We have some repositories with very low code coverage reported in SonarQube. What are the best practices or strategies to effectively and sustainably improve the coverage?
Specifically, we’d like to know:
How to prioritize coverage improvements in low-coverage projects.
The best way to utilize SonarQube’s features for identifying and addressing coverage gaps.
Any recommendations or experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Hi @viva,
Improving code coverage is a journey, not a destination. It’s about finding the right balance between getting the most value out of your testing efforts and avoiding unnecessary complexity.
Prioritizing Coverage Improvements
Focus on “Hot Spots”: Identify the most critical parts of your codebase – areas with high complexity, frequent changes, or potential for bugs. Prioritize these areas for coverage improvements.
New Code First: Ensure all newly written code is thoroughly tested, and aim for 100% coverage for new features and bug fixes.Clean as You Code.
Incremental Improvements: Don’t try to achieve 100% coverage overnight. Set realistic goals and gradually increase coverage over time.
Utilizing SonarQube Features
Coverage Reports: SonarQube provides detailed reports on line-by-line coverage. Use these reports to pinpoint uncovered areas.
Code Coverage Rules: SonarQube has pre-defined rules that can identify areas where coverage is insufficient. These rules can be customized to fit your specific needs.
SonarLint Integration: SonarLint can help you identify and fix coverage issues right in your IDE, making it easier to maintain high coverage.
Code Quality Gates: Configure your SonarQube project to enforce coverage thresholds in your build pipelines. This helps ensure that code with insufficient coverage is not merged into your main branch.
Recommendations and Experiences
Test-Driven Development (TDD): TDD is a popular approach where you write tests before writing any code. This helps ensure that you have adequate test coverage from the beginning.
Code Reviews: Include code coverage as a key aspect of code reviews. Encourage developers to write tests and improve coverage as part of their development process.
Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Integrate SonarQube into your CI/CD pipeline to monitor coverage changes and prevent regressions.
Team Buy-in: It’s crucial to get the entire team on board with improving code coverage. Clearly communicate the benefits of higher coverage and make it a shared responsibility.
Remember, code coverage is just one aspect of software quality. It’s important to strike a balance between coverage and other factors like maintainability, readability, and performance.