WatchBuildLog VS Code Extension

A Visual Studio Code extension that monitors build log files for errors and displays them in VS Code's Problems panel.

• Auto monitoring: Watches build log files for changes and automatically parses new content
• Custom wildcard log paths: Configurable paths to log files including wildcard patterns.
• Custom problem patterns: Configurable problem matcher patterns to identify different types of build errors with file locations, line numbers, and severity
• VS Code integration: Displays errors in the Problems panel with clickable links to source files. Also supports related information for errors.

Commands

The extension provides the following commands accessible via the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P):

• WatchBuildLog: Start Watching Build Log - Begin monitoring the configured log file
• WatchBuildLog: Stop Watching Build Log - Stop monitoring and clear error diagnostics

Configuration

Configure the extension through VS Code settings:

watchbuildlog.logFilePathWildcards

• Type: array
• Default: ["out/*/siso_output"]
• Description: Glob-style wildcard patterns for build log files. Patterns can be absolute paths or relative to the project root. Use '*' to match any text in a folder segment.
• Scope: Resource (can be set per workspace)
• Examples:
  • "out/*_x64/siso.log" - Matches siso.log in any subfolder of out/ that ends with _x64
  • "build/*/errors.log" - Matches errors.log in any direct subfolder of build/
  • "C:/logs/*.log" - Absolute path matching any .log file in C:/logs/

watchbuildlog.autoStart

• Type: boolean
• Default: true
• Description: Automatically start watching when VS Code opens

watchbuildlog.problemMatcherPatterns

• Type: array
• Description: Problem matcher patterns similar to VS Code's task system. Each pattern defines a regex and capture group indices for extracting error information from build logs.

Usage

1. Configure log file patterns:

   • Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl+,)
   • Search for "watchbuildlog"
   • Add wildcard patterns to "Log File Path Wildcards" (default includes "out/*/siso_output")
   • Or add to your settings.json: "watchbuildlog.logFilePathWildcards": ["out/*_x64/siso.log", "build/*/errors.log"]

2. Start watching: The extension auto-starts by default, or run "Start Watching Build Log" command manually

3. View errors: Build errors will appear in the Problems panel (Ctrl+Shift+M)

4. Navigate to errors: Click on errors in the Problems panel to jump to the source location

Settings UI Access

1. Via Settings UI:

   • Open Settings (Ctrl+,)
   • Search for "Watch Build Log" or "watchbuildlog"
   • Configure all extension settings through the UI

2. Via JSON Settings:

   {
     "watchbuildlog.logFilePathWildcards": [
       "out/*_x64/siso.log",
       "build/*/errors.log",
       "C:/absolute/path/to/build.log"
     ],
     "watchbuildlog.autoStart": true,
     "watchbuildlog.problemMatcherPatterns": [
       {
         "regexp": "^(.*)\\((\\d+),(\\d+)\\)\\s*:\\s*([^: ]+)[^:]*:\\s*(.*)$",
         "file": 1,
         "line": 2,
         "column": 3,
         "severity": 4,
         "message": 5
       }
     ]
   }
   

Wildcard Pattern Examples

• "out/*_x64/siso.log" - Matches out/Debug_x64/siso.log, out/Release_x64/siso.log, etc.
• "build/*/logs/*.log" - Matches any .log file in any subfolder of build/*/logs/
• "**/build.log" - Matches build.log in any subdirectory at any depth
• "logs/*" - Matches any file directly in the logs folder

Installation

From Source

1. Clone this repository
2. Press F5 to open a new Extension Development Host window (no build step required!)

Building VSIX Package

1. Install vsce: npm install -g vsce
2. Run vsce package to create a .vsix file
3. Install via code --install-extension watchbuildlog-0.0.1.vsix

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.74.0 or higher

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Submit a pull request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.