== Why is this an issue?

Methods declared as `public`, `protected`, or `protected internal` can be accessed from other assemblies, which means you should validate parameters to be within the expected constraints. In general, checking against `null` is recommended in defensive programming.


This rule raises an issue when a parameter of a publicly accessible method is not validated against `null` before being dereferenced.


=== Noncompliant code example

[source,csharp]
----
public class MyClass
{
    private MyOtherClass other;

    public void Foo(MyOtherClass other)
    {
        this.other = other.Clone(); // Noncompliant
    }

    protected void Bar(MyOtherClass other)
    {
        this.other = other.Clone(); // Noncompliant
    }
}
----


=== Compliant solution

[source,csharp]
----
public class MyClass
{
    private MyOtherClass other;

    public void Foo(MyOtherClass other)
    {
        if (other != null)
        {
            this.other = other.Clone();
        }
    }

    protected void Bar(MyOtherClass other)
    {
        if (other != null)
        {
            this.other = other.Clone();
        }
    }

    public void Baz(MyOtherClass other)
    {
        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(other);

        this.other = other.Clone();
    }

    public void Qux(MyOtherClass other)
    {
        this.other = other; // Compliant: "other" is not being dereferenced
    }

    private void Xyzzy(MyOtherClass other)
    {
        this.other = other.Clone(); // Compliant: method is not publicly accessible
    }
}
----


=== Exceptions
* Arguments validated for `null` via helper methods should be annotated with the https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/attributes/nullable-analysis#postconditions-maybenull-and-notnull[`[NotNull]`] attribute.
* Method parameters marked with the `[NotNull]` https://www.jetbrains.com/help/resharper/Reference__Code_Annotation_Attributes.html#ItemNotNullAttribute[Resharper code annotation attribute] are supported as well.
* To create a custom null validation method declare an attribute with name `ValidatedNotNullAttribute` and mark the parameter that is validated for null in your method declaration with it:

[source,csharp]
----
using System;

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Parameter, Inherited=false)]
public sealed class ValidatedNotNullAttribute : Attribute { }

public static class Guard
{
    public static void NotNull<T>([ValidatedNotNullAttribute] T value, [CallerArgumentExpression("value")] string name = "") where T : class
    {
        if (value == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException(name);
    }
}

public static class Utils
{
    public static string ToUpper(string value)
    {
        Guard.NotNull(value);

        return value.ToUpper(); // Compliant
    }
}
----


include::../rspecator.adoc[]