Prompt
Always validate configuration options and provide clear feedback to users about potential issues. This includes warning about unused configuration keys, preventing redundant options, and ensuring cross-platform compatibility.
Key practices:
- Warn about unused keys: Implement logging for configuration keys that are parsed but not used, helping users identify typos or deprecated settings
- Avoid redundant options: When designing configuration structures, ensure there’s no ambiguity between
Noneand default enum values - choose one approach consistently - Cross-platform validation: Use
allow(unused)instead ofcfgattributes for configuration fields to prevent warnings on platforms where the feature isn’t available - Validate combinations: Require at least one valid option when multiple configuration fields are mutually dependent
Example implementation:
// Warn about unused keys during deserialization
for key in unused.keys() {
log::warn!(target: LOG_TARGET, "Unused config key: {}", key);
}
// Avoid redundant options - choose Option<T> OR T::Default, not both
pub struct WindowConfig {
// Good: Clear intent
pub window_level: WindowLevel, // with Default trait
// Avoid: Ambiguous between None and WindowLevel::Normal
// pub window_level: Option<WindowLevel>,
}
// Validate required combinations
if !content.hyperlinks && content.regex.is_none() {
return Err("At least one of hyperlink or regex must be specified");
}
This approach prevents configuration errors that can be difficult to debug and improves the user experience by providing immediate feedback about configuration issues.