Using Statement Management Definition:

Guidelines for reducing the length of Type signatures in Classes, Interfaces and Methods and the management of unused declarations for better understanding the Software Entity’s Intent

Using Statement Management Justification:

A Using Statement is a declaration at the top of all C# Type files. This declaration is a reference to a Namespace and prevents “Code Noise” but eliminating the need for a fully qualified name for the Types being consumed within the code blocks inside the C# file.

The using statements also act as abstraction of the Dependencies that the Class requires to operate correctly. This is the justification for removing unused statements as they obscure the overall intent of the Software Entity, the Class.

Using Statement Management Standards:

You have a responsibility to manage the Using Statements to make your code more readable to other Developers.

         Best Practice:

         using Proxy.WCFService;

var ccRequest = new CustomerContactsDtoRequest();

Undesirable Practice:

var ccRequest = new Proxy.WCFService.CustomerContactsDtoRequest();

You have a responsibility to manage the Using Statements to prevent declarations of Namespaces that are not used.

         using Portal.CustomerContacts.Data;

Tools like ReSharper will grey out unused statements allowing you to remove them safely

This is more than a cosmetic requirement. When a developer opens a Class and sees the declarations it should give that Developer a clear understanding of ALL Dependencies required for that Class.

If declarations are used defining dependencies not required it adds a level of misunderstanding that is not desirable. This adds to the learning curve and cost of Change Requests.

Remove all redundant fully qualified namespaces from Types to remove “Code Noise”

Undesirable Practice:

ServicesProxy.WCFService.CustomerContactsDtoRequest

Best Practice:

CustomerContactsDtoRequest

Using Statements can use “Aliases” to define a fully qualified Namespace declaration. A Namespace alias can solve ambiguity issues between common names within an assembly.

using PhoneFormatType = Portal.Common.Helper.MVC.CommonHelpers.PhoneFormatType;

The above PhoneFormatType is a common name between two Helper Classes, the Alias clearly defines the desired Type for Class use