Visual Studio Code installation and setup
Below are instructions to install Visual Studio Code (VS Code) and add some useful extensions and setup. The settings described below are also available in the subdirectory tools/vscode/ from where they can be copied and adjusted to match your local setup.
This assumes you have already set up the tools to build for the posix and s23k148 targets…
On Ubuntu
22.04host platform…On Windows host platform with WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)…
Install Visual Studio
Install VS Code
Install C/C++ Extension Pack
If working on WSL then consult Developing in WSL.
Launch VS Code from the base directory of the code…
code .
Set up build tasks
VS Code allows you to configure tasks. This is done in the tasks configuration file: .vscode\tasks.json.
Below is an example of this file with tasks to clean, generate the build system
and build the elf file for each target (posix and s32k148).
You can create your own .vscode\tasks.json file
(in VS Code, press F1, select Tasks: Configure Task and press Enter)
and cut & paste the tasks below into it.
Then go to VS Code’s menu item Terminal -> Run Build Task... (or press Ctrl+Shift+B),
each task will be listed by their label below and you can select one to execute it.
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"type": "shell",
"label": "Clean s32k148 build",
"command": "rm -rf cmake-build-s32k148",
"group": "build"
},
{
"type": "shell",
"label": "Generate build system for s32k148",
"command": "cmake -B cmake-build-s32k148 -S executables/referenceApp -DBUILD_TARGET_PLATFORM=\"S32K148EVB\" -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON --toolchain ../../admin/cmake/ArmNoneEabi.cmake",
"group": "build"
},
{
"type": "shell",
"label": "Build s32k148 elf file",
"command": "cmake --build cmake-build-s32k148 --target app.referenceApp -j",
"group": "build"
},
{
"type": "shell",
"label": "Clean posix build",
"command": "rm -rf cmake-build-posix",
"group": "build"
},
{
"type": "shell",
"label": "Generate build system for posix",
"command": "cmake -B cmake-build-posix -S executables/referenceApp -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON",
"group": "build"
},
{
"type": "shell",
"label": "Build posix elf file",
"command": "cmake --build cmake-build-posix --target app.referenceApp -j",
"group": "build"
}
]
}
You may wish to set up other tasks. For example, Automatic Formatting provides instructions on setting up code formatting and header guard generation in VS Code.
Set up IntelliSense
The C/C++ extension implements IntelliSense in VS Code.
This is configured in .vscode/c_cpp_properties.json.
cmake can generate a file containing the exact compile commands that will be used.
If you wish to use this in Intellisense,
add the option -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON when cmake generates the build system for each target
(as show in the build tasks added to .vscode\tasks.json above)
and set up IntelliSense in VS Code as follows.
Create .vscode/c_cpp_properties.json with the content below to use
the generated compile_commands.json files.
{
"configurations": [
{
"name": "posix",
"cStandard": "c99",
"cppStandard": "c++14",
"intelliSenseMode": "linux-gcc-x64",
"compileCommands": "${workspaceFolder}/cmake-build-posix/compile_commands.json"
},
{
"name": "s32k148",
"cStandard": "c99",
"cppStandard": "c++14",
"intelliSenseMode": "gcc-arm",
"compileCommands": "${workspaceFolder}/cmake-build-s32k148/compile_commands.json"
}
],
"version": 4
}
Then, when viewing a C/C++ file, in the bottom right corner of VS Code you will see
which configuration is in use (posix or s32k148) and you can switch between them.
Using VS Code’s CMake Tools extension
If you prefer to use VS Code’s
CMake Tools extension to build,
please note that, for this project, the CMake source directory is not the root of the code
but the subdirectory executables/referenceApp/ (as specified using the -S option in the tasks above).
You need to set the same in the extensions’ settings.
Add the following settings to .vscode/settings.json…
{
"cmake.sourceDirectory": "${workspaceFolder}/executables/referenceApp",
"cmake.options.statusBarVisibility": "visible"
}
The CMake Tools extension supports using a CMakePresets.json file
which is always placed in the CMake source directory.
For example, you can create the file executables/referenceApp/CMakePresets.json with the content below
and this will be used by the CMake Tools extension to set up a configuration for each target.
{
"version": 3,
"configurePresets": [
{
"name": "default",
"displayName": "CMake posix",
"generator": "Unix Makefiles",
"binaryDir": "${workspaceFolder}/cmake-build-posix",
"cacheVariables": {
"CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS": "YES"
}
},
{
"name": "CMake s32k148",
"displayName": "CMake s32k148",
"generator": "Unix Makefiles",
"binaryDir": "${workspaceFolder}/cmake-build-s32k148",
"toolchainFile": "../../admin/cmake/ArmNoneEabi10.3-2021.10.cmake",
"cacheVariables": {
"BUILD_TARGET_PLATFORM": "S32K148EVB",
"CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS": "YES"
}
}
],
"buildPresets": [
{
"name": "default",
"configurePreset": "default",
"targets": "app.referenceApp"
},
{
"name": "CMake s32k148",
"configurePreset": "CMake s32k148",
"targets": "app.referenceApp"
}
]
}
Debugging with the posix build in Visual Studio Code
If you wish to debug the posix build you need install gdb…
sudo apt install gdb
Create .vscode/launch.json with the content below.
Then choose the VS Code menu Run -> Start Debugging (or press F5).
The debugger will launch and stop at the entry point in main().
{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"name": "Debug posix",
"type": "cppdbg",
"request": "launch",
"program": "${workspaceFolder}/cmake-build-posix/application/app.referenceApp.elf",
"args": [],
"stopAtEntry": true,
"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
"environment": [],
"externalConsole": false,
"MIMode": "gdb",
"setupCommands": [
{
"description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
"text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
"ignoreFailures": true
},
{
"description": "Set Disassembly Flavor to Intel",
"text": "-gdb-set disassembly-flavor intel",
"ignoreFailures": true
}
]
}
]
}
Using GDB with the S32K148EVB via USB from Visual Studio Code
Instructions are provided in Using GDB with the S32K148EVB board via USB on setting up gdb server and connecting to it without using NXP’s IDE (S32 Design Studio).
Flash elf file as a VS Code task
Assuming gdb server is up and running, you may wish to add more tasks in .vscode\tasks.json for convenience.
For example, the task below will flash the elf file onto the S32K148EVB Board.
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"type": "shell",
"label": "Flash s32k148 elf file",
"command": "arm-none-eabi-gdb -batch -x test/pyTest/flash.gdb cmake-build-s32k148/application/app.referenceApp.elf",
"group": "build"
}
]
}
Install debugging extension
There are several VS Code plugins available for VS Code to debug code running remotely on the ARM Cortex-M boards such as the S32K148EVB. Here, the steps to set up debugging with one of these Cortex-Debug are described.
In VS Code’s Extensions tab, enter Cortex-Debug in Search Extensions in Marketplace and install it.
In .vscode/settings.json (create this if needed) enter these settings
(with armToolchainPath set to where it is installed on your host platform)…
{ "cortex-debug.liveWatchRefreshRate": 500, "cortex-debug.armToolchainPath": "/home/user/gcc-arm-none-eabi-10.3-2021.10/bin/", }
Cut & paste the configuration below into your .vscode/launch.json…
{ "version": "0.2.0", "configurations": [ { "name": "Debug s32k148", "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}", "executable": "${workspaceFolder}/cmake-build-s32k148/application/app.referenceApp.elf", "request": "launch", "type": "cortex-debug", "runToEntryPoint": "main", "servertype": "external", "gdbTarget": "127.0.0.1:7224" } ] }
In the Run and Debug tab (Ctrl+Shift+D) select Debug s32k148 and press the green triangle symbol to Start Debugging.