iar-vsc README

Note: This extension is deprecated in favor of IAR Build and IAR C-SPY Debug

This plugin makes it possible to combine the IAR Systems compiler solutions with Visual Studio Code. The goal is to support all IAR Systems compiler variants like for example Arm, RISC-V, MSP430, AVR, STM8, 8051, Renesas RX, RL78 and RH850. If you find any problems with this plugin, please open an issue on GitHub and include the compiler and version used. If possible, include also the project file (.ewp). This plugin works on any operating system supported by VS Code and IAR Systems. IAR Systems has contributed to the development of this plugin.

The plugin can parse ewp files and convert them to a valid c_cpp_properties.json configuration which is used by the cpptools extension made by Microsoft. In the Features section you can find more information on how to use this extension.

Improvements are welcome through pull requests or issue reports.

Features

Configuring the extension

The extension will automatically detect Embedded Workbench installations on your systems, as well as IAR projects in your VS Code workspace. You may select which workbench to use, which configuration to build, and other settings using buttons in the statusbar.

There is also a view in the explorer tab for these settings. Alternatively, you can call the commands behind those buttons, see the contribution tab in the extension section of VS Code.

If your Embedded Workbench is installed in a non-standard location, the plugin might not autodetect it. In that case you will need to set iarvsc.iarInstallDirectories in your settings.json file, see Extension Settings

Building

When you execute the VSCode command Tasks: Configure Task two items are added which are generated by this extension:

1. iar: IAR Build - template using selected workbench, project and config
2. iar: IAR Rebuild - template using selected workbench, project and config

When selecting one of the two, a default task is generated which uses the workbench, project and configuration selected using the UI. When you select a different configuration, project or workbench, this task will use the newly selected items.

C-STAT

You can run C-STAT on your project with the iar-cstat: Run C-STAT Analysis task, and clear the warnings with iar-cstat: Clear C-STAT Diagnostics. When running these tasks, VS Code might prompt you about scanning the task output, and it is recommended to select Never scan the task output for iar-cstat tasks, since these tasks do not use a regular problem matcher. You can filter the C-STAT warnings by setting iarvsc.cstatFilterLevel in your user settings.

Debugging

In v1.1.0 settings are added to configure a gdbserver and a gdb executable. The following data for the launch.json file will use this configuration to start debugging. Currently this is only for testing and is a work in progress. The settings are not yet automatically updated when selecting different projects or configurations (even though the description of the settings mention this).

Open or create the launch.json file and place your cursor at the beginning of the configurations array. Now press Ctrl + Space to activate autocompletion. You should see an item like IAR: Debug using gdb server. If you select this, the configuration below is automatically generated.

Some information about the used config parameters:

• iarvsc.debugger: The path to the debugger to use. In case your debugger is on your PATH environment you can just enter the debugger executable like arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe, otherwise, use the absolute path to the debugger.
• iarvsc.gdbServer: The path to the gdb server. If you are using a J-Link Segger, you will probably have to enter the full path like: C:\GNU Tools ARM Embedded\2018-q4-major\bin\arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe. Keep in mind you have to escape the backslashes \ in json.
• iarvsc.device: The device you are want to flash and debug. Check your debug server documentation which values you can use here.
• iarvsc.outFile: This field is not yet used in the current release, but it is mentioned here for completeness. You can use it, but keep in mind the value you enter here can conflict in future releases.

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Debug GDBServer",
            "type": "cppdbg",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "Path to the out file",
            "stopAtEntry": true,
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
            "externalConsole": true,
            "MIMode": "gdb",
            "miDebuggerPath": "${config:iarvsc.debugger}",
            "debugServerPath": "${config:iarvsc.gdbServer}",
            "debugServerArgs": "-if swd -singlerun -strict -endian little -speed auto -port 3333 -device ${config:iarvsc.device} -vd -strict -halt",
            "serverStarted": "Connected\\ to\\ target",
            "serverLaunchTimeout": 5000,
            "filterStderr": false,
            "filterStdout": true,
            "setupCommands": [
                {
                    "text": "target remote localhost:3333"
                },
                {
                    "text": "monitor flash breakpoints = 1"
                },
                {
                    "text": "monitor flash download = 1"
                },
                {
                    "text": "monitor reset"
                },
                {
                    "text": "load \\\"Path to the out file\\\""
                },
                {
                    "text": "monitor reset"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Requirements

This extensions presumes that you have installed cpptools of microsoft.

Extension Settings

To change extension settings, go to Ctrl+Shift+P->Preferences: Open Settings (JSON) to open your settings.json file and add the appropriate json entries. This extension contributes the following settings:

• iarvsc.iarInstallDirectories: The rootfolder where all IAR workbenches are installed. By default this is C:\Program Files (x86)\Iar Systems. The default settings contain also the non-x86 folder in case IAR will move to 64-bit installations. For example, if your Embedded Workbench installation is at D:\Iar Systems\Embedded Workbench 8.40, add the following to your settings.json file:

"iarvsc.iarInstallDirectories": ["D:\\Iar Systems"],

This will also let the extension find any other workbench installations in that folder (e.g. D:\Iar Systems\My Second Workbench 7.20).

• iarvsc.defines: Some custom defines you can add to the define list. They follow the identifier=value structure. This list will contain all intrinsic compiler functions that are known by the author of this extension. If some are missing, create a GitHub issue.
• iarvsc.c-StatFilterLevel: Sets the lowest severity of C-STAT warnings to display.
• iarvsc.c-StatDisplayLowSeverityWarningsAsHints: When the filter level is set to low, this option will display low severity warnings as 'hints' instead of warnings. This is helpful if you have lots of low severity warnings and want to hide them from the problems list (but still see them in the editor).

Known Issues

Release Notes

1.3.0

• Pull #74: New source file configuration system. This should be much more accurate than the previous one, and handles cases such as CMSIS headers, c++ files, variable expansion, external define files.
• Pull #86: Fix a bug where workbenches were not detected on linux

1.2.1

• Remove 'Scan for task output' dialog when running C-STAT tasks
• Rescan for workspaces when changing iarInstallDirectories
• Change name of C-STAT settings
• Update readme section on settings

1.2.0

• Change extension name and icon
• Set license to MPL 2.0
• Pull #61: Integrate C-STAT
• Pull #60: Support IAR extended keywords
• Pull #59: Autoselect options for new projects
• Pull #59: Add explorer view for project options
• #51: Use a separate config file to store IAR project related configs which can differ between developers
• Pull #63: Add clearer error and warning messages
• Pull #48: Add extra build argument setting
• #47: Speed up startup time by only calling the compiler when selecting it and not going through all compilers at startup
• Pull #58: Allow extension to run on non-windows OSs
• Update documentation and use readthedocs as host
• Add dependency on ms-vscode.cpptools so it is easier to install it
• Clean up readme

1.1.0

• Fixes #38: IAR:Select Configuration does not autopopulate with options
• Implement #28: Add support to generate build tasks using the VSCode built-in command Tasks: Configure Task.
• Fix #18: Save all files before build. (this is actually fixed because we are now using tasks)
• Implement #10: Create a launch task to start debugging using the Segger J-Link debugger using settings configurations parameters.
• Fix #44: Perform a recursive search to find eww files in the workspace root folder.

1.0.1

• Fixes #38: IAR:Select Configuration does not autopopulate with options

1.0.0

• Add __root to default defines
• Add keywords so the extension is easier to find in the marketplace
• Add listeners to the define settings so the cpptools config file is generated when changed
• Fix issue when cpptools config file is empty or invalid: plugin would not load
• Add some more settings for default c and c++ standard configuration
• Correct relative include paths in cpptools config file
• Add = sign to default defines in settings
• Add a problem matcher
• Redisgned the extension
• Instead of completely command drive, status bar items are added to configure most things
• Automatically monitor the selected ewp file and auto generate the config file
• Only generate one config file IAR in the c_cpp_properties.json file. Changing between projects/configurations will automatically trigger an update of the IAR config section in the json file.
• Move all settings from iar-vsc.json to the configuration file of vscode. This way configurations are reusable.
• Make extension platform aware so you can choose from all compilers from the selected workbench.
• Add new setting to define your own defines through the IAR settings. This way it is possible to define the intrinsics of your compiler so you do not have to wait for extension updates.
• Add command to open IAR workbench. For now only the workbench opens without a workspace. See Issue #24 @ GitHub.
• Extension is now loaded when the workspace contains .ewp files.
• Added basic unit- and integrationtests.
• Probably a lot more...

0.0.3

• Fixes #1: Extension did not detect end of build command
• Fixes #3: Renamed iar-vsc.js to iar-vsc.json

0.0.2

Add system include paths

0.0.1

Initial release of iar-vsc

Road Map

Check the github project page for more information about the roadmap.