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VS Code Tips for FORM Developers
Takahiro Ueda edited this pageOct 14, 2025 ·17 revisions
SinceVisual Studio Code (VS Code) isused by many people, it would be helpful to introduce some useful configuration tips (i.e.,workspace settings in.vscode/*.json) for VS Code here.
For simplicity, we assume a Linux environment, the local repository is cloned fromyour fork:
git clone git@github.com:YOUR_GITHUB_USER_NAME/form.gitcd formgit remote add upstream https://github.com/vermaseren/form.gitand the build directory (using out-of-source build) isbuild:
autoreconf -fivmkdir -p buildpushd build../configure --enable-debugecho'*'>.gitignorepopd
The following commands configure Git to ignore the workspace settings:
mkdir -p .vscodeecho'*'>.vscode/.gitignore
VS Code'sauto-formatter is useful, so you may have it enabled globally. However, because the FORM source code is written in somewhat unique coding style, applying the formatter leads to massive changes that you do not desire. If this is the case, you need to turn it off in your workspace settings. Moreover, whitespaces and end-of-line settings should be adjusted for the FORM source code.
.vscode/settings.json:
{"editor.defaultFormatter":null,"editor.formatOnPaste":false,"editor.formatOnSave":false,"editor.formatOnType":false,"files.eol":"\n","files.insertFinalNewline":true,"files.trimTrailingWhitespace":false}The FORM source code utilizesfolding extensively with the fold markers#[ and#]. Unfortunately, as of April 2024, VS Codedoes not support folding based on custom markers. This is implemented, for example, by the following extension:
- Explicit Folding (
zokugun.explicit-folding)
The configuration is as follows:
.vscode/settings.json:
{"editor.foldingStrategy":"auto","editor.defaultFoldingRangeProvider":null,"[c]": {"editor.defaultFoldingRangeProvider":"zokugun.explicit-folding","explicitFolding.rules": [ {"begin":"#[","end":"#]" }, {"beginRegex":"#if(?:n?def)?","middleRegex":"#el(?:se|if)","endRegex":"#endif" } ] },"[cpp]": {"editor.defaultFoldingRangeProvider":"zokugun.explicit-folding","explicitFolding.rules": [ {"begin":"#[","end":"#]" }, {"beginRegex":"#if(?:n?def)?","middleRegex":"#el(?:se|if)","endRegex":"#endif" } ] },"[form]": {"editor.defaultFoldingRangeProvider":"zokugun.explicit-folding","explicitFolding.rules": [ {"begin":"#[","end":"#]" } ] }}Because the FORM source code contains intentional trailing whitespaces in some places, the following plugin to display them can be useful:
- Trailing Spaces (
shardulm94.trailing-spaces)
At a minimum, the following extension is needed:
- C/C++ (
ms-vscode.cpptools)
However, to avoid seeing the pop-up message
Do you want to install the recommended 'C/C++ Extension Pack' extension from Microsoft for the C language?
every time you launch VS Code and open a C file for the first time after starting, you may install the following recommended extension:
- C/C++ Extension Pack (
ms-vscode.cpptools-extension-pack)
Intellisense configuration is as follows. Note that some POSIX symbols require that_POSIX_C_SOURCE is properly defined (e.g.,pthread_rwlock_t).
.vscode/settings.json:
{"C_Cpp.default.includePath": ["${workspaceFolder}/build","${workspaceFolder}/build/sources","${workspaceFolder}/extern/zstd/zlibWrapper" ],"C_Cpp.default.defines": ["_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L","HAVE_CONFIG_H" ]}.vscode/c_cpp_properties.json:
{"configurations": [ {"name":"form" }, {"name":"vorm","defines": ["${default}","DEBUGGING" ] }, {"name":"tform","defines": ["${default}","WITHPTHREADS" ] }, {"name":"tvorm","defines": ["${default}","WITHPTHREADS","DEBUGGING" ] }, {"name":"parform","defines": ["${default}","WITHMPI","PF_WITHGETENV","PF_WITHLOG" ] }, {"name":"parvorm","defines": ["${default}","PF_WITHGETENV","PF_WITHLOG","DEBUGGING" ] } ],"version":4,"enableConfigurationSquiggles":true}Debugging configuration with GDB, runningtest.frm, is as follows.
.vscode/launch.json:
{"version":"0.2.0","configurations": [ {"name":"(gdb) vorm test.frm","type":"cppdbg","request":"launch","program":"${workspaceFolder}/build/sources/vorm","args": ["test.frm" ],"cwd":"${workspaceFolder}","environment": [],"stopAtEntry":false,"externalConsole":false,"MIMode":"gdb","preLaunchTask":"make-vorm","setupCommands": [ {"description":"Enable pretty-printing for gdb","text":"-enable-pretty-printing","ignoreFailures":true }, {"description":"Set Disassembly Flavor to Intel","text":"-gdb-set disassembly-flavor intel","ignoreFailures":true } ] }, {"name":"(gdb) tvorm -w4 test.frm","type":"cppdbg","request":"launch","program":"${workspaceFolder}/build/sources/tvorm","args": ["-w4","test.frm" ],"cwd":"${workspaceFolder}","environment": [],"stopAtEntry":false,"externalConsole":false,"MIMode":"gdb","preLaunchTask":"make-tvorm","setupCommands": [ {"description":"Enable pretty-printing for gdb","text":"-enable-pretty-printing","ignoreFailures":true }, {"description":"Set Disassembly Flavor to Intel","text":"-gdb-set disassembly-flavor intel","ignoreFailures":true } ] } ]}.vscode/tasks.json:
{"version":"2.0.0","tasks": [ {"label":"make-vorm","type":"shell","command":"make -j $(nproc) vorm","options": {"cwd":"${workspaceFolder}/build/sources" },"problemMatcher": ["$gcc" ],"group": {"kind":"build","isDefault":true } }, {"label":"make-tvorm","type":"shell","command":"make -j $(nproc) tvorm","options": {"cwd":"${workspaceFolder}/build/sources" },"problemMatcher": ["$gcc" ],"group": {"kind":"build","isDefault":true } } ]}- FORM Syntax Highlighting (
benruijl0774.vscode-form)
.vscode/settings.json:
{"files.associations": {"*.h":"c" }}- GitLens (
eamodio.gitlens)
- GitHub Actions (
github.vscode-github-actions)
- autoconf (
maelvalais.autoconf)
- Code Spell Checker (
streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker)
.vscode/settings.json:
{"cSpell.maxNumberOfProblems":1000,"cSpell.enabledFileTypes": {"automake":true,"c":true,"cpp":true,"form":true,"github-actions-workflow":true,"json":true,"m4":true,"markdown":true,"ruby":true,"yaml":true }}.vscode/cspell.json:
{"version":"0.2","language":"en-GB","allowCompoundWords":true,"words": ["__cplusplus","AddCoef","AGMFUNCTION","ARGTOARG","ARLTOARL","ATENDOFMODULE","autoreconf","auxjjm","auxjm","auxr_","BHEAD","boomlijst","BUCKETTOBERELEASED","BUILTINDOLLARS","CanCommu","CBUF","CDELETE","CDELTA","CDOLLAR","CDUBIOUS","CEXPRESSION","CFLAGS","CFUN","CFUNCTION","chainin","CINDEX","Civita","clearcbuf","ClearfFloat","CNUMBER","Cnumlhs","COEFFI","color","compactify","CompCoef","ComprTop","CPPFLAGS","cprocedureExtension","CSYMBOL","CXXFLAGS","daemonization","ddterms","DEDUPARG","DESY","DetCommu","DICT_DOSPECIALS","DICT_INDOLLARS","DICT_NOTINDOLLARS","DISTHOOK_VERSION","DO_UFFLE","DoArgPlode","DoesCommu","DoIfydef","DoinParallel","DOLARGUMENT","DOLINDEX","DOLNUMBER","DOLOOP","dolooplevel","doloopnest","DOLSUBTERM","DOLUNDEFINED","DOLWILDARGS","DOLZERO","DonotinParallel","DOONEEXPRESSION","DoShtuffle","DOTPBIT","DROPGEXPRESSION","DROPHGEXPRESSION","DROPHLEXPRESSION","DUBIOUSV","DUMFUN","dumnumflag","DUMPINTERMS","DUMPTOPARALLEL","ebufnum","EESYMBOL","EMPTYININDEX","EMSYMBOL","enddo","ENDOFINPUT","Eside","EXCHN","EXECUTINGIF","FindrNumber","finishcbuf","finishuf","fpcompressed","fpincompressed","FROMBRAC","FUNTOFUN","GAMMAI","GETCOEF","gextrasymbols","GFIVE","gfunpowers","ggextrasymbols","ggnumextrasym","GMINUS","gnumelements","gnumextrasym","GPLUS","GRCC_MAXFLINES","GRCC_MAXMPARTICLES","GRCC_MAXMPARTICLES2","GRCC_MAXPSLIST","GRCC_OPT_Outgrf","GRCC_OPT_SymmFinal","GRCC_OPT_SymmInitial","GRCC_QGRAF_OPT_CYCLI","GRCC_QGRAF_OPT_NOSIGMA","GRCC_QGRAF_OPT_NOSNAIL","GRCC_QGRAF_OPT_NOTADPOLE","GRCC","grccmodel","greedymaxperc","HAAKJE","HIDE_UNDOC_MEMBERS","HIDEGEXPRESSION","hparallelflag","HTOZARG","identityofthreads","IFDOLLAR","IFDOLLAREXTRA","IFISFACTORIZED","ifnomatch","indi1","indi2","INDTOIND","INDTOSUB","inicbufs","inictable","iniwranf","inparallelflag","inprimelist","INTOHIDEGEXPRESSION","iranf","ISCOMPRESSED","ISFACTORIZED","ISFORTRAN90","ISGEPOS","ISGEPOSINC","ISLYNDON","ISLYNDONR","ISNOTFORTRAN90","ISNOTZEROPOS","ISPOSPOS","ISUNMODIFIED","ISZERO","Kaneko","KEYWORDV","LDFLAGS","LEVICIVITA","lhdollarerror","lhdollarflag","LHSIDE","LHSIDEX","lijst","listofavailables","LNFUNCTION","LPARENTHESIS","LRPARENTHESES","m4_bregexp","m4_esyscmd_s","m4_esyscmd","m4_ifndef","Mathematica","MATHEMATICAMODE","MAXENAME","MAXFLEVELS","MAXFPATCHES","MAXIF","MAXINNAMETREE","MAXNCPLG","maxnlegs","MAXNUMBEROFNONCOMTERMS","MAXWILDC","MCTS","mctsconstant","mctsdecaymode","MCTSEXPANDTREE","mctsnumexpand","mctsnumkeep","mctsnumrepeat","mctstimelimit","MINIMUMNUMBEROFTERMS","Misha","mnumlhs","mnumrhs","Moebius","moebiustable","moebiustablesize","mparallelflag","mpfaux_","mpfdelta1","MPFR","mpftab1","mpftab2","mpiexec","mpirun","Mully","ncmod","NCOPY","NCOPYB","NCOPYI","ncouplings","NestPoin","Nikhef","nindices","ninterms","nlegs","NOFUNPOWERS","NOINVERSES","NOLYNDON","NOPARALLEL","NoScrat2","NOSNAILS","NOTADPOLES","numberofindexblocks","numberofsortbots","numberofterms","numberofthreads","numberofthreadslock","numberofworkers","numdollars","numdum","NUMFACS","numfunnies","numinprimelist","numlegs","numrbufs","NUMTOIND","NUMTOSYM","numxsymbol","nvertices","NwildC","O_CSEGREEDY","O_FORWARDORBACKWARD","oldcbuf","oldnumpotmoddollars","Olduflags","OMPI_SKIP_MPICXX","ONEPI","onfile","Opteron","optimtimes","outtohide","parvorm","PERMP","PFORTRANMODE","PoinFill","PRENOACTION","PRETYPEDO","PRETYPEIF","PRINTLFILE","PRINTON","pthreads","PVFUNV","PVFUNWP","QGRAF","RaisPow","rbufs","RCYCLESYMMETRIC","ReadijObject","REDLENG","reken","ResizeNCWORD","RHSIDE","RLONG","RPARENTHESIS","RunDedup","RWLOCKR","RWLOCKW","ScratSize","setexterntopo","setinterntopo","setOutgrf","SETTONUM","SFHSIZE","SHcombi","SHcombisize","SIZEFACS","SKIPGEXPRESSION","SKIPUNHIDEGEXPRESSION","SmallEsize","SMAXFPATCHES","SNUMBER","SSORTIOSIZE","stuffle","SUMF1","SUMF2","SUMMEDIND","SYMTONUM","SYMTOSUB","SYMTOSYM","TCONJUGATE","TDELTA","TDIVIDE","TDOLLAR","TDUBIOUS","TENDOFIT","Tentukov","Tentyukov","TFORM","TFUN","TFUNCLOSE","TFUNCTION","TFUNOPEN","TGENINDEX","ThreadScratOutSize","TINDEX","TMINUS","TMULTIPLY","TNUMBER","TOBEFACTORED","TOBEUNFACTORED","TOLONG","TOLYNDON","TOLYNDONR","TOPO","topofavailables","TOPOLYNOMIALFLAG","TORAT","totalnumberofthreads","totnum","TPLUS","TPOWER","TRACEN","TraceNgen","TransEname","TSETDOL","TSGAMMA","TSYMBOL","TVECTOR","tvorm","TWILDARG","TYPEDETCURDUM","TYPEDOLOOP","TYPEENDDOLOOP","TYPEFPRINT","TYPEIF","TYPEINEXPRESSION","TYPEISFUN","TYPEISMYSTERY","TYPEISSUB","TYPESTUFFLE","TYPETOPOLYNOMIAL","TYPETORAT","TYPETOSPECTATOR","unfactorize","UNHIDEGEXPRESSION","UNHIDELEXPRESSION","UNRWLOCK","UWORD","V2Ileg","VARTYPEROOTOFUNITY","VECTBIT","VECTOMIN","VECTOSUB","VECTOVEC","Vermaseren","vorm","VORTRANMODE","WCOPY","WITHMPI","WITHONEPI","WITHZSTD","wranf","wranfcall","wranfia","wranfnpair1","wranfnpair2","wranfseed","WriteUnfinString","wsizeof","xsymbol","zbufnum","Zeuthen","ziobuffer","ziosize","zsparray","zstd","ZTOHARG", ],"overrides": [ {"filename":"sources/grcc.cc","words": ["addArtic","adjmat","aelegs","agraph","agrcount","aparticle","argag","argemg","argmg","articuls","bicol","bicount","bidef","bidef","biinitE","bilow","bipart","bisearchME","blksp","blkstk","blkstkptr","blkt","cdeg","cDiag","cgen","chkMomConsv","cldeg","clmat","clnum","clord","clst","cltyp","CLWIGHTD","CLWIGHTO","cmaxd","cmaxdeg","cmind","cnlist","cple","cplgcp","cplglg","cplgnvl","cplgvl","csav","ctloop","ctyp","curcl","defaultv","dega","eclass","econn","edgen","EDGEPORDER","edlg","edtype","edup","edupv","egraph","egrph","emom","endmg","eplist","erearg","esize","esum","esym","extj","extk","extMomConsv","exto","fgcnt","freelg","iinp","ilegs","ilst","intrct","itlist","jdir","jgho","jmaj","klow","lastlg","lastv","lmom","loopm","lsum","mclss","mdlfn","mdlfp","mgraph","minopi2p","modl","momdir","momj","momk","momset","mopi","multp","mwopi","mwsum","mxdeg","nadj2ptv","nAOPI","nart","narticuls","nartps","nbacked","nblksp","nbridges","nccl","nclist","nclss","ncouple","ncplgcp","nctopic","ndart","ndcl","ndeg","ndtyp","ndtype","neblocks","neclass","nedg","NEWOUTPY","nextn","nextot","nfin","ngelem","ngen","ngho","ngraphs","ngrp","nilst","nini","ninitl","nleg","nlgs","nlpopic","nmaj","nmedges","nmgraphs","nMOPI","nnod","nnods","noden","nopi","nopic","nopicomp","nopis","nopisp","npall","nplistn","nplst","npuass","nqgopt","nrlist","nsym","nucl","nvrt","nvtx","opicomp","opics","opiext","opiloop","opisp","opistk","opistkptr","opit","optn","outag","outgrf","outgrfp","outgrpp","outmg","pdass","permg","pgtypenames","pinp","plistc","plistn","plst","pnclass","prlevel","prmsg","proct0","proct1","prtcl","ptcl","ptypec","ptypen","puass","qgopt","qgref","reord","reordLeg","savc0","savc1","sdeg","sgho","sortb","sorti","sprc","sptbl","subtrSet","tcpl0","tnvl","totalc","vclss","vdeg","vextlp","wAOPI","wgraphs","wMOPI","wopi","wscon","wsopi", ] }, {"filename":"sources/grcc.h","words": ["addArtic","adjmat","aelegs","agraph","agrcount","aparticle","argag","argemg","argmg","articuls","awopi","awsum","bicol","bicount","bidef","biinitE","bilow","bipart","bisearchME","blksp","blkstk","blkstkptr","cdeg","cDiag","cgen","chkMomConsv","cldeg","clexl","clmat","clnum","clord","clst","cmaxd","cmaxdeg","cmind","cnlist","cplgcp","cplglg","cplgnvl","cplgvl","csav","ctloop","ctyp","curcl","dega","eblk","eclass","econn","edgen","edtype","egraph","egrph","emom","endmg","esym","extMomConsv","extn","freelg","grccparam.h","iinp","ilst","intrct","klow","lastlg","lastv","lmom","loopm","mgraph","modl","momdir","momset","mopi","multp","mwopi","mwsum","mxdeg","nadj2ptv","nagraphs","nAOPI","nart","narticuls","nartps","nbacked","nblksp","nbridges","nclist","nclss","ncouple","ncplgcp","nctopic","ndcl","ndtp","ndtype","neblocks","neclass","nedg","nelm","nextot","nfin","ngen","ngraphs","nilst","ninitl","nlgs","nlpopic","nmedges","nmgraphs","nMOPI","nnod","nnods","noden","nopi","nopic","nopicomp","nopisp","nplst","npuass","nqgopt","nsym","opicomp","opics","opiext","opiloop","opisp","opistk","opistkptr","optn","outag","outgrf","outgrfp","outgrpp","outmg","pdass","permg","pinp","plst","pnclass","ptcl","puass","qgopt","qgref","reord","reordLeg","sdeg","sprc","sptbl","totalc","wAOPI","wgraphs","wMOPI","wopi","wscon","wsopi", ] }, {"filename":"sources/grccparam.h","words": ["agraph","cdeg","cldeg","clnum","cltyp","cmaxd","cmind","coupl","cple","ctyp","defaultv","eind","finaln","initlc","initln","intrct","mgraph","ncouple","ninitl","nplistn","plistc","plistn","ptcl","ptypec","ptypen","sind", ] } ]}Use the following command to list all words not recognised by cspell:
npx cspell --words-only --exclude extern$(git ls-files)| sort| uniq -c| sort -nr