CA1050: Declare types in namespaces

Cause

A public or protected type is defined outside the scope of a named namespace.

Rule Description

Types are declared in namespaces to prevent name collisions, and as a way to organize related types in an object hierarchy. Types that are outside any named namespace are in a global namespace that cannot be referenced in code.

How to Fix Violations

To fix a violation of this rule, place the type in a namespace.

When to Suppress Warnings

Although you never have to suppress a warning from this rule, it is safe to do this when the assembly will never be used together with other assemblies.

Example

The following example shows a library that has a type incorrectly declared outside a namespace, and a type that has the same name declared in a namespace.

Imports System 

' Violates rule: DeclareTypesInNamespaces.
Public Class Test     

    Public Overrides Function ToString() As String        
        Return "Test does not live in a namespace!"    
    End Function 

End Class 

Namespace GoodSpace  

    Public Class Test 

        Public Overrides Function ToString() As String            
            Return "Test lives in a namespace!"        
        End Function  

    End Class 

End Namespace

using System;

// Violates rule: DeclareTypesInNamespaces.
public class Test
{
   public override string ToString()
   {
      return "Test does not live in a namespace!";
   }
}

namespace GoodSpace
{
   public class Test
   {
      public override string ToString()
      {
         return "Test lives in a namespace!";
      }
   }
}   

The following application uses the library that was defined previously. Note that the type that is declared outside a namespace is created when the name Test is not qualified by a namespace. Note also that to access the Test type in Goodspace, the namespace name is required.

Imports System

Namespace ApplicationTester

    Public Class MainHolder

        Public Shared Sub Main()
            Dim t1 As New Test()
            Console.WriteLine(t1.ToString())

            Dim t2 As New GoodSpace.Test()
            Console.WriteLine(t2.ToString())
        End Sub

    End Class

End Namespace

using System;

namespace ApplicationTester
{
    public class MainHolder
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            Test t1 = new Test();
            Console.WriteLine(t1.ToString());

            GoodSpace.Test t2 = new GoodSpace.Test();
            Console.WriteLine(t2.ToString());
        }
    }
}