I have CMake C++ projects in Visual Studio 2022 and would like to view the document outline for cpp/h files. But the Document Outline view is not available for this file type:
In VS Code, with the C++ extensions installed, there is a nice outline view:
But for various reasons, I need to use Visual Studio (not VS Code). I have diligently searched the extensions on Visual Studio Marketplace and found nothing that does this. It is surprising that as powerful as Visual Studio is, there is no outline view for C++ files. It seems like such an obvious feature -- I can't possibly be the only one who has ever needed it. Does anyone know of an extension for this?
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Im currently a C++ student in uni. I started using visual studio code configurated by a friend and then i changed to visual studio 2022 (the community version).
In visual studio code the code looks prrety much like this:
Then in visual studio it looks like this:
Does anyone know how to change the highlighted or at least can give me a hint? thanks!
I tried looking in the settings on visual studio but i got confused since there are many options and i dont know exactly what to change
You are probably looking for the Visual Studio Theme Pack extension, which brings the default VS code themes to VS. Also see this blog post for other converted popular VS code themes, and this blog post which describes a tool to convert any VS code theme.
Regarding the colored (rainbow) braces, there is the "Rainbow Braces" extension (corresponding blog post).
For further configuration, you might also want to have a look at the Visfora extension, which also includes rainbow braces.
Extensions aside, many of the colors can also be manually and individually configured in the Visual Studio's options → Environment → Fonts and Colors.
I saw questions similar to this for older versions of Visual Studio but not this latest version. I am following a course on Lynda.com and basically the instructor is trying to use C++ in a pure form that will look the same for students using a visual IDE on Mac. Anyway, the instructor sets up a Working project for teaching the language constructs and such. He right clicks on the project in Visual Studio and under C++ there is Pre-processor section.
I should note that he is using VS 2013 Community Edition. I have a more fully featured version of VS 2015. I don't see that option for defining pre-processor directives on a "project" basis. MS won't let me install 2 copies of VS 2015, but maybe it will let me install VS 2013.
Still, I hope my question makes enough sense as to what we are trying to accomplish, so that I can find the option in VS 2015 Enterprise.
Thanks,
Bruce
You would need to at least add a .cpp file to your Source Files folder in the the current project that you right will click. That should give you the option you are looking for in Visual Studio 2015.
Right click on your project. Select Properties. You should see the below menu where you can navigate to Configuration Properties > C/C++ > Preprocessor.
This is how I see it in my Visual Studio Enterprise 2015.
Is this what you're looking for?
I have already created a simple source code analyses tool for C/C++, but I wanted it to be an extension or tool for Visual Studio 2010 and 2012 editions. It is written completely in C++. For this reason I created it using "Create an Add-in using Visual C++/ATL" option. And then under "Choose Add-in Options", I have some problems. I don't know which one or ones to select. I want it to have a name and icon under Tools section, but on the other hand, my code analyzer can be used from command line too. If someone can advice me which option(s) to select there I would be glad.
My second question is this, when I have opened a source file in Visual Studio, and if I go to Tools -> MyAddin, and press it, I want it to do its job and analyze the code, and show the results in the output section below.
And my last question is that, if I have a C/C++ project with few files let's say, and if I right-click one of the files, I want to see my add-in and be able to execute the add-in from there, not to go always to Tools -> MyAddin. And also the same thing to work if I right-click the project, then it should analyze the all files and show the problems in the output section.
Please note that I have already created the source code analyzer tool in C++, and I have it as a DLL. I can also use it in Linux from terminal, and if I want I can also create a GUI for it, which I plan to do later. But I'm not that much experienced with Visual Studio, especially about add-ins, that's why I need your help. As you can see my first question is a kind of advice, but I think my second and third questions require some source code. I know that it is very hard for you to give me some help without seeing my code, but if you would help me somehow I would be glad.
For Visual Studio 2010 and 2012 you should consider using Extensions, not Add-Ins. It is a new technology introduced in Visual Studio 2010. Extensions come in form of a VSIX packages and are automatically installed in all applicable versions of Visual Studio. If you are not targeting Visual Studio version prior to 2010, I strongly recommend using extensions.
From this point of view, I will not answer any of your technical questions about Add-Ins. Here are a couple of links to start using extensions instead:
Anatomy of a VSIX Package
Building and publishing an extension for Visual Studio 2010
VSX FAQ
Walkthrough: Creating an Options Page
I think you will find valuable information on this topic here: Developing extension packages for Visual Studio 2005/2008/2010/2012 using C# with real-life samples
I have a huge Visual Studio 2010 solution. I work with Visual Studio 2005, so I want to convert the solution to the desired version. Basically, it's a portable C++ code so it should compile on Visual Studio 2005 too. Changing the version in the *.sln file doesn't help because the *.vcxproj format is completely different from the old *.vcproj format.
Recreating the solution by hand is not an option because of its size. Also there may be some non-default compiler flags, dependencies, etc. that I don't know of (and I can't look through ALL this XML junk that I don't understand).
There is already a related question on How Do I Downgrade a C++ Visual Studio 2008 Project to 2005. However, the utility suggested there supports at most Visual Studio 2008.
Any suggestions?
It really totally sucks, that every proprietary IDE today thinks it needs to create its own project file format.
"Dear IDE developers, just use Makefiles and create a nice GUI for it so that also people without Makefile knowledge can use it!" In VS6 it was at least possible to import/export Makefiles, but not today anymore. And it was possible to use nmake for automated builds. No IDE needed to be installed, just the toolchain which could be grabbed by a simple checkout without installation.
I use CMake now. It's free, it's cross-platform, it is well supported in free IDEs like KDevelop, QtCreator, etc. It can generate Makefiles and Visual Studio projects.
So you maintain only one project source, the CMakeLists.txt file and can work with any IDE. No pain with different versions of Visual Studio or with other proprietary project file formats.
This way you can generate or VS projects for developing and you can generate Makefiles for commandline builds using nmake like in the good old days.
BTW, it's much easier to change settings in a CMakeLists.txt than clicking through various GUI dialogs. But this is a matter of personal preferences.
In my work made a utility which utilized the EnvDTE.dll and scanned a vcproj-file and optionally all vcproj-files within a sln-file. It compared all settings with a "template" and would issue a warning or optionally update the setting to correct values. We used this utility so that settings would be verified to be correct and consistent throughout all projects. I haven't updated the utility to 2010 yet due to other priorities.
EnvDTE hasn't changed much from Visual Studio 2008 to Visual Studio 2010. Perhaps it is possible to create a simple utility which opens the vcxproj-file using DTE100 and saves it using DTE90, or earlier.
Easiest way is probably to create a new project in VS 2005, and use the add existing item dialog to add the code to the project. I'd suggest using 'Empty Project' as the project type, so you don't have a lot of rubbish autogenerated for you that you'll just delete anyway.
I haven't tried it, but this looks promising:
http://www.emmet-gray.com/Articles/ProjectConverter.htm
edit: Nope, not promising, sorry :-(
I want to list properties and functions present in c++ classes. Is that functionality already implemented in any library ? Does visual studio intellisense use any library ? Is that library available publicly from Microsoft?
Visual Studio parses your code, so that's how it knows. You would need to do the same.
The Visual C++ team maintains a blog that has had several very nice articles about how IntelliSense has worked in the past and how it will work in the future:
IntelliSense History, Part 1
IntelliSense, Part 2 (The Future)
Visual C++ Code Model
Rebuilding Intellisense
Visual C++ Code Model in Visual Studio 2010
Essentially they build their own 'reflection' database (the .ncb file in current and past version sof VS, using a compact SQL database starting with VS2010) by parsing the headers and other source files - using both custom parsers and parsing that's done with the cooperation of the compiler.
Apparently at least some of that information is available in the VCCodeModel and related interfaces that the Visual Studio extensibility model provides. I have no idea how well the extensibility model works or how easy it is to use.
They use a propriety format to store intellisense information (they are saved as NCB files). You can delete these files to force VS to recreate its intellisense database if things go wrong.
They then scan header files for class information as well as dependencies, then build the NCB file for future reference.
No, this library is not available for personal use.
Intellisense in C# is lots better than the one in C++
VS2010 will see C++ have the same intellisense features as C# currently enjoys.
I would imagine that Visual Studio uses the header files to provide Intellisense.