Compuware today launched the latest version of its DevPartner Studio code checking tool designed to give Microsoft developers improved vulnerability diagnosis capabilities.

DevPartner Studio 9.0 scans Microsoft ASP.NET application source code looking for over 200 potential vulnerabilities or examples of suspicious behaviour, according to Compuware's product manager for DevPartner, Doug Carrier.

By locating security problems at compile time, the product can highlight poor coding to the exact line of code, the firm claims. Catching it early means that IT managers can rectify the problem before it becomes deeply embedded in the code base.

Customisable web-based reports can also be generated for items such as code quality, code review, error detection, performance and code coverage, to give IT managers a clear, easy-to-view snapshot of the stability of the code base.

"Many IT projects are failing because not enough organisations are taking quality seriously enough," said Carrier.

"We know that bugs are much less expensive to fix early on in the application development cycle. This suite of code quality tools will enable high performing, and more secure apps than they would otherwise be."

DevPartner Studio 9.0 now supports 32-bit application development on Microsoft Windows x64 platforms as well as a number of new .NET Framework technologies, including Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008, .NET Framework 3.5 and Windows Presentation Foundation.

The tool also supports legacy apps built with Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Basic 6.0, Visual C++ 6.0, Visual Studio .NET 2003, and the .NET Framework 1.1.