Postprocessor IDE for SolidCAM

Disclaimer. This is an unofficial, independently developed extension. "SolidCAM" is a registered trademark of SolidCAM Ltd. "GPPL" (General Post-Processor Language) refers to the proprietary postprocessor language used by SolidCAM products. This extension is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or supported by SolidCAM Ltd. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Full support for the GPPL language (.gpp) in Visual Studio Code: semantic highlighting, formatting, diagnostics, smart code snippets, and much more.

Features

Semantic Highlighting & Hover

All syntax highlighting is provided by the language server — variables, procedures, parameters, types, keywords, operators, built-in functions and system variables are color-coded by meaning, not just pattern matching.

Hover over any symbol to see its kind, type, scope, and reference count. System variables show a description from the SolidCAM reference. 48 built-in functions (abs, substr, atan2, date, …) show their full signature, return type, localized description, and usage examples.

Auto-Completion

Context-aware suggestions for keywords, built-in functions, your own variables and procedures, plus 1070 SolidCAM system variables and 94 system procedures with descriptions. Built-in functions expand as snippets with tab-stops over parameter names and show localized documentation in the completion popup. Descriptions follow VS Code's display language — English, Russian, and German are shipped.

Smart Call Completion

After you type call (with the trailing space), the list of procedures opens automatically — no Ctrl+Space needed. Pick one and the call expands into a full snippet with tab-stops over the declared parameter names — for example, selecting @linear_move for a procedure declared as @linear_move(numeric tx, numeric ty, numeric tz) inserts @linear_move(${1:tx}, ${2:ty}, ${3:tz}). Procedures without parameters insert just the name. Works both at the start of a line and inline after if x == 1 then call or else call .

Wrap Selection with Built-ins

Select any variable, press Ctrl+Space, pick a built-in function from the list — your selection becomes the first argument automatically. For example, select x_pos and pick active → you get active(x_pos). Works for all 48 built-in functions — abs, sin, sqrt, upper, strlen, atan2, substr, and the rest. Powered by VS Code's standard $TM_SELECTED_TEXT snippet variable — no configuration required.

Without a selection, the same completion behaves as before: the first parameter is a placeholder tab-stop (abs(number)), so nothing changes when you just type abs at the cursor.

Go to Definition & Find All References

F12 / Ctrl+Click — jump to where a variable or procedure is defined. Shift+F12 — see all usages across the file.

Rename Symbol

F2 — rename a variable or procedure across the entire file. Scope-aware: local renames stay local.

Diagnostics

Parse errors with clear, context-aware messages. Semantic checks: undeclared identifiers (GPPL2007), type mismatch on assignment (GPPL2008), redeclarations, system variable conflicts, local-shadows-global warnings, missing @init_post / @init_inc detection, and globals-outside-init-procedure hints. VMID variables from the machine-specific .vmid file are recognized automatically. File encoding check (GPPL3001) warns about characters not representable in the target ANSI encoding. Every diagnostic carries a stable code (GPPL1xxx syntax, GPPL2xxx semantic, GPPL3xxx encoding).

Quick Fixes

Ctrl+. on a diagnostic to apply a one-click fix:

• Insert missing endp / endif / endw
• Close an unterminated string literal
• Insert a missing } for a code generation block
• Rename a variable that conflicts with a system name
• Remove a duplicate variable declaration
• Rename a local variable that shadows a global (x → x_local)
• Generate a missing @init_post procedure stub
• Move a global declaration into @init_post or @init_inc

Snippets

Type a prefix and press Tab to expand common constructs with tab-stops at the places you care about:

Document Formatting

Shift+Alt+F — automatic indentation and operator spacing based on the parse tree.

Signature Help

Parameter hints when calling procedures and built-in functions — see expected argument types, optional parameters, and localized descriptions. Supports all 48 built-in functions and user-defined @-procedures.

Clickable inc

Ctrl+Click on the filename in inc "other.gpp" opens the referenced file. Paths are resolved relative to the directory of the current .gpp file (absolute paths are honoured as-is). Both quote styles and forward-slash subdirectories work.

And More

• Document Outline — see the structure of your postprocessor (Ctrl+Shift+O)
• Breadcrumbs — navigate by procedure name
• Folding — collapse proc/endp, if/endif, while/endw, comment blocks, and custom ;#region NAME / ;#endregion markers (C#-style; works across or inside procedures, no semantic meaning)
• VMID support — variables from the machine-specific .vmid file (same name as your .gpp) are recognized, shown in completion and hover, and used for type checking. VMID files are parsed with XXE and billion-laughs hardening.
• System Catalog — built-in reference for SolidCAM system variables and procedures

Formatting Rules

The formatter uses the GPPL parse tree (CST) for precise formatting. Parse errors no longer block it — valid lines are reformatted even when the file contains syntax errors. Lines where the parser lost or reordered tokens are preserved verbatim.

Empty lines, comments, and string literals are preserved as-is.

File Encoding

SolidCAM reads .gpp files in the system's ANSI codepage. The extension defaults .gpp to Windows-1252 and warns (GPPL3001) about characters that cannot be saved in the selected encoding.

For Cyrillic postprocessors (Windows-1251)

Add to your User or Workspace settings.json:

"[gppl]": {
  "files.encoding": "windows1251"
},
"gppl.encoding": "windows1251"

files.encoding tells VS Code how to read/write the file; gppl.encoding tells the language server which characters to accept. Both should match.

Switching encoding of an open file

Use VS Code's built-in commands:

• Change File Encoding → Reopen with Encoding — re-read the file bytes with a different codepage (useful when a file opens with mojibake).
• Change File Encoding → Save with Encoding — re-save the file in a different codepage.

The extension intentionally does not offer per-character Quick Fixes — re-encoding the whole file is almost always the right action.

Language / Localization

The extension is fully localized in English (default), Russian, and German. The active language follows VS Code's display language (vscode.env.language) — install the matching Language Pack and the extension follows automatically. A reload (Developer: Reload Window) is needed for the language server to pick up a newly changed locale.

What gets translated:

• System catalog — all 1105 system variable descriptions and 94 system procedure descriptions (hover tooltips and completion item details).
• Diagnostics — parser error messages, semantic diagnostics, encoding warnings.
• UI strings — extension settings, command titles, hover labels, completion details.

No configuration is required.

Installation

From VS Marketplace (Recommended)

Search for SolidCAM Postprocessor IDE in the Extensions panel (Ctrl+Shift+X), or install directly:

code --install-extension anzory.vscode-gppl-ide

Or visit the marketplace page.

From VSIX (Offline)

1. Download vscode-gppl-ide-x.y.z.vsix from GitHub Releases
2. In VSCode: Extensions panel → ... → Install from VSIX...

Or via command line:

code --install-extension vscode-gppl-ide-x.y.z.vsix

Requirements

• Windows (SolidCAM is Windows-only)
• VSCode 1.75+

Feedback

This extension is built for postprocessor developers. If you work with GPPL, your input is invaluable:

• Bug reports — open an issue
• Feature requests — what would save you the most time?
• General impressions — is this heading in the right direction?

License

The VSCode extension client is licensed under MIT. The language server binary is proprietary. See LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgements

This extension builds on the shoulders of excellent open-source projects. The language server in particular is powered by:

• ANTLR 4 (BSD-3-Clause) — parser generator used for GPPL grammar
• OmniSharp Language Server Protocol (MIT) — LSP 3.17 framework for .NET
• Serilog (Apache-2.0) — structured logging
• .NET Runtime (MIT) — © .NET Foundation and Contributors

For the complete list of third-party components, their versions, licenses, and copyright notices, see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md — included in every release.