also find the deteriorated artefact player.c that you identified with a filter earlier in the section called “Finding Artefacts Using Filters and Search”: select the Top 10 most deteriorated artefacts highlight category to see the artefact appear in the list of deteriorated artefacts in this version.

The Top 10 most deteriorated artefacts in the current version of Earth

Artefacts are sorted by degradation, i.e. the difference between the value of the main indicator in the previous baseline version compared to the current value. By clicking the Export button, you can export the selected items to a CSV file. If the Export button is greyed out, your licence does not include the option to export data to CSV files.

Note: The notions of baseline and draft versions is explained in the section called “Working with Draft and Baseline Versions”.

The following categories are available for all default models:

Squore administrators can customise and expand this list by referring to the Squore Configuration Guide.