VSCodeCppIDE_Template

Template of C++ project with config to make a VSCode be IDE-like with set of useful features for simplier development life.

Features

• configured to run as on host, as inside Docker
• uses CMake to manage the project
• configured to work with package managers (automatically downloads and sets packages during project configuration)
  • by default uses vcpkg and vcpkg.json (should be defined environment variable VCPKG_ROOT)
  • can use Conan and conanfile.txt (should NOT be defined environment variable VCPKG_ROOT)
• easy to make and show Valgrind reports
  • Memcheck
  • Cachegrind
  • Callgrind
• LiveProcMon feature shows resources consumption of the launched application on the charts
• CppRunCurrentFile feature to run & debug currently opened C++ snippet
• easy access to cppreference (via hotkey Ctrl+Shift+A) to get description of specified data type, method, etc
• enabled auto linting (with clang-tidy) and auto formatting (with clang-format)
• automatically applies name of directory as name of a project/library
• automatically finds and adds needed sources from certain folders, and includes them into the project's tree (described in Configure and Internal functions and variables description)
• automatically adds (if possible) Boost and Qt6 libraries (installed via package manager)
• applies set of compiler's flags for extra safety: GCC, Clang or MSVC
• automatically finds and adds unit tests (don't use the dot symbol '.' in the name of test's source file!)
• for MSVC automatically copies MS Visual C++ runtime libs to target building directory

---

Main tasks

• C++ Project: Clean - runs cmake.clean command + remove all Valgrind reports
• C++ Project: Configure and Build - configure and run cmake.build command
• C++ Project: Configure and Rebuild - configure and run cmake.cleanRebuild command
• C++ Project: Configure and Install Packages - install conanfile.txt and run cmake.configure command
• CppRunCurrentFile: Run/Debug - build, run & debug currently opened .cpp source file
• LiveProcMon: Start Monitoring - start real-time monitoring of the target process (by default taken from cmake.launchTargetPath)
• LiveProcMon: Stop Monitoring - stop monitoring
• Valgrind: Show Memcheck Report - show profiler's report (check for memory leaks)
• Valgrind: Show Cachegrind Report - show profiler's report (check for chache missings)
• Valgrind: Show Callgrind Report - show profiler's report (check for tree of calls and theirs performing times)

Shortcuts (in status bar)

• Debug
• LiveProcMon: Start Monitoring
• LiveProcMon: Stop Monitoring
• Valgrind: Show Memcheck Report
• Valgrind: Show Cachegrind Report
• Valgrind: Show Callgrind Report
• CppRunCurrentFile: Run/Debug
• Fold level 4
• Fold level 3
• Fold level 2
• Fold level 1
• Unfold all

---

Basic project's stucture

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ_{[ PROJECT_FOLDER = PROJECT_NAME ]}
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- CMakeLists.txt
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- src
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- main.cpp
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- test
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- lib
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- _{[ somelib ]}
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- CMakeLists.txt
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- include
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- src
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- test
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- thirdparty
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- _{[ thirdlib ]}
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- CMakeLists.txt
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- include
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- src
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ|- test

---

HOW TO

1. Install and Open

Variant #1: Inside Docker

• 1.1.1. (install docker) and (docker compose) on your host machine (solution for Fedora Silverblue)
• 1.1.2. Open an existing folder in a container

Variant #2: On your host machine

• 1.2.1. install gcc (e.g. apt install gcc gdb)
• 1.2.2. install clang (e.g. apt install clang clang-tidy clang-format lldb)
• 1.2.3. install python (e.g. apt install python3 python3-venv, do python3 -m venv ~/.local --system-site-packages and add ~/.local/bin to global PATH variable)
• 1.2.4. install cmake (e.g. pip install cmake)
• 1.2.5. install conan (e.g. pip install conan and do conan profile detect)
• 1.2.6. install ploting tools (e.g. pip install gprof2dot matplotlib pillow)

2. Configure

• 2.1. clone that repositoy to your local machine
• 2.2. current source directory is ./src. if needed, change main sources directory HERE
• 2.3. add some external libraries in CMakeLists.txt_a_Project_Libs.cmake
• 2.4. add source of uint tests to folder test or add/change you testing configuration in CMakeLists.txt_b_Project_Tests.cmake
• 2.5. change required libraries in vcpkg.json or in conanfile.txt, the package manager will handle it automatically during the first build
• 2.6. if needed, you can customize safety flags for your current compiler: GCC, Clang or MSVC
• 2.7. if neeeded, add HERE specific sources and includes of your current project

3. Use

• 3.1. run task Terminal>Run Task>Project: Configure with Conan Install
• 3.2. press F5 to build Debug version (variant selected by default in CMake Tools) and run debugging process (by default using LLDB, can be changed in launch.json)
• 3.3. use additinal tasks for profiling:
  • LiveProcMon: Start Monitoring to check resources consumption at real-time
  • Valgrind: Show Memcheck Report, Valgrind: Show Callgrind Report and Valgrind: Show Cachegrind Report to get profiler's reports
  • CppRunCurrentFile: Run/Debug to compile and run currently snippet (e.g. single .cpp file located in folder test_cpp_snippets)

---

Internal functions and variables description

• function get_sources_from_dir( SOURCES_DEST_VAR INCLUDES_DEST_VAR TARGET_FOLDER_PATH ) - scans TARGET_FOLDER_PATH (non-recursive globbing) and adds C++ files by the mask into variables: SOURCES_DEST_VAR (list of source files) and INCLUDES_DEST_VAR (list of include paths).
• variable OUTPUT_NAME - the name of the current target name (target executable file name). usually it the same as varibale PROJECT_NAME, but for Qt6 application it different: app${PROJECT_NAME}.
• variable SAFETY_FLAGS - contains the list of the compiler's flags (GCC, Clang or MSVC)

---

Used extensions

• required
  • ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers - run development environment in a container
  • ms-vscode.cpptools-extension-pack - support of C++ intellisense, refactoring, sources colorization, etc.
  • xaver.clang-format - code formatter
  • vadimcn.vscode-lldb - support of LLDB debugger
  • tintinweb.graphviz-interactive-preview - visualize charts, required for Callgrind reports
  • ryuta46.multi-command - support of custom commands
  • rioj7.command-variable - advanced variables substitution
  • ArturoDent.launch-config - allows to launch debugging with specific configuration
  • fredericbonnet.cmake-test-adapter - unit tests explorer
• additional
  • dacapoday.status-bar-button - debugging/profiling and code folding buttons in status bar
  • matepek.vscode-catch2-test-adapter - a better unit tests explorer for GTests (but has no support of Boost.UnitTest)
  • Guyutongxue.cpp-reference - easy access to cppreference
  • krosf.vscode-valgrind - colorization of Valgrind reports
  • CFXS.BuildOutputColorizerIAR - colorization of output
  • SR-team.vscode-autohide-fork - autohide bottom panel with terminal
  • jiapeiyao.tab-group - grouped tabs
  • Blackboxapp.blackbox - AI helper
  • hediet.vscode-drawio - draw.io diagrams right in VSCode

Tested on

• Linux (GCC,Clang)
• Windows (Clang,MinGW,MSVC)

Notes:

• Valgrind reports feature currently available for Linux only
• LiveProcMon feature currently available for Linux only

Links

• used in template of "Qml Multilingual Application"
• used in demo "Simple Custom Qml Item Qt6 Cmake"

---

If you like that repo, you can support me, I really appreciate it ❤️