How can I create a task in Visual Studio Code (the most recent version) to compile and run .c files.
I found this online:
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"label": "compile and run C",
"type": "shell",
"command": "(gcc -g ${file} -o ${fileBasenameNoExtension}) -and (./${fileBasenameNoExtension})",
"presentation": {
"reveal": "always",
"panel": "shared"
},
"group": {
"kind": "build",
"isDefault": true
}
}
]
}
I managed to tweak it but it still wont compile and run at the same time, instead I get this:
> Executing task: (gcc -g d:\ISEP\ARQCP\partilha\arqcp19202deg01\pl0_7.c -o pl0_7) -and (./pl0_7) <
False
Terminal will be reused by tasks, press any key to close it.
Is there any way to compile and run my code with a simple shortcut (currently i press CTRL+SHIFT+B to "compile and run")?
So I kept looking for a way to do it and I found this simple extension: Code Runner.
Basically it just adds a Run Code button for most of the coding languages and it makes it so much easier.
Related
I am using VScode with the following version details:
Version: 1.73.0 (user setup)
Commit: 8fa188b2b301d36553cbc9ce1b0a146ccb93351f
Date: 2022-11-01T15:34:06.111Z
Electron: 19.0.17
Chromium: 102.0.5005.167
Node.js: 16.14.2
V8: 10.2.154.15-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22000
Sandboxed: No
I am unable to debug a child process when I use fork().
I tried looking for a way to do so, and heard about this extension for Visual Studio: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vsdbgplat.MicrosoftChildProcessDebuggingPowerTool2022&ssr=false#overview
I tried checking in the extensions section of VSCode but didn't find it. So, I decided to manually install is by downloading the vsix file. When I tried installing it by using the "Install from VSIX" option in the extension manager, I get this error:
extension/package.json not found inside zip.
I did some more Googling and saw something about Visual Studio being different from Visual Studio Code, and that might be the cause of the error in installation.
So, is there any way/alternative around this? How do I debug a child process in Visual Studio Code?
This is something outside of the main guides from VS Code, although they vaguely mentioned about supporting this.
You can refer to the GDB's fork debug page for more info, here is what you can add into your .vscode/launch.json:
{
"configurations": [
{
// ...
"setupCommands": [
{
"description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
"text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
"ignoreFailures": true
},
{
// https://sourceware.org/gdb/onlinedocs/gdb/Forks.html
"description": "Fork follows Child process",
"text": "set follow-fork-mode child",
"ignoreFailures": true
},
{
// https://sourceware.org/gdb/onlinedocs/gdb/Forks.html
"description": "Fork will keep the other process attached to debugger",
"text": "set detach-on-fork off",
"ignoreFailures": true
}
]
}
]
}
If you're using LLDB or codeLLDB, here is the LLDB command that mirrors the above except the detach feature:
{
"configurations": [
{
// ...
"initCommands": [
"settings set target.process.follow-fork-mode child"
]
}
]
}
Edit
I haven't used MSVC personally, but if you're using MSVC debugger, you can try to use .childdbg 1 as a startup command, here is the reference page from Microsoft.
How can I compile multiple C files inside of Visual Studio Code? Right now I can only compile the main file and I want to be able to compile multiple files from multiple folders and then have the ability to rename that outputted exe and have it go into a designated folder. I can do this all from the command line but it would be way easier if I could just do it from within the IDE. For example lets say I have a Main.c file and an Addresses.c file within the the default directory (next to all of the folders like .vsCode and so on) and then I have another folder named gui that also contains C files. In that example how could I compile my project so that it correctly uses all of those files then changes the outputted exe's name to test.exe (instead of it being main.exe) and places it inside of a folder labeled Builds? I have watched and read so many articles and nothing works I would really appreciate any help thank you! The following snippets are of my launch.json file and my c_cpp_properties file if you need anything else please let me know! Also I am on windows 10 also I do also have header files but I never had to specify them when compiling from my command prompt so I did not mention them above.
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"type": "cppbuild",
"label": "C/C++: gcc.exe build active file",
"command": "C:/MinGW/bin/gcc.exe",
"args": [
"-g",
"${fileDirname}\\**.c",
"${fileDirname}\\**.h",
"-o",
"${fileDirname}\\${fileBasenameNoExtension}.exe",
],
"options": {
"cwd": "C:/MinGW/bin"
},
"problemMatcher": [
"$gcc"
],
"group": {
"kind": "build",
"isDefault": true
},
"detail": "Task generated by Debugger."
}
]
}
{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"name": "C/C++ Runner: Debug Session",
"type": "cppdbg",
"request": "launch",
"args": [],
"stopAtEntry": false,
"externalConsole": true,
"cwd": "c:/Users/me/Desktop/Coding/C and C++/Externel/NonKernel/Cube",
"program": "c:/Users/me/Desktop/Coding/C and C++/Externel/NonKernel/Cube/build/Debug/outDebug",
"miDebuggerPath": "gdb",
"setupCommands": [
{
"description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
"text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
"ignoreFailures": true
}
]
}
]
}
I wrote the following C program:
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("size of void pointer in bytes : %d\n", sizeof(void*));
return 0;
}
I am using Windows 10 now, hence, I installed the gcc compiler (MinGW for Windows). Now I want to compile my program once for the 32 bit architecture and then for 64 bit architecture. In order to do so, I added m32 to the args parameter in launch.json, then compiled the program. After that, I done the same thing but for the 64 bit architecture (added m64 flag).
In both cases the output of the program was:
size of void pointer in bytes : 8
That made me wonder. If I compile my program in Visual Studio (there you can choose the architecture pretty simple, in the dropdown menu next to the "green arrow"), then the word size is 4 bytes (32 bit architecture) and 8 bytes (64 bit architecture) as it should be.
I also tried to use -march=i386 for the 32 bit architecture but it does not help me, the pointer was still 8 byte long. It seems that the passed arguments do not affect the architecture at all. Am I missing something or using the wrong arguments for my purpose?
My launch.json file (with -m32 flag):
{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"name": "gcc.exe - Build and debug active file",
"type": "cppdbg",
"request": "launch",
"program": "${fileDirname}\\${fileBasenameNoExtension}.exe",
"args": ["-m32"],
"stopAtEntry": false,
"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
"environment": [],
"externalConsole": false,
"MIMode": "gdb",
"miDebuggerPath": "D:\\Compilers\\MinGW\\mingw64\\bin\\gdb.exe",
"setupCommands": [
{
"description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
"text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
"ignoreFailures": true
}
],
"preLaunchTask": "C/C++: gcc.exe build active file"
}
]
}
launch.json contains commands describing how to launch the compiled files. args are command-line arguments passed to the program (argc,argv), not the compiler.
You need to setup tasks.json which basically executes scripts.
Search for (ctrl+shift+P for me) Tasks:Configure Task or Task:Configure Default build Task. Or you can find them in the Terminal menu.
It can find gcc on its own and create a default task for it which compiles the currently active file. Unfortunately, I do not have experience with managing multi-file projects direclty in VSCode, so I cannot help more, but you should be able to find some default tasks.json for C++ on the internet. Or go with CMake or similar.
I'm trying to setup VSCode to build and debug C on Windows.
I have installed MinGW.
I'm trying to generate an .exe file for the following code:
#define USE_PTS true
#include "Cartography.h"
static Cartography cartography ;
static int nCartography = 0;
int main(void)
{
nCartography = loadCartography("map (1).txt", &cartography);
showCartography(cartography, nCartography);
interpreter(cartography, nCartography);
return 0;
}
I have two other files Cartography.hand Cartography.c.
If I run the following command using the powershell terminal, it generates an .exe file perfectly:
gcc -std=c11 -o Main Cartography.c Main.c -lm
But if I try to build it using VSCode (using Ctrl + Shift + B) it doesn't recognize the other files:
> Executing task in folder Projeto2LAP: gcc -std=c11 -o Main Cartography.c Main.c -lm <
gcc.exe: error: Cartography.c: No such file or directory
gcc.exe: error: Main.c: No such file or directory
The terminal process terminated with exit code: 1
Terminal will be reused by tasks, press any key to close it.
Here is my tasks.json file:
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"type": "shell",
"label": "C/C++: gcc.exe build active file",
"command": "gcc -std=c11 -o Main Cartography.c Main.c -lm",
"options": {
"cwd": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\mingw-w64\\i686-8.1.0-posix-dwarf-rt_v6-rev0\\mingw32\\bin"
},
"problemMatcher": [
"$gcc"
],
"group": {
"kind": "build",
"isDefault": true
}
}
]
}
The other issue I have is when I'm trying to use the built in VSCode debugger.
I generate the .exe file using the command I mentioned, so an .exe file is present in the current folder.
(I should also mention that the folder I'm working on only contains the files and the .vscode folder, there are no subfolders or anything that could cause an error).
When I click on debug it gives me the following error message:
Error message prompt
Here is my launch.json file:
{
// Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
// Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
// For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"name": "(gdb) Launch",
"type": "cppdbg",
"request": "launch",
"program": "${workspaceFolder}/Main.exe",
"args": [],
"stopAtEntry": false,
"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
"environment": [],
"externalConsole": false,
"MIMode": "gdb",
"miDebuggerPath": "C:/Program Files (x86)/mingw-w64/i686-8.1.0-posix-dwarf-rt_v6-rev0/mingw32/bin/gdb.exe",
"setupCommands": [
{
"description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
"text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
"ignoreFailures": true
}
]
}
]
}
What am I doing wrong?
Your first question:
When you use the powershell command, it gets your *.c files from your current wording directory via relative paths. This is what you attempt to do in the task command, but your CWD is set to the wrong place. In tasks.json, you need to either specify the absolute paths of your files in the gcc command or change your CWD to the directory of the *.c files. Or better, VSC lets you set "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}". This means if you change the name or do any other edits, your task will still work. (For bonus points, you could set the CWD to the enclosing folder of the currently selected file.) First question part 2: The task error probably isn't you. It appears to be a known bug. Instructions here to mitigate it.
Sorry for the late response
I don't see any reason why you would get the debugging error, so my only guess is a permissions problem. Your debugger may not be able to "see" that that directory exists. Make sure neither it nor any of its parent folders have unduly tights restrictions.
Rather than pass one long string to launch GCC in tasks.json, consider using the "args" list variable, placing each arg in a separate element of the list.
Assuming your source files are located within the same directory that was opened in VSCode, the previously-mentioned "${workspaceFolder}" macro will construct the correct paths.
Otherwise, provide absolute paths to your source files as earlier suggested.
Example:
{
"label": "GCC Build Debug (64-bit)",
"type": "shell",
"command": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\mingw-w64\\i686-8.1.0-posix-dwarf-rt_v6-rev0\\mingw32\\bin\\gcc",
"args": [
"--std=c11",
"-g",
"-lm",
"-o",
"${workspaceFolder}/Main"
"${workspaceFolder}/Main.c",
"${workspaceFolder}/Cartography.c"
],
"problemMatcher": [
"$msCompile"
]
},
I want to use visual studio code for C programming and I want to automate the procedure of saving -> compiling -> running. At the moment I have MinGW installed and using the C/C++ extension I achieved the saving and compiling using Ctrl+S (I changed the shortcut of compiling) but in order to execute I need to go to the cmd prompt and execute the program.
Is there any way I can, using one button, achieve this?
The closest I came to the aswer is to define my shortcuts
[
{
"key": "ctrl+s",
"command": "workbench.action.tasks.build"
},
{
"key": "ctrl+d",
"command": "workbench.action.tasks.test"
}
]
Then in tasks.json
{
"version": "0.1.0",
"command": "cmd",
"isShellCommand": true,
"args": ["/C"],
"showOutput": "silent",
"tasks": [
{
"taskName": "saveNcompile",
"suppressTaskName": true,
"isBuildCommand": true,
"args": ["gcc main.c -o main.exe"]
}, {
"taskName": "execute",
"suppressTaskName": true,
"isTestCommand": true,
"args": ["main.exe"]
}
]
}
And now using ctrl+s save and compile and ctrl+d execute.