Colorized CMake/Build output

[Flamefire]

Executing CMake or the build command in a terminal shows it nicely formated with bold and colors. Is there anything that this extension can do to support this? Currently all output goes to the output pane which shows just Black&White output which makes it hard to read.

I've seen that task output is redirected to the terminal pane which does support coloring (since a bit ago), could this extension support this too? Or is there another option?

This might also be worth noting in the FAQ.

[vector-of-bool]

The output channel gives no coloring options, so that's not going to work. A terminal supports ANSII, so that's the only way to do it at the moment. Running the build as a VSCode Task has proven difficult, but may be possible. There's a pending ext API in VSCode to have "custom terminals" where an ext can write bytes directly to a terminal window. That will probably be the route I go with in the future, but it's an open question.

[mika-fischer]

Any news on this? I use a task like this as a workaround:

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "build",
            "type": "process",
            "command": "ninja",
            "options": {
                "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}/build"
            },
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true,
            },
            "problemMatcher": [
                {
                    "base": "$gcc",
                    "fileLocation": ["relative", "${workspaceRoot}/build"]
                },
            ],
            "promptOnClose": true
        }
    ]
}

[bobbrow]

Sorry, no update yet. When this task is assigned a Milestone with a product version number, you will know that we are working on it.

[mika-fischer]

I was also asking if there's a clearer way forward than indicated in the last comment. But it seems there's not. The relevant vscode isssue is microsoft/vscode#571. See also #119 (comment).

However, I found that a better workaround is to just install the Output Colorizer extension and things just work for me: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=IBM.output-colorizer

[nunojsa]

This would be a really nice thing to add. Right now, I just prefer to do ctrl + j , go to the terminal and just type make manually to have the colorized build...

[Lectem]

I also miss this a lot, but more because of CTest.
Colors in the CTest output are invaluable for quick iterations !

[nunojsa]

For me, the Output Colorizer plugin from IBM is working pretty good. You might give it a try. Never tried it with CTest though...

[Lectem]

I tried it but the colors are not the ones that should be shown, it seems to just parse the text with regexps? That's different from using the ascii color tags. Le jeu. 9 janv. 2020 à 12:03, Nuno Sá <notifications@github.com> a écrit :

…

For me, the Output Colorizer plugin from IBM is working pretty good. You might give it a try — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#478?email_source=notifications&email_token=ABN6YIIJUJQPJPTX67Z6NJDQ4376XA5CNFSM4FJ2ALLKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOEIP5GUQ#issuecomment-572511058>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABN6YIP6DUBSYXC2YM65PWDQ4376XANCNFSM4FJ2ALLA> .

[dbird137]

This isn't a general solution for just running CMake builds but if you're writing your own cmake scripts, I've had good luck with peppering these into my message() functions:

# Colorized Output Setup
if(NOT WIN32)
  string(ASCII 27 Esc)
  set(Reset 		"${Esc}[m")
  set(Bold  		"${Esc}[1m")
  set(Red         	"${Esc}[31m")
  set(Green       	"${Esc}[32m")
  set(Blue        	"${Esc}[34m")
  set(Cyan        	"${Esc}[36m")
  set(Magenta     	"${Esc}[35m")
  set(Yellow      	"${Esc}[33m")
  set(White       	"${Esc}[37m")
  set(BoldRed     	"${Esc}[1;31m")
  set(BoldGreen   	"${Esc}[1;32m")
  set(BoldBlue    	"${Esc}[1;34m")
  set(BoldCyan    	"${Esc}[1;36m")
  set(BoldMagenta 	"${Esc}[1;35m")
  set(BoldYellow  	"${Esc}[1;33m")
  set(BoldWhite   	"${Esc}[1;37m")
endif()

Then just use them like so...

message(STATUS "${Cyan} Here's some status...${Reset}")
message(DEBUG "${BoldYellow} Debugging some nonsense...${Reset}")
message(ERROR "${BoldRed} I hope you like Bach because your script is Baroque...${Reset}")

I've only tested this on xterm-256color.

FYI: The colors do carry over between messages because you're actually manipulating the terminal. So always do the ${Reset}.

[intractabilis]

Another issue with having the build output in "output" is that the errors are not clickable.

[timo-suoranta-varjo]

Another issue with having the build output in "output" is that the errors are not clickable.

This is caused by relative paths. You can workaround this by setting "cmake.buildDirectory": "${workspaceFolder}/../build" in your workspace settings.json.

[mohamedAlaaK]

can we run the build command inside a terminal or have an option for that? the run button already does that and it would be cool to have the build button does that too for the output to be colorized.

[daeden]

Any update on this? I really miss seeing some color when building.

[andreeis]

@daeden, unfortunately we were not able to get to this feature yet. If anyone is willing to implement this request, we are willing to review and test a PR.

[mohamedAlaaK]

@andreeis, How about having an option to run the build command inside the terminal instead of the output window? That should be easy to do.

[HunterZ]

Just noticed this issue myself when running vscode from inside of an MSYS2 MinGW64 environment. Awkward!

The extensions "Output Colorizer" and "Janky Output Channels" both colorize the output, but leave the escape sequences in place, which I guess is better than nothing?

Edit: I'm not sure those extensions are actually parsing the ANSI sequences, versus just applying their own coloring heuristics?

[bobbrow]

You should be able to work around this by using the "cmake.buildTask": true setting to enable building in the terminal if you configure a default build task in .vscode/tasks.json. Something like this:

{
    // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
    // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "Build the active target",
            "type": "cmake",
            "command": "build",
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            }
        }
    ]
}

[HunterZ]

You should be able to work around this by using the "cmake.buildTask": true setting to enable building in the terminal if you configure a default build task in .vscode/tasks.json. Something like this:

While this does appear to accomplish redirection of output to a terminal tab, testing shows that it comes at a great cost:

• Breaks the ability to do a clean
• Breaks GCC warnings/errors being added to the "problems" tab
• Breaks hyperlinking of filenames mentioned in the GCC output

[intractabilis]

I understand that this is not for everyone, but I switched to Meson plus xPack (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ilg-vscode.xpack). I never regretted this choice. I have color output for builds and hyperlinked error and warning messages. For IntelliSense I use compile_commands.json that Meson generates. I don't miss a single feature of CMake tools.

[bobbrow]

• Breaks the ability to do a clean
• Breaks GCC warnings/errors being added to the "problems" tab
• Breaks hyperlinking of filenames mentioned in the GCC output

For the problems, you can add a "problemMatcher" to the task definition. "$gcc" and "$msbuild" are valid pre-defined matchers, or you can go custom: example from the docs.

The hyperlinking issue should also be addressed by configuring a problem matcher.

Are you saying none of the "CMake: Clean" commands work when you use this setting?

[HunterZ]

Are you saying none of the "CMake: Clean" commands work when you use this setting?

Yes: Specifically, when I click "Clean All Projects" it acts as if I had instead clicked "Build All Projects" (invokes cmake with target all instead of clean). This was particularly obvious when testing, due to the fact that I had a bug in my code that was triggering a compiler error lol

"Clean Rebuild All Projects" seems to work fine.

[HunterZ]

I should mention that vscode developers have stated unequivocally that they will not add support for colors to the Output window, because reasons: microsoft/vscode#141556 (comment)

They have directed people to file issues against extensions, so here we are.

[IGR2014]

Here is "Output window". All we want is just a support to ANSI colors! Thanks

[bobbrow]

A potential workaround for this is using "cmake.buildTask": true setting which will run the default build task for you in the terminal instead of having output go to the Output window. We are working on adding more options for this task provider in 1.11.

Use a tasks.json similar to this:

{
    // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
    // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "Build the active target",
            "type": "cmake",
            "command": "build",
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            }
        }
    ]
}

[ehsanecc]

adding

    ...
    "cmake.buildTask": true,
    "cmake.environment": {
        "CLICOLOR_FORCE": "1"
    }

to settings.json make it colorful

[moefear85]

this is really vscode's fault. they are clearly aware that people want ansci escape sequence support in the output tab.

[moefear85]

SOLVED

[lesterlo]

adding

    ...
    "cmake.buildTask": true,
    "cmake.environment": {
        "CLICOLOR_FORCE": "1"
    }

to settings.json make it colorful

"cmake.buildTask": true is indeed able to show the color of CMake since it uses the terminal tab instead of the Output Tab for compilation. However, you will lose the feature of the Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension that displays warnings/errors on the editor line by line.

[touraill-adobe]

It seems the output channel can now be created with a language id, so that syntax gets highlighted; how about creating the channel with the ansi id from the ANSI Colors extension, or adding a setting so that users can set their own language id?

[ghost]

I found this
https://offlinemark.com/2023/02/05/how-to-enable-colored-compiler-output-with-cmake-vscode/

[intractabilis]

I am genuinely puzzled. This issue is six years old. It exemplifies the principle that "there are no problems we can't create for ourselves." CMake Tools is an utterly useless extension. Guys, you are struggling with problems that wouldn't have existed in the first place if you hadn't used CMake Tools. All you need is a couple of lines in your tasks.json, then the output to console will be colorized and clickable. If you want CMake's language support (with auto-completion, syntax highlight, help tooltips, etc.), install the CMake Language Support extension without CMake Tools. Everything will work perfectly; you will have the bells, whistles, and colorized build output.

[ghost]

I am genuinely puzzled. This issue is six years old. It exemplifies the principle that "there are no problems we can't create for ourselves." CMake Tools is an utterly useless extension. Guys, you are struggling with problems that wouldn't have existed in the first place if you hadn't used CMake Tools. All you need is a couple of lines in your tasks.json, then the output to console will be colorized and clickable. If you want CMake's language support (with auto-completion, syntax highlight, help tooltips, etc.), install the CMake Language Support extension without CMake Tools. Everything will work perfectly; you will have the bells, whistles, and colorized build output.

Thanks a lot for this ^^, maybe the extension has some usefulness it is much more than syntax support and colored outputs ^^, CMake Tools currently improves the intellisense and debugging a lot ^^, it is not perfect, but better than nothing ^^, IBM's Colorized Output extensions improves the coloring situation a bit ^^

[intractabilis]

IntelliSense is from the CMake Language Support extension. It works perfectly without CMake Tools. You are right about debugging, though; I forgot that they added a CMake debugger to CMake Tools. It works with CMake 3.27 or newer. Besides this, everything can be achieved with the tools already present in VS Code.

[ghost]

IntelliSense is from the CMake Language Support extension. It works perfectly without CMake Tools. You are right about debugging, though; I forgot that they added a CMake debugger to CMake Tools. It works with CMake 3.27 or newer. Besides this, everything can be achieved with the tools already present in VS Code.

Great to know, VSCode isn't perfect and indeed tried to switch multiple times, I might try to make a better CMake C++ centered IDE soon, hopefully

[Lioncky]

@iyadahmed

no need to set {"cmake.buildTask": true,}
install this and config like
, you'll be happy get both of them.

    "editor.tokenColorCustomizations": {
        "textMateRules": [
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other.log.error",
                "settings": { "foreground": "#FF0000" , "fontStyle": "italic" }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other.log.warn",
                "settings": { "foreground": "#F08000", "fontStyle": "italic"  }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other.log.info",
                "settings": { "foreground": "#2cd3c5" }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other.log.debug",
                "settings": { "foreground": "#888585" }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other.log.highlight",
                "settings": { "foreground": "#19ff04" }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other",
                "settings": { "fontStyle": "italic" }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.italic",
                "settings": { "fontStyle": "italic" }
            }
        ]
    },

[ghost]

@iyadahmed

no need to set {"cmake.buildTask": true,} install this and config like , you'll be happy get both of them.

    "editor.tokenColorCustomizations": {
        "textMateRules": [
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other.log.error",
                "settings": { "foreground": "#FF0000" , "fontStyle": "italic" }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other.log.warn",
                "settings": { "foreground": "#F08000", "fontStyle": "italic"  }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other.log.info",
                "settings": { "foreground": "#2cd3c5" }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other.log.debug",
                "settings": { "foreground": "#888585" }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other.log.highlight",
                "settings": { "foreground": "#19ff04" }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.other",
                "settings": { "fontStyle": "italic" }
            },
            {
                "scope" : "markup.italic",
                "settings": { "fontStyle": "italic" }
            }
        ]
    },

thanks!

[7R35C0]

For a CMake function template, I made a module/function to print colored messages.

More information here: https://github.com/7R35C0/cmake-function-template.git

[gcampbell-msft]

Some updates on investigation I've done are located here #3683

[gcampbell-msft]

Just refreshing here to remind of the context and learnings we made in #3683

[stlfatboy]

still having this issue on vscode 1.93.1 with cmake 3.30.3 + cmake tool 1.19.52