Code Conventions

Generated Code

Files ending in _Generated.cs are written by the code generator and should never be edited by hand. Change the record's xml or the generator, then regenerate. See Code Generation.

Adding Files to Projects

The core and game projects (Mutagen.Bethesda.Core, Mutagen.Bethesda.Skyrim, and so on) list every source file explicitly in their .csproj, so that generated files can be nested under their xml definitions. A new .cs file in one of these projects needs a matching entry:

<Compile Include="Plugins\Analysis\DI\MultiModFileReader.cs" />

If a new file seems to be ignored by the build, check that it is listed.

Comments

Comment only when the code alone can't explain itself, such as a workaround for a quirk in the game's data or a non-obvious ordering requirement. Don't restate what the code does, and don't add summary blocks to tests.

The reasoning behind a change belongs in the commit message or pull request.

Prefer ModPath

When working with a path to a mod file, take a ModPath rather than a separate DirectoryPath and ModKey. A ModPath carries both, so they can't drift out of sync.

// Preferred
public void Process(ModPath modPath)
{
    var modKey = modPath.ModKey;
    var filePath = modPath.Path;
}

// Avoid
public void Process(DirectoryPath folder, ModKey modKey)
{
    var filePath = Path.Combine(folder.Path, modKey.FileName);
}

Avoid dynamic

Mutagen's interfaces and generic methods cover the cases where dynamic might be tempting. Using them keeps type checking at compile time, rather than surfacing mistakes at runtime.

Use Named Constants

Prefer existing constants over literal numbers, such as header lengths from GameConstants. When no constant exists, give the value a well-named one.