getting the debugger working in VS Code

[mzimmers]

Hi all -

I'm delighted that we now have an interactive debugger for the ESP32. I've read https://github.com/espressif/vscode-esp ... bugging.md and they mostly make sense, but as a newcomer to this stuff, I could use a little more detail.

I'm using a ESP32-WROOM-32D board. The online help suggested I use the board/esp32-wrover-kit-1.8v.cfg, so I chose that from the command palette. (This is a file, right? I can't find it anywhere.)

This is the contents of my settings.json file:

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{
    "idf.adapterTargetName": "esp32",
    "workbench.colorTheme": "Visual Studio Light",
    "idf.espIdfPath": "/home/mzimmers/esp/esp-idf",
    "idf.pythonBinPath": "/home/mzimmers/.espressif/python_env/idf4.3_py3.8_env/bin/python",
    "idf.toolsPath": "/home/mzimmers/.espressif",
    "idf.customExtraPaths": "/home/mzimmers/.espressif/tools/xtensa-esp32-elf/esp-2021r1-8.4.0/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin:/home/mzimmers/.espressif/tools/xtensa-esp32s2-elf/esp-2021r1-8.4.0/xtensa-esp32s2-elf/bin:/home/mzimmers/.espressif/tools/xtensa-esp32s3-elf/esp-2021r1-8.4.0/xtensa-esp32s3-elf/bin:/home/mzimmers/.espressif/tools/riscv32-esp-elf/esp-2021r1-8.4.0/riscv32-esp-elf/bin:/home/mzimmers/.espressif/tools/esp32ulp-elf/2.28.51-esp-20191205/esp32ulp-elf-binutils/bin:/home/mzimmers/.espressif/tools/esp32s2ulp-elf/2.28.51-esp-20191205/esp32s2ulp-elf-binutils/bin:/home/mzimmers/.espressif/tools/openocd-esp32/v0.10.0-esp32-20210401/openocd-esp32/bin",
    "idf.customExtraVars": "{\"OPENOCD_SCRIPTS\":\"/home/mzimmers/.espressif/tools/openocd-esp32/v0.10.0-esp32-20210401/openocd-esp32/share/openocd/scripts\"}",
    "idf.gitPath": "git",
    "idf.flashType": "UART",
    "idf.saveScope": 2,
    "C_Cpp.autoAddFileAssociations": false
}

Anyway, if anyone know of some supplementary information for getting this going (or can already see what I'm doing wrong), I'd appreciate knowing about it. Thanks...

[ESP_bignacio]

What kind of issue are you having with debugging ?

To configure the debug adapter, you use the settings in your launch.json as per Visual Studio Code approach.

Take a look at https://github.com/espressif/vscode-esp ... BUGGING.md

[mzimmers]

Hi bignacio - sorry for the late reply; lots of unrelated tasks going on right now.

My current issue with the debugger is when I get to the step where I press F5, it prompts me to select an environment, and the only choices are:

C++ (GDB/LLDB)
C++ (Windows)

I imagine this is something to do with a configuration file, but I thought I had followed the instructions faithfully, so I don't know.

Thanks...

[ESP_bignacio]

If it is asking to choose this it is probably because visual studio code doesn't find a launch.json for the current project.

Is there a .vscode/launch.json ?

Are you opening one ESP-IDF project or several projects at the same time ?

[mzimmers]

Hi bignacio -

Yes, I have a launch.json file. I'm only opening one project.

The behavior has changed -- now when I press F5, I get an error "The preLaunchTask 'C/C++: arm-none-eabi-g++ build active file' terminated with exit code -1.

Not sure what I've done to introduce this behavior...

[mzimmers]

I'd like to return to this issue, please. When I try to start the debugger, I get this error:

debug.PNG (178.14 KiB) Viewed 33099 times

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Thanks...

[ProtonBoarder]

Yuri R made a nice detailed video on how to setup the ESP-PROG on VS Code, it worked for me at least
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq93H7T7cOQ

[mzimmers]

Hi ProtonBoarder -

That is indeed a good video -- it does answer a few questions.

I'm trying to use his automated preRun task:

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{
    // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
    // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "preRun",
            "type": "shell",
            "windows": {
                "command": "clear & start openocd -c \"set ESP_RTOS none\" -f board/esp32-wrover-kit-3.3v.cfg & exit"
            }
        }
    ]
}

but I'm getting an error:

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At line:1 char:7
+ clear & start openocd -c set ESP_RTOS none -f board/esp32-wrover-kit- ...
+       ~
The ampersand (&) character is not allowed. The & operator is reserved for future use; wrap an ampersand in double quotation marks ("&") to pass it as part of a string.

I've tried escaping the ampersand, but no change in results. Any idea what's wrong here?

Thanks...

EDIT: after some experimentation, I enclosed the ampersand in single quotes:

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                "command": "clear '&' start openocd -c \"set ESP_RTOS none\" -f board/esp32-wrover-kit-3.3v.cfg '&' exit"

That seems to have fixed it. Evidently the author of the video was using a basic Windows shell, and my system is configured for PowerShell, which doesn't like the naked ampersand.

[lg.lindstrom]

I've tried his command line, and your modification of his command:

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 "command": "clear '&' start openocd -c \"set ESP_RTOS none\" -f board/esp32-wrover-kit-3.3v.cfg '&' exit"

nothing works for me.
I agree on the conclusion that different shells are used.

VsCode must have a way to control which shell that is used. I have searched among VsCode settings without understand which to use/change.

Have you looked into this ?

[ashelman-ec]

In the Windows terminal, the ampersand is used to separate two commands on one line.

In PowerShell, a semicolon is used instead.

Try this instead:

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 "command": "clear ; start openocd -c \"set ESP_RTOS none\" -f board/esp32-wrover-kit-3.3v.cfg ; exit"