Boilerplate project to debug and run C++ code in VS Code

This post is originally posted on my blog here I found it little difficult to run CPP project in vs code always, we need to do lot of configuration, setting to debug the code. In this post, you can find boilerplate to run cpp code in vs code. Prerequisite Make sure that CPP compiler already installed in your machine, I will use gcc but you can use any other compiler of your choice VS Code should be installed in your machine. (optional) Install plugin "C/C++ Extension Pack" , this will install C/C++ extension and CMAKE (We don't need CMAKE for now, I will write seperate tutorial to build project using CMAKE) Create new folder for your CPP Project I am going to follow below folder structure for my project and will follow same in rest of tutorial to write configuration files Boilerplate │ main.cpp # CPP file contains main function │ └───build # Build file (Executable / Binary ) │ │ main.exe └───include # All header files in project | │ student.h | │ Employee.h └───src # All source files in project | │ student.cpp | │ Employee.cpp └───lib # Third party libraries | │ spdlog | └───include │ │ spdlog │ c_cpp_properties.json │ launch.json │ tasks.json │ settings.json Let's see use of each JSON file mentioned above c_cpp_properties.json - IntelliSense and Compiler Configuration This is configuration file in vs code for intellisense, code suggestions and syntax highlighting for c/ c++ code. It defines include paths, compiler settings, and standard versions. { "configurations": [ { "name": "Win32", "includePath": [ "${workspaceFolder}/**", "${workspaceFolder}/include", // Add your header directory "${workspaceFolder}/libs/**" // Add third party library directory ], "defines": [], "compilerPath": "D:\\Installation\\mingw\\mingw64\\bin\\g++.exe", // Add path of your compiler "cppStandard": "c++20", "intelliSenseMode": "windows-gcc-x64" } ], "version": 4 } tasks.json - Build Automation This file defines how VS Code build and compiler your code and helps to automate compilation project. We can use Ctrl + Shift + B to build cpp code. This file contains path of header files, source files, third party libraries (if any) & output file. { "version": "2.0.0", "tasks": [ { "type": "shell", "label": "Build Main", "command": "D:\\Installation\\mingw\\mingw64\\bin\\g++.exe", //add path of your compiler "args": [ "-fdiagnostics-color=always", "-g", "main.cpp", //by default run main file "${workspaceFolder}/src/*.cpp", //additional files "-I${workspaceFolder}/include", // Include directory flag "-I${workspaceFolder}/libs/spdlog/include", // Include third party library "-o", "${workspaceFolder}/build/main.exe" ], "options": { "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}" }, "problemMatcher": ["$gcc"], "group": "build", "detail": "Building main.exe in workspace root" } ] } IMPORTANT: if you create tasks.json using vs code function, then it will have default type as cppbuild, in this case you need to add path of all source files one by one. To make it more generic, we have added path of source file as "${workspaceFolder}/src/*.cpp" this does not work with cppbuild so changed the type to shell Now, whenever we add new source file to project, we dont need to modify tasks.json file. NOTE: In args, we have passed -g, main.cpp to debug file. if you don't want to pass main.cpp , then we can also mention "$(file)" to debug current file. launch.json - Debugger Setup This file conatins configuration for debugging environment, this defines executable, debugger and how to launch a program. Without this file, vs code will not know how to debug program. Once we add this file, we can see debug option in dropdown in vs code with name C++ Debug (you can give any name) in below configuation { "version": "0.2.0", "configurations": [ { "name": "C++ Debug", "type": "cppdbg", "request": "launch", "program": "${workspaceFolder}/build/main.exe", "args": [], "stopAtEntry": false, "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}", "environment": [], "externalConsole": false, "MIMode": "gdb", "miDebuggerPath": "D:\\Installation\\mingw\\mingw64\\bin\\gdb.exe", "preLaunchTask": "Build Main", "setupCommands": [

Boilerplate
│   main.cpp             # CPP file contains main function
│
└───build                # Build file (Executable / Binary )
│   │   main.exe
└───include              # All header files in project
|    │   student.h
|    │   Employee.h
└───src                  # All source files in project
|   │   student.cpp
|   │   Employee.cpp
└───lib                  # Third party libraries
|   │   spdlog
|    └───include
│       │   spdlog
│   c_cpp_properties.json 
│   launch.json           
│   tasks.json            
│   settings.json         

{
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Win32",
            "includePath": [
                "${workspaceFolder}/**",
                "${workspaceFolder}/include",         // Add your header directory
                "${workspaceFolder}/libs/**"  // Add third party library directory
            ],
            "defines": [],
            "compilerPath": "D:\\Installation\\mingw\\mingw64\\bin\\g++.exe",   // Add path of your compiler
            "cppStandard": "c++20",
            "intelliSenseMode": "windows-gcc-x64"
        }
    ],
    "version": 4
}

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "type": "shell",
            "label": "Build Main",
            "command": "D:\\Installation\\mingw\\mingw64\\bin\\g++.exe",  //add path of your compiler
            "args": [
                "-fdiagnostics-color=always",
                "-g",
                "main.cpp",   //by default run main file
                "${workspaceFolder}/src/*.cpp",   //additional files
                 "-I${workspaceFolder}/include",   // Include directory flag
                 "-I${workspaceFolder}/libs/spdlog/include",   // Include third party library
                "-o",
                "${workspaceFolder}/build/main.exe"
            ],
            "options": {
                "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}"
            },
            "problemMatcher": ["$gcc"],
            "group": "build",
            "detail": "Building main.exe in workspace root"
        }
    ]
}