Windows: Set "intelliSenseMode" property in c_cpp_properties.json file to "gcc-arm"

[JeroenIoT]

PlatformIO should set "intelliSenseMode" property in c_cpp_properties.json file to "gcc-arm".

Since PlatformIO uses gcc-arm, the Intellisense should use gcc-arm as well. During startup the IntelliSense mode is changed and following message is displayed:

[11/23/2020, 8:41:51 AM] For C++ source files, IntelliSenseMode was changed from “gcc-x64” to “gcc-arm” based on compiler args and probing compilerPath: “C:/Users/itsme/.platformio/packages/toolchain-gccarmnoneeabi/bin/arm-none-eabi-gcc.exe”

Changing the c_cpp_properties.json manually to "gcc-arm" also work temporary as it is auto generated and platformio overwrites and set it back to "gcc-x64".

[ivankravets]

Should be fixed in the latest development version. Please open PlatformIO Core CLI in VSCode and type pio upgrade --dev. Does it work now?

[JeroenIoT]

Upgraded with the development version and it works now. Thanks. CLOSED

[AgainPsychoX]

@ivankravets / @JeroenIoT

It seems some regression happened. intelliSenseMode is not in the c_cpp_properties.json, causing problems, like pointers being hinted as 8 bytes long when in fact they are 4.

This compiles without any issue (ESP8266), while VS Code IntelliSense tells static assertion failed...

		static_assert(sizeof(void*) == 4);
		static_assert(sizeof(int*) == 4);
		static_assert(sizeof(const char*) == 4);

I can manually modify the c_cpp_properties.json and it helps until compiling/changing platform.ini, but it updates back itself then, discarding my change.

I also tried pio upgrade --dev of course, but sadly it doesn't help. I even tried regenerating the c_cpp_properties.json (delete it and then Project Tasks > Default > Misc > Rebuild IntelliSense Index).

Can we have issue reopen/re-fixed?

[AgainPsychoX]

@ivankravets Thank you for reopen. I might fix it myself by pull request, just have few questions and thoughts on the matter.

IMO there should be a way to provide their own base c_cpp_properties.json file, but I see that would be a lot of work and edge cases to take care of... However, I guess allowing each platform (like espressif8266) to choose the closest match for intelliSenseMode (in my case: gcc-arm or any x86?) would be fine.

I can see platforms have platform.json and platform.py. Would be that fine to add the info there? I don't understand whole PlatformIO architecture design yet (libraries (+sdk?) <-> projects <-> platfroms (+sdk?) <-> board <-> tool chain). I imagine some tool chains work with both 32 and 64 bit, so I would be against deducing the mode from a tool chain the platform uses alone.

My best guess (which might be lacking) would be to assume platform has one mode set. And if there were boards/processor with multiple (is there any like this?), it would be listed as other platform, or if the time come the problem would be addressed again.

Also, I don't quite understand which what differs between arm and x86 of intelliSenseMode options for C/C++ in VS Code. (Actually asked at https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cpptools/discussions/9764). Of course I know more or less that ARM (incl. RISC, like xtensa used by ESP8266) and x86 are different architectures, so some other defines are used, I could imagine some architecture specific code would be enabled in libs.

Other consideration is that having IDE specific (like VS Code specific) property attached to list of rather IDE-independent properties would be inappropriate. While I don't have any solid ideas around how to deal with that small issue, I would love to hear someone else opinion.

[ivankravets]

Indeed, we should contact the Microsoft team. We pass them the full path to the compiler and they fetch extra data in runtime.

[ivankravets]

Duplicate of https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cpptools/issues/9765

[AgainPsychoX]

So, while we wait for Microsoft fix the issue in their closed-source cpptools.exe language server, current workaround would be to add paste

,
            "intelliSenseMode": "gcc-arm"

at one of last lines of generated c_cpp_properties.json file. Every single time you touch platformio.ini, or compile/upload your project... 😕

[maxgerhardt]

Now that it's logged on the Microsoft side they declared it a feature request instead of a bug and referr to 3-year old other feature request issues. Guess this one may take a few years to resolve.

Can someone prove it's a regerssion with a specific version?

[ivankravets]

Do we experience this issue with ESP32 as well, or just with ESP8266?

[maxgerhardt]

board = esp32dev works, the C/C++ logs show it fallbacks to intelliSenseMode: windows-gcc-x86 mode so the pointer sizes happen to be the same.

On the other hand, board = uno is broken, snce it falls back to intelliSenseMode: windows-gcc-x64, so it thinks a 8-bit AVR CPU has 64-bit pointers, although its 16-bit..

[ivankravets]

@maxgerhardt, does it mean that we should force VSCode to the "intelliSenseMode": "gcc-arm" for ESP products?

[AgainPsychoX]

Any update on that?

At this point I am considering writing script to watch file modified date and set the intelliSenseMode to gcc-arm...