Therefore, you need to define a logical architecture (structure of your system) and some guidelines. These definitions are then distributed to the development team (as an XML file). The developers use either the SonarJ Eclipse plugin (SonarClipse) or the stand-alone version of the product, which integrates in every development environment. Every code change is now monitored by SonarJ. The developer is warned as soon as an architecture or quality violation occurs. The tool provides all the information needed by the developer to fix the problem before it becomes visible for the rest of the team.

If you start using SonarJ on an existing code base you can filter old problems so that you are not overwhelmed by error or warning markers. Virtual refactoring allows you to simulate the effect of refactorings without touching your code. SonarClipse later allows you to delegate the execution of virtual refactorings to Eclipse.

SonarJ helps you to analyze a software system written in Java within minutes. You can find complex code, dependency cycles and other potential problems even without defining architecture rules. As soon as you add architecture rules, you can rapidly check for architecture violations. This assessment can even be done without access to the source code. A jar file containing the system to be analyzed is sufficient.