SONARJAVA-6345 Create rule S8695: Redundant time instantiation patterns should be simplified

[alban-auzeill]

---

Summary by Gitar

• New rule:
  • Added SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheck (S8695) to simplify verbose java.time object instantiations.
  • Detects patterns like LocalDate.from(Instant.now()) that should be replaced with LocalDate.now().
• Rule updates:
  • Changed rule title to "Redundant time instantiation patterns should be simplified".
  • Reduced default severity from "Major" to "Minor" and maintainability impact from "MEDIUM" to "LOW".
• Quick fix improvements:
  • Added and refined quick-fix definitions in test samples for now() and now(clock) patterns.
  • Fixed quick-fix mapping index in test cases for ZonedDateTime and OffsetDateTime expressions.
• Documentation:
  • Updated HTML rule description and examples to better clarify supported patterns and usage.

_{This will update automatically on new commits.}

[sonarqubecloud]

Agentic Analysis: Early Results

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12 issue(s) found across 1 file(s):

Rule	File	Line	Message
java:S1118	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	14	Add a private constructor to hide the implicit public one.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	21	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	23	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	33	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	39	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	41	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	52	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	52	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	55	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	57	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	61	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java	63	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.

_{Analyzed by SonarQube Agentic Analysis in 5.4 s}

[hashicorp-vault-sonar-prod]

SONARJAVA-6345

[sonarqube-next]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Fixed issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0 Dependency risks
94.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube

[gitar-bot]

Code Review ✅ Approved 4 resolved / 4 findings

Implements rule S8695 to simplify redundant java.time instantiations, with refined quick-fixes and corrected test assertions for ZonedDateTime and OffsetDateTime patterns. No outstanding issues remain.

✅ 4 resolved

✅ Bug: quickfix field should be "targeted" not "unknown"

📄 sonar-java-plugin/src/main/resources/org/sonar/l10n/java/rules/java/S8695.json:17
The rule provides quickfixes (evidenced by [[quickfixes=...]] annotations in the test sample and JavaQuickFix usage in the check), but S8695.json declares "quickfix": "unknown". Other rules with quickfixes use "quickfix": "targeted" (e.g., S7481, S6397, S8696). This may affect how the IDE/SonarQube reports the availability of quickfixes to users.

✅ Bug: Issue message is inaccurate for Instant.now() case (no ZoneId)

📄 java-checks/src/main/java/org/sonar/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheck.java:72
The message at line 72 is hardcoded as "Replace "from(TemporalAccessor)" with "now(ZoneId)"." but when the detected pattern is Type.from(Instant.now()), the replacement is now() (without a ZoneId parameter). The message misleadingly suggests a ZoneId is needed. Consider making the message dynamic based on whether a zone argument is present, e.g., using the already-computed replacement variable.

✅ Bug: Incorrect quickfix for Instant.now(clock).atZone(zoneId) pattern

📄 java-checks/src/main/java/org/sonar/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheck.java:54 📄 java-checks/src/main/java/org/sonar/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheck.java:83-91 📄 java-checks/src/main/java/org/sonar/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheck.java:70
Adding addParametersMatcher("java.time.Clock") to INSTANT_NOW (line 54) means the atZone branch in isNonCompliantMethod (lines 87-90) now also matches Instant.now(clock).atZone(zoneId). The replacement logic at line 70 only extracts the atZone argument (zoneId), producing now(zoneId). But LocalDate.from(Instant.now(clock).atZone(zoneId)) is NOT semantically equivalent to LocalDate.now(zoneId) — the former uses a specific clock while the latter uses the system clock.

This means the rule would suggest a semantically incorrect transformation. Either:

1. The atZone branch should only match when the inner Instant.now() has no arguments (no clock), or
2. The replacement logic should detect the clock and produce a different suggestion (though there's no single equivalent call).

✅ Bug: Stray @ in // @fix@qf2 silently skips quickfix test

📄 java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/SimpleTemporalInstantiationCheckSample.java:57
Line 57 uses // @fix@qf2 {{…}} but the test framework's regex expects // fix@<id> {{…}} (pattern: //\s*fix@(?<id>\S+)\s+\{\{(?<message>.*)\}\}). The leading @ prevents the annotation from being parsed, so the quickfix message for qf2 is never verified. This was a pre-existing typo, but since the line was modified in this commit (renumbered qf1→qf2), it should be fixed now.

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