Visual Studio Code

Settings sync

Sync my settings on any new machine.

(bottom-left gear) > Turn on settings sync

Use my github account.

Extensions

• Debug > Install additional debuggers... > C++
• C/C++
• CMake, CMake Tools (one for project mgmt, one for cmake file editing)
• eslint
• Bookmarks; go F2, set ctrl-F2
• Numbered bookmarks; go c-1, set c-a-sh-1
• vscode-icons
• change-case
• overtype
• sequential-number
• MongoDB for VS Code
• REST client

Run API queries out of *.http files. If you get web services errors, restart code (all instances).

• Docker, Dev Containers

You can connect to a remote docker host with some settings foo.

• Remote - SSH, SSH Tooling

nah/old...

• x GitLens
• x sort-imports (for ES6)
• Debugger for Firefox
• Debugger for Chrome

Config and Key Bindings

Go to File > Preferences > Settings for a shitton of settings. Search for the name you want.

Turn OFF these very-slow automatic checks in your launch.json file:

   "npm.autoDetect": "off",
   "gulp.autoDetect": "off",
   "grunt.autoDetect": "off",
   "jake.autoDetect": "off",
   "typescript.tsc.autoDetect": "off",

Turn this shit off, it "reuses tabs" on files you open (unless you double-click to open, or edit the file). Nonsense.

"workbench.editor.enablePreview": false

Use the editor; changes are stored and shared across installs from here:

ls ~/.config/Code/User/
keybindings.json -> ../../../development/config/common/home/m/.config/Code/User/keybindings.json
settings.json -> ../../../development/config/common/home/m/.config/Code/User/settings.json

Debugging

While debugging, you can use the Debug Console to print memory, including the content of strings that are clipped by default in the variables and watch windows.

View > Open View > Debug Console

From there, send gdb a command to print memory – 300 characters of a string in this example:

-exec x/300sb Query.c_str()

Restoring Deleted Files

This feature has saved my ass!

Check Local History: Visual Studio Code has a Local History feature that saves a copy of files every time you save them. To access the Local History, open the Command Palette in Visual Studio Code and run the command “Local History: Find Entry to Restore”. This will open a menu listing all the history entries, with a search bar. You can search for the deleted file and restore it from the Local History.

Code completion and linting

Code formatting

Auto-format your code, all day long! This literally saves hours of typing, not to mention keeping the code uniform. DO IT.

Prefs > Settings > search > format on save > check the box!

We let vscode use clang-format to format C++ code. You need to install it:

sudo apt install clang-format

Custom rules are defined here:

[workspace-folder]/.clang-format

See the formatting rules for help.

If formatting errors out or does not happen, run [clang-format #filename#] in a command prompt and see if you have errors in your rules file.

NOTE: eslint is the current way to enforce code style in Javascript. See the eslint page for more information.

Some C++ ones:

Standard: Cpp11
BasedOnStyle: LLVM
IndentWidth: 2
ColumnLimit: 0
AccessModifierOffset: -2
NamespaceIndentation: All
BreakBeforeBraces: Custom
BraceWrapping:
 AfterEnum: true
 AfterStruct: true
 AfterClass: true
 SplitEmptyFunction: true
 AfterControlStatement: false
 AfterNamespace: false
 AfterFunction: true
 AfterUnion: true
 AfterExternBlock: false
 BeforeCatch: false
 BeforeElse: false
 SplitEmptyRecord: true
 SplitEmptyNamespace: true

Intellisense

Use CMake to generate json that includes the project headers, then import that into vscode settings, for a DRY way to set up header paths.

• Add this to CMakeList.txt to generate compile_commands.json:

# MDM This creates compile_commands.json, which can be imported by vscode to set include paths from here, w00t DRY
set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)

• Edit your project settings (eg...)

/home/m/development/thedigitalage/AbetterTrader/server/.vscode/c_cpp_properties.json

• Add a compileCommands directive:

{
   "configurations": [
       {
           "name": "Linux",
           "includePath": [
               "${workspaceFolder}/**"
           ],
           "defines": [],
           "compilerPath": "/usr/bin/clang",
           "cStandard": "c11",
           "cppStandard": "c++17",
           "intelliSenseMode": "clang-x64",
           "configurationProvider": "vector-of-bool.cmake-tools",
           "compileCommands": "${workspaceFolder}/cmake-debug/compile_commands.json"
       }
   ],
   "version": 4
}

Install

• Add the repo (check latest way, apt keeps changing)
• Update as usual

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install code # released monthly
# or code-insiders (released daily)
# use [apt search visualst]