May 20, 2024

Coding Standards for the Custom Connector

Dynamics 365Power Automate
By Anish Badugu 0 Comments

Coding Standards for Custom Connector

Creating coding standards for a custom connector involves establishing guidelines to ensure code quality, maintainability, and consistency across your development team. Here are some essential coding standards and best practices to consider

Soft Tabs vs. Hard Tabs

Soft Tabs:

  • Represented by a specific number of space characters.
  • Typically configured to be four spaces for indentation.
  • Ensures consistent appearance of code across different text editors and IDEs.
  • Example:def my_function():
    print(“Hello, World!”)

Hard Tabs:

  • Represented by the tab character (\t).
  • The width of a tab character can vary depending on the editor or IDE settings.
  • Can lead to inconsistent appearance and alignment issues when different developers have different tab width settings
  • Example:def my_function():
    ↹print(“Hello, World!”)

Why Avoid Hard Tabs?

  • Consistency: Different editors and IDEs might render tabs differently. For example, one developer’s tab might look like four spaces, while another’s might look like eight spaces.
  • Collaboration: When multiple developers work on the same codebase, using spaces ensures that the code looks the same for everyone, regardless of their editor settings.
  • Version Control: Mixing tabs and spaces can result in unnecessary differences in version control systems, making diffs harder to read and increasing the risk of merge conflicts.

Four Spaces

Using four spaces for indentation is a common convention, especially in languages like Python, JavaScript, and others. It strikes a balance between readability and space utilization. Four spaces are wide enough to clearly delineate nested blocks of code, yet not so wide as to waste horizontal space.

Naming Conventions

  • Classes and Interfaces: Use PascalCase (e.g., MyCustomConnector).
  • Methods: Use camelCase (e.g., connectToDatabase).
  • Variables: Use camelCase (e.g., connectionString).
  • Constants: Use UPPER_SNAKE_CASE (e.g., MAX_RETRIES).

b. Commenting and Documentation

  • Code Comments: Use comments to explain the why, not the what. The code should be self-explanatory whenever possible.
  • Documentation: Provide clear and concise documentation for all public methods and classes using a standardized format
  • (e.g., Javadoc for Java, docstrings for Python).

c. Code Structure

  • File Organization: Organize code logically in packages or modules.
  • Method Length: Keep methods short and focused. A method should ideally do one thing.
  • Class Length: Keep classes focused on a single responsibility, adhering to the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP).

Exception Handling: Use specific exceptions rather than catching generic ones. Always clean up resources in a finally block or use language-specific features like try-with-resources in Java.

Logging: Use a consistent logging framework and log appropriate levels of information (e.g., INFO, WARN, ERROR).

Performance and Efficiency

  • Resource Management: Ensure connections and other resources are properly managed and closed.
  • Optimization: Optimize for readability and maintainability first; only optimize for performance when necessary and with clear profiling evidence.

Security

  • Input Validation: Validate all inputs to prevent injection attacks.
  • Sensitive Data: Avoid hardcoding sensitive information. Use environment variables or configuration files with secure access controls.
  • Authentication and Authorization: Implement proper authentication and authorization mechanisms.

Testing

  • Unit Testing: Write unit tests for all public methods. Aim for high code coverage but prioritize critical paths and edge cases.
  • Integration Testing: Ensure the connector works with the systems it connects to, covering various scenarios and data sets.
  • Mocking: Use mocking frameworks to simulate external systems and conditions for comprehensive testing.

Version Control

  • Commit Messages: Use clear and descriptive commit messages. Follow a convention like Conventional Commits (e.g., feat: add new connection method).
  • Branching Strategy: Use a branching strategy like Git Flow or GitHub Flow. Ensure feature branches are reviewed and tested before merging.

Code Reviews

  • Peer Reviews: All code should be reviewed by at least one other team member. Focus on code quality, readability, and adherence to standards.
  • Automated Code Analysis: Use tools for static code analysis and style enforcement (e.g., ESLint for JavaScript, Pylint for Python).

Configuration and Deployment

  • Configuration Management: Use external configuration files or environment variables. Avoid hardcoding configuration settings.
  • Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Implement CI/CD pipelines to automate testing and deployment processes. Ensure that deployments are safe and rollback mechanisms are in place.

Compliance

  • Industry Standards: Ensure the connector complies with relevant industry standards and best practices.
  • Legal and Regulatory: Adhere to legal and regulatory requirements, such as data protection laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA).

Overview of the Custom Connectors

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