Sync launch.json with project files

[davidanderle]

Is there a way to automatically sync the launch.json file with the IAR project files? At the moment if the user changes a debug setting in IAR when the launch.json file already exists, the change does not sync to the VSCode environment. I could create tools to parse the relevant files and update the launch.json on a trigger (eg before a Launch task), but it seems like i'd be reinventing the wheel...

Since Run > Add configuration: IAR C-SPY Debug command can automatically create a basic template file, I was wondering if I could somehow access this "parsing tool". I would also like to add the extra "preLaunchTask": "iar: Build Project" key to the template file by default.

[HampusAdolfsson]

I would also like to add the extra "preLaunchTask": "iar: Build Project" key to the template file by default.

Adding an extension option called "Build before debug" (or something to that effect) definitely sounds like something we want to do. This would cause the preLaunchTask to be added by default, and would also take effect if debugging without a launch.json file.

For your main question, the intended solution is to not use a launch.json file. In the debug configuration dropdown, you can press "IAR C-SPY Debug..." to use the automatic debug configurations without creating a launch.json file:

When you go into the menu again (or restart VS Code), the configurations are regenerated from the project files. I realize this has its issues and pain points, and doesn't work well if you need to customize the launch.json file in some way (for example to add a preLaunchTask). Would this work well enough for you?

Otherwise, we could look at allowing you to omit certain fields from a launch.json configuration, such as the program or driverOptions, and having the extension fill in missing fields automatically from the project files.

[davidanderle]

Thanks, I've managed to debug the target without the launch.json file as you suggested. Is there a way I could set up non-iar task that could potentially use this method to debug and add my preLaunchTask? Trouble is that I'm so used to IAR building the project before debugging, that this will cause me a lot of headache :)

Can I, perhaps, create a command line script for a task if CSPY supports this?

I think going forward your suggestion would be really convenient

[HampusAdolfsson]

Unfortunately, there is no command line interface to the VS Code debugger or our launch.json generator. I can't think of any other quick solutions to make this easier, either.

To clarify, with my suggestion above, you would be able to define a minimal launch.json configuration like this:

{
    "type": "cspy",
    "request": "launch",
    "name": "Debug with C-SPY",
    "preLaunchTask": "iar: Build Project",
    "workbenchPath": "${command:iar-config.toolchain}",
    "projectPath": "${command:iar-config.project-file}",
    "projectConfiguration": "${command:iar-config.project-configuration}",
},

This just says to debug the project and configuration currently selected in the "IAR Build" extension GUI, but not how to debug. All the details, like the program path and driver, would be filled in from the project files every time you launch it.

[davidanderle]

This would work for us I think, but I'm having this problem and therefore the debugger is not starting:

[HampusAdolfsson]

Sorry, I might have been a bit unclear:

This type of "minimal" launch.json configuration is not something we support yet. I've created a feature request for it internally and we'll consider implementing it in a future release. Until then, the best suggestion I can give is to debug without a launch.json file as I described in my first message.

[davidanderle]

Ah, I see! Thanks, we will wait for the new release

[HampusAdolfsson]

This is now released in the latest extensions (1.30.7 for IAR Build and 1.40.1 for IAR C-SPY Debug). Note that you need to update both extensions. The smallest possible launch.json configuration looks like this:

{
    "type": "cspy",
    "request": "launch",
    "name": "Debug the active IAR Project with C-SPY",
    "workbenchPath": "${command:iar-config.toolchain}",
    "projectPath": "${command:iar-config.project-file}",
    "projectConfiguration": "${command:iar-config.project-configuration}"
}

[d-anderle]

Thank you @HampusAdolfsson! I am in progress of the testing the new features, and it appears to me that with the minimal configuration I still cannot upload the correct binary on the target for debugging. In my custom_argvars I have a revision definition. This controls the name of the output file, such as my_softwarerev$REVISION$.out. When I change this define, EWARM starts using the latest revision output file, but VSCode would still use the old one. Is there a way I could change this behaviour?

[HampusAdolfsson]

@d-anderle The .custom_argvars file is loaded only when the workspace (.eww) is loaded, and modifying the file will not have any effect on already loaded workspaces and projects. I've created a ticket internally to make sure the workspace is reloaded automatically when the .custom_argvars file is modified.

Until then, here are two ways to work around the issue:

• Modifying the .eww file will trigger the extension to reload the workspace. You could run something like echo>>MyWorkspace.eww in CMD or echo '' >> MyWorkspace.eww in bash, and add this to your tasks.json file to make it easier to run.
• Reload the VS Code window to make the entire extension reload. There is a command Developer: Reload Window which you can run from the command palette (or even bind to a hotkey). This is usually pretty fast.

[d-anderle]

@HampusAdolfsson thank you, the 2nd solution works well relatively fast, but the first one fails as the IAR project file for some reason is no longer recognised. Manually adding a new line works, so I think it could be because I'm on PS environment. In any case, I am happy to use this workaround until the window is automatically reloaded on changing the .custom_argvars.