C C++ Toolkit

A VSCode extension to help create, build, run, debug and test C and C++ projects using CMake.

Features

• Status bar buttons.
• Generates new C and C++ projects.
• Generates new libraries (components).
• Checks for and installs missing build tools.
• Generates project VSCode configurations.
• Snippets

Important Note

If you find a bug or have a suggestion, please open a new issue and help me make this extension better. :)

Status Bar Buttons

Seven status bar buttons have been implemented to:

• Select build type (Release, Debug)
• Clean
• Build
• Run
• Debug
• Test
• Debug Test

Project Generation

A new C or C++ project can be created with necessary biolerplate code using the C C++ Toolkit: Create New C Project or C C++ Toolkit: Create New C++ Project commands in the command palette. To access the command palette, use ctrl + shift + p.

It would then ask the user to select a base folder in which the project folder is to be placed. When a base folder is selected, the user would be asked to input the project name.

Project Files

The new project folder would contain these pre-configured items:

• .vscode folder
• CMakeLists.txt
• main.c if it is a C project.
• main.cpp if it is a C++ project.

The user can then start adding their own libraries or "components" via the component generation feature.

Component Generation

A new component can be created with some biolerplate code by using the C C++ Toolkit: Create New Component command in the command palette. It would then ask the user to input the component name and give the option to make the component "mocked" and "tested".

Mocked Components

"Mocked" means a mock file would be created inside a "mock" folder. If the component name is library, the mock file would be mock_library.c. A CMake variable ENABLE_LIBRARY_MOCK is also added to the root CMakeLists file. It can be enabled during the build invocation to compile the mock source instead of the actual source.

Tested Components

"Tested" means test header and source files would be created inside a "test" folder. If the component name is library then the test files would be test_library.h and test_library.c. A CMake variable ENABLE_LIBRARY_TEST is also added to the root CMakeLists file. It can be enabled during the build invocation to compile the test files as well.

Component Files

A component would have the following files

• include/component.h
• src/component.c
• mock/mock_component.c
• test/test_component.h
• test/test_component.c
• CMakeLists.txt

It would also modify the root CMakeLists.txt to add the new component. Naturally if the project is C++ instead of C, the .h files will be .hpp and .c files will be .cpp.

Missing Build Tools

The extension checks if the required build tools are installed by trying to find them in the PATH, if any of them is not detected by the extension it then offers to install the missing tools.

Once installation of the missing tools is complete, it asks the user if VSCode can be restarted.

The build tools are installed via these package managers:

• Advance Package Tool (APT) for Linux.
• Homebrew for MacOS.
• Scoop for Windows.

Since Windows does not come pre-installed with Scoop, the ability to install Scoop itself has also been added. Once the tools are installed, the user is informed, and asked to close and re-open VS Code.

The command C C++ Toolkit: Search For Build Tools in the command palette can also be used to manually trigger this.

Refreshing Project Configuration

To refresh the project configurations in the .vscode folder, use the command C C++ Toolkit: Refresh Configurations in the command palette. Use this carefully, as it overwrites previous configurations. For safe usage, the option to backup previous .vscode folder is also provided.

Snippets

The extension adds useful snippets for creating functions and attributes.

• functions

  • int (intfunc)
  • int8_t to int64_t (int8func, int16func, int32func, int64func)
  • uint8_t to uint64_t (uint8func, uint16func, uint32func, uint64func)
  • float (flfunc)
  • double (doubfunc)

  

• attributes

  • packed (packed)
  • aligned (aligned)
  • unused (unused)
  • weak (weak)

  

Extras

Do you want to do learn how to manually create new projects, manually compile your code and install build tools? Check out my blog on Medium. This extension more or less automates the same things mentioned in this blog.

Setup Guide for C/C++ Programming on VSCode

Also check out the website for this extension.

cpptoolkit.com