how to create automated code reviewer using java

[screenedcreamy]

I have acode review checklist which I would like to automate, Could anyone suggest me how i could get started with this.
I would like to create a tool which takes in java extensions and reviews based on custom review check. Would this be time consuming?? any insights on how to go about it would be appreciated.

[JamesCherrill]

Time consuming to program? Yes, very. You'll probably end up with a complete java source code parser plus a raft of individual rule checks - all of which is perfectly do-able in Java, but it's going to be a lot of tedious code.
I know there are compiler-compilers and generalised parsers out there (although I've never used one myself, so I can't recommend one), but maybe that would be a better route?

[stultuske]

the way I see it, that would be the kind of application an entire company would work on for (at least) a year, and then the next years on maitenance and improvements.

Atlassian offers a number of good tools you can use, but the way you describe it: Sonar might be what you're looking for.

it checks your code for the usual 'code smells', points out where they occur, give some information about how you could/should fix it, ...