Visual C++ for IoT Development

This extension provides a makefile project enables you to debug your native C/C++ code for debugging on microcontrollers, remote Linux machines or locally on Windows. You can configure this project to use your own compilers or build tools. These instructions will cover how to setup for these scenarios. At the end you will find instructions on enabling intellisense, a reference on the project propery parameters you may use in build scripts and a description of the files used in this project.

News

• Try the VC++ for Linux Development Tools, these offer a tailored experience for Linux C/C++ development in Visual Studio.
• Original announcment of this as the VS GDB Debugger extension, our first blog post on the extension. This covers all of the basics including setting up SSH.

How to use

After you’ve installed the extension, create a new project and you’ll find a new template for Makefile Project GDB) under Visual C++, Cross Platform.

When you create a new project a readme file will open providing details on how to configure the project properties for use with microcontrollers and other targets.

Microcontroller Debugging

This capability has been introduced in our second update. You can now debug code running on microcontrollers (MCU) with this extension. Your MCU target must have on board on chip debugging capabilities or you can use an off board interface such as aSegger J-Link probe.

Project properties for remote GDB debugging an MCU

On the project properties page go to the Debugging tab and chose the OCD GDB Debugger.

The OCD Debugger Executcable will be the GDB executable for the MCU you are using, e.g. arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe from theARM GCC tools if you are using an ARM based MCU. Specify the GDB server address provided by your OCD, and the location of your firmware binary that was compiled with debug symbols

Before launching your debug session you will need to launch your GDB server that bridges to your MCU. The ones we have tried areSegger, OpenOCD andpyOCD.