Run C++ Code In Visual Studio Code

Posted on 30-04-2021 by admin

PS: This was published on my Blog here.

How To Run C++ Code In Visual Studio Code
How To Run A C++ Code In Visual Studio Code
Run C Code In Visual Studio Code
How To Run C++ Code In Visual Studio Code 2019
Visual Studio Code C++ Build

Vs Code & C Code I am writing this article because I had faced several issues while running the C code in VS Code. As usual, everyone was using the CodeBlocks IDE and D evC and many more. You can configure multiple tasks in Visual Studio Code, one of which will allow you to build your executable, and the other will run your executable. Optionally, you could also look into Visual Studio Code's 'Run Mode' (see here). If you use 'Run Mode', you should be able to configure Visual Studio Code to build your executable, and then launch it.

C++ is a statically-typed, free-form, (usually) compiled, multi-paradigm, intermediate-level general-purpose middle-level programming language.

In simple terms, C++ is a sophisticated, efficient, general-purpose programming language based on C.

It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1979.

One of C++'s main features is the compiler. This is used to compile and run C++ code.

A compiler is a special program that processes statements written in a particular programming language like C++ and turns them into machine language or 'code' that a computer's processor uses.

I actually wrote this article because I had a C++ assignment which required using a compiler. As usual, everyone was using the CodeBlocks IDE and Visual Studio IDE. But I was already used to Visual Studio Code for all my programming stuff.

I then set out to find a way of compiling C++ directly inside my own VsCode Editor, hence this article :). Free online hidden object game for mac.

In this article, I'll show you how to set up your compiler in VsCode and give you some links to some of the best C++ resources.

Prior knowledge of C++
(I assume you're learning C++, about to start learning, or just reading this for fun. This article is not a C++ 101 tutorial – some understanding of C++ is needed.)
Visual Studio Code Editor
Download here and read the setup docs for Windows, Linux and Mac
Internet connection (!important)

Disclaimer!

I will be using a Windows OS throughout this article, but I'll provide links to resources that will help those using other operating systems.

Now let's get started!

Head to www.mingw.org and click the “Download/Installer” link to download the MinGW setup file, or click here for Windows, here for Linux, and here for Mac

MinGW, a contraction of 'Minimalist GNU for Windows', is a minimalist development environment for native Microsoft Windows applications.

After downloading, install MinGW and wait for the “MinGW Installation Manager” to show up.

When the “MinGW Installation Manager” shows up, click on mingw32-gcc-g++ then select “Mark for Installation”

In the menu at the top left corner, click on “Installation > Apply Changes”

How to run my c++ code in visual studio code

Wait and allow to install completely. Ensure you have a stable internet connection during this process.

PATH is an environment variable on Unix-like operating systems, DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, specifying a set of directories where executable programs are located. In general, each executing process or user session has its own PATH setting. - Wikipedia

After installing MinGW, it can be found in C:MinGWbin. Now you have to include this directory in your environment variable PATH. If you've been using computers for a while now you should know how to do this already, but if you don't, here are a few resources:

Click here for a Windows OS guide
Click here for Linux
Click here for a Mac OS guide

Now we have our compiler set up, let's install Code Runner

Code Runner allows you to Run code snippet or code file for multiple languages:

How To Run C++ Code In Visual Studio Code

C, C++, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Perl, Perl 6, Ruby, Go, Lua, Groovy, PowerShell, BAT/CMD, BASH/SH, F# Script, F# (.NET Core), C# Script, C# (.NET Core), VBScript, TypeScript, CoffeeScript, Scala, Swift, Julia, Crystal, OCaml Script, R, AppleScript, Elixir, Visual Basic .NET, Clojure, Haxe, Objective-C, Rust, Racket, AutoHotkey, AutoIt, Kotlin, Dart, Free Pascal, Haskell, Nim, D, Lisp, Kit, and custom command.

Click here to download
Or search in VsCode marketplace tab

After installing restart VsCode
Open your C++ file in Vscode. Here's a basic hello world program below:

Save this file as test.cpp

Use the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+N
Or press F1 and then select/type Run Code
Or right-click the Text Editor and then click Run Code in the editor context menu

The code will run and the output will be shown in the Output Window. Open the output window with `Ctrl+ shortcut.

Use the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+M
Or press F1 and then select/type Stop Code Run
Or right-click the Output Channel and then click Stop Code Run in the context menu

Hurray, you just successfully set up your C++ environment in VsCode!

Here's a quick hint: By default, VsCode's output terminal is read-only. If you're running code that requires user input like:

you won't be able to type into the terminal, Cannot edit in read-only terminal.
To fix this, you need to manually enable read-write.

In VsCode, Go to File > Preference > Setting.
In the User tab on the left panel, find the extensions section
Scroll and find 'Run Code Configuration'
Scroll and find a checkbox Run in Terminal (Whether to run code in Integrated Terminal) Check the box.

In your setting.json file, add:

Hurray, you're done and ready to roll :).

Here are some C++ resources you can use to get started with learning C++

Code Runner by Jun Han

Thank you for reading!

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This article introduces the features of the Visual Studio debugger in a step-by-step walkthrough. If you want a higher-level view of the debugger features, see First look at the debugger. When you debug your app, it usually means that you are running your application with the debugger attached. When you do this, the debugger provides many ways to see what your code is doing while it runs. You can step through your code and look at the values stored in variables, you can set watches on variables to see when values change, you can examine the execution path of your code, see whether a branch of code is running, and so on. If this is the first time that you've tried to debug code, you may want to read Debugging for absolute beginners before going through this article.

Although the demo app is C++, most of the features are applicable to C#, Visual Basic, F#, Python, JavaScript, and other languages supported by Visual Studio (F# does not support Edit-and-continue. F# and JavaScript do not support the Autos window). The screenshots are in C++.

In this tutorial, you will:

Start the debugger and hit breakpoints.
Learn commands to step through code in the debugger
Inspect variables in data tips and debugger windows
Examine the call stack

Prerequisites

You must have Visual Studio 2019 installed and the Desktop development with C++ workload.

You must have Visual Studio 2017 installed and the Desktop development with C++ workload.

If you haven't already installed Visual Studio, go to the Visual Studio downloads page to install it for free.

If you need to install the workload but already have Visual Studio, go to Tools > Get Tools and Features.., which opens the Visual Studio Installer. The Visual Studio Installer launches. Choose the Desktop development with C++ workload, then choose Modify.

Create a project

First, you'll create a C++ console application project. The project type comes with all the template files you'll need, before you've even added anything!

Open Visual Studio 2017.
From the top menu bar, choose File > New > Project.
In the New Project dialog box in the left pane, expand Visual C++ and then choose Windows Desktop. In the middle pane, choose Windows Console Application. Then name the project get-started-debugging.
If you don't see the Console App project template, choose the Open Visual Studio Installer link in the left pane of the New Project dialog box. The Visual Studio Installer launches. Choose the .NET Core cross-platform development workload, and then choose Modify.
Click OK.
Visual Studio opens your new project.

Open Visual Studio 2019.
If the start window is not open, choose File > Start Window.
On the start window, choose Create a new project.
On the Create a new project window, enter or type console in the search box. Next, choose C++ from the Language list, and then choose Windows from the Platform list.
After you apply the language and platform filters, choose the Console App template, and then choose Next.
Note
If you do not see the Console App template, you can install it from the Create a new project window. In the Not finding what you're looking for? message, choose the Install more tools and features link. Then, in the Visual Studio Installer, choose the Desktop development with C++ workload.
In the Configure your new project window, type or enter get-started-debugging in the Project name box. Then, choose Create.
Visual Studio opens your new project.

Create the application

In get-started-debugging.cpp, replace all of the default code with the following code instead:

Start the debugger!

Press F5 (Debug > Start Debugging) or the Start Debugging button in the Debug Toolbar.
F5 starts the app with the debugger attached to the app process, but right now we haven't done anything special to examine the code. So the app just loads and you see the console output.
In this tutorial, we'll take a closer look at this app using the debugger and get a look at the debugger features.
Stop the debugger by pressing the red stop button (Shift + F5).
In the console window, press a key and Enter to close the console window.

Set a breakpoint and start the debugger

In the for loop of the main function, set a breakpoint by clicking the left margin of the following line of code:
name += letters[i];
A red circle appears where you set the breakpoint.
Breakpoints are one of the most basic and essential features of reliable debugging. A breakpoint indicates where Visual Studio should suspend your running code so you can take a look at the values of variables, or the behavior of memory, or whether or not a branch of code is getting run.
Press F5 or the Start Debugging button , the app starts, and the debugger runs to the line of code where you set the breakpoint.
The yellow arrow represents the statement on which the debugger paused, which also suspends app execution at the same point (this statement has not yet executed).
If the app is not yet running, F5 starts the debugger and stops at the first breakpoint. Otherwise, F5 continues running the app to the next breakpoint.
Breakpoints are a useful feature when you know the line of code or the section of code that you want to examine in detail. For information on the different types of breakpoints you can set, such as conditional breakpoints, see Using breakpoints.

Navigate code in the debugger using step commands

Mostly, we use the keyboard shortcuts here, because it's a good way to get fast at executing your app in the debugger (equivalent commands such as menu commands are shown in parentheses).

While paused in the for loop in the main method, press F11 (or choose Debug > Step Into) twice to to advance to the SendMessage method call.
After pressing F11 twice, you should be at this line of code:
SendMessage(name, a[i]);
Press F11 one more time to step into the SendMessage method.
The yellow pointer advances into the SendMessage method.
F11 is the Step Into command and advances the app execution one statement at a time. F11 is a good way to examine the execution flow in the most detail. (To move faster through code, we show you some other options also.) By default, the debugger skips over non-user code (if you want more details, see Just My Code).
Let's say that you are done examining the SendMessage method, and you want to get out of the method but stay in the debugger. You can do this using the Step Out command.
Press Shift + F11 (or Debug > Step Out).
This command resumes app execution (and advances the debugger) until the current method or function returns.
You should be back in the for loop in the main method, paused at the SendMessage method call.
Press F11 several times until you get back to the SendMessage method call again.
While paused at the method call, press F10 (or choose Debug > Step Over) once.
Notice this time that the debugger does not step into the SendMessage method. F10 advances the debugger without stepping into functions or methods in your app code (the code still executes). By pressing F10 on the SendMessage method call (instead of F11), we skipped over the implementation code for SendMessage (which maybe we're not interested in right now). For more information on different ways to move through your code, see Navigate code in the debugger.

Navigate code using Run to Click

Press F5 to advance to the breakpoint.
In the code editor, scroll down and hover over the std::wcout function in the SendMessage method until the green Run to Click button appears on the left. The tooltip for the button shows 'Run execution to here'.
Note Studio one crack for mac.
The Run to Click button is new in Visual Studio 2017. (If you don't see the green arrow button, use F11 in this example instead to advance the debugger to the right place.)
Click the Run to Click button .
The debugger advances to the std::wcout function.
Using this button is similar to setting a temporary breakpoint. Run to Click is handy for getting around quickly within a visible region of app code (you can click in any open file).

Restart your app quickly

Click the Restart button in the Debug Toolbar (Ctrl + Shift + F5).

When you press Restart, it saves time versus stopping the app and restarting the debugger. The debugger pauses at the first breakpoint that is hit by executing code.

The debugger stops again at the breakpoint you previously set inside the for loop.

Inspect variables with data tips

Features that allow you to inspect variables are one of the most useful features of the debugger, and there are different ways to do it. Often, when you try to debug an issue, you are attempting to find out whether variables are storing the values that you expect them to have at a particular time.

While paused on the name += letters[i] statement, hover over the letters variable and you see it's default value, size={10}.
Expand the letters variable to see its properties, which include all the elements that the variable contains.
Next, hover over the name variable, and you see its current value, an empty string.
Press F5 (or Debug > Continue) a few times to iterate several times through the for loop, pausing again at the breakpoint, and hovering over the name variable each time to check its value.
The value of the variable changes with each iteration of the for loop, showing values of f, then fr, then fre, and so on.
Often, when debugging, you want a quick way to check property values on variables, to see whether they are storing the values that you expect them to store, and the data tips are a good way to do it.

How To Run A C++ Code In Visual Studio Code

Inspect variables with the Autos and Locals windows