Include Toolbox

Tools for managing C/C++ #includes: Formatting, sorting, exploring, pruning.

Include Toolbox consists of 4 different tools. All of them are only applicable to VC++ projects.

[Command] Include Formatter
[Command] Trial and Error Include Removal
[Command] Include-What-You-Use Integration
[Command] Mapper module for IWYU
[Command] Compile Header [Tool Window] Include Graph

Links

Open VSIX Gallery 2019

Open VSIX Gallery 2022

Marketplace 2019

Marketplace 2022

Version History

Tools in Detail

Include Formatter

Select a group of includes, right click, select "Format Selected Includes"

The behavior of this command is controlled by various options which can be configured in Tools>Options>Include Toolbox>Include Formatter:

• Formatting

  • Delimiter Mode
    Optionally change "" to <> or vice versa
  • Slash Mode
    Optionally changes / to \ or vice versa
  • Remove Empty Lines Optionally removes empty lines within the selection

• Path Reformatting

  • Ignore File Relative
    If true, the local file path will not be considered for reformatting the path
  • Mode
    Configures the strategy that should be used to determine new include paths

• Sorting
  The tool will always sort all selected includes alphabeticaly, unless..

  • Precedence Regex
    Every line gives a regex - if an include matches a regex, it has precedence over all other includes that do not match any, or a later regex. Multiple includes that match the same regex are still alphabetically sorted.
  • Sort by Include Type
    Optionally puts all inclues with either quotes or angle brackets first.
  • Remove duplicates
    Removes duplicate headers. May be suppressed using //IWYU pragma: keep e.g. for maintaining strong ordering dependency

All operations are performed in the order in which they occur on the option page.

Trial and Error Include Removal

The name says it all: This tool will try to remove an include, recompile, see if it works and proceed to the next one accordingly.
The tool can be started an all compilable files in a VC++ by right clicking on the code window. There is also a special version in the Project context menu which will run over every single compilable file in the project (takes very long).

Obviously the results of this tool are far from optimal and the process can take a while.

The exact behavior of this command can be controlled in Tools>Options>Include Toolbox>Trial and Error Include Removal:

• Ignore List
  A list of regexes. If the content of an include matches any of these, it will never be removed.
• Ignore First Include
  If true the top most include will always be ignored, does not work in headers
• Removal Order
  Wheater the tool should run from top to bottom or bottom to top (this can make a difference on the end result)

To suppress removal of a single include, add a comment to its line containing //IWYU pragma: keep

Since 3.2.47 works for header files as well.

Include-What-You-Use Integration

Include Toolbox with an integration of the free Include-What-You-Use. By default (see Tools>Options>Include Toolbox>Include-What-You-Use) it is downloaded together with a VC++ specific mapping file from this github repository upon first use (and whenever there is a newer version available in this repository). New version is automatically built and shipped every month.

Again, it can be activated by right clicking on a C++ Code file in a VC++ document. The Option page exposes most of IWYU's command line options and provides the option to directly apply the results. The complete output will be displayed in the Include Toolbox output window.

IWYU often does not work as expected - for more information look at the official docs.

IWYU has several pragmas, described at Pragmas, e.g. //IWYU pragma: keep works as include removal suppresor.

Since 3.0.0: Added mapper support. Maps produced with it are used to make results better, as it describes all include files within mapped file.

Added cheap and precise modes: cheap mode copies contents of IWYU output, may be undesirable, as it does not account forward declarations, but it is fast. Presice mode uses custom LL1 partial parser, which reads all the information from file and output, combining all the possibilities it allows for additional steps:

• Format all includes
• Extract all forward declarations and place them before code
• Empty namespaces removal, useful combining with previous option

There is a BETA feature of IWYU usage with several files:

• Select several files in project menu.
• Right click>Run Include-What-You-Use

It is useful for example with several .cpp files, when you are sure, that headers included are fully correct.

Map Generator for Include-What-You-Use [beta]

The feature is tested, but it is useful even within large projects. It makes results of IWYU better. Works only on header files.

It gets all the #include declarations and writes them as they are to the specified mapping file. Combining several of those files are done using {ref: } in the final file. To find more visit official mappings guide

Configuration is on Tools>Options>Include Toolbox>Include Mapper page.

Mapper has one option, that specifies separator you would like to use, quotes or angle brackets. This option maps opposite choice as a private header, ultimately forsing IWYU to choose your vision of the file.

To specify relative index use Relative File Prefix option. e.g. C:\users\map\a.h with prefix C:\users will write <map/a.h> to the final map.

Include Graph [beta]

Partially restored functionality of include graph. The Graph window is controlled by the Open in Include Graph command.

The command opens a window with lazy parsed #includes. The file names are expandable only if the file described is present in project directory or in any of the additional directories. Graph includes can be navigated by double clicking the item in a graph. This will open the file which has that include line in it.

Options are not working right now. DGML save command will be added in future releases.

The graph is not stable, searching for bugs or inconsistensies. Issues pointing inconsistensies are welcome.

Compile Header [new]

Have you ever felt the situation: you have a clean API header, and you wonder if it is working standalone without any dependencies?

Well, now there is a button for that. It creates an empty file in you project, includes the header and compiles it. Also it automatically adds a pch if it exists.

FAQ:

• Why don't you apply the formatting to all includes within a file?
  This may sound desirable, but is very messy if there are optional includes (preprocessor) or specific exceptions where not all includes should be in the same place or in the default order.
• XY didn't work, what is going on?
  Look in the output window for Include Toolbox to get more information.

Optimal Usage Pattern

1. Start from the header file in your project, that includes only standard library.
2. Use IWYU and/or TAEIR tool
3. Add file to mapper with pre-specified .imp file at Tools>Options>Include Toolbox>Include Mapper
4. Add this map file to the IWYU preset at Tools>Options>Include Toolbox>Include-What-You-Use>Mapping file
5. Go through all the headers in your project, including them in mapper file
6. After that go through all .cpp files with the same tools. IWYU has mass processing for several selected files. IThe best way of using this tool is in batches of \4-5 files.
7. Compile files to asses the result.

Final Words

The IWYU itself is far from perfect, TAEIR also, but combinig those tools and Mapping capabilities with other maps, provided by IWYU repo and defaults the results will be just good enough.