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Visual Studio Code + CMake based cross-platform template for developing a REAPER Plug-in Extension

An entry level solution for setting up a REAPER Plug-in Extension development and build environment based on Visual Studio Code and CMake. Goal is to setup ReaScript IDE-like working environment for developing a simple scriptlike plugin, with little if any former background on C/C++ or REAPER Plug-in Extension development itself, and begin learning. Layman's documentation is included in the source files. Developed and tested on Windows 10, MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6 and Big Sur 11.1, and Ubuntu 20.04.1. Some familiarity with Visual Studio Code is beneficial. Instructions are based on clean/fresh installation.

Installation guide

It's recommended to read all steps in advance before beginning installation.

Windows

Install Visual Studio Community with Develop C and C++ applications component. Default installation includes MSVC compiler and CMake. Visual Studio installation can be trimmed down before installation or afterwards by cherry-picking only the necessary components from Visual Studio Installer > Individual Components section.

Minimal Visual Studio installation

  • C++ CMake tools for Windows
  • Windows SDK (e.g. Windows 10 SDK (10.0.19041.0) for Windows 10, version 2004)

MacOS

Perhaps the easiest way is to install Homebrew. This will also install Apple XCode Command Line Tools. After Homebrew is installed, install CMake with brew install cmake. Git can also be installed from Homebrew with brew install git.

Linux

Mainstream Linux distributions usually include compiler and many of other necessary tools. On Ubuntu, command sudo apt install build-essential cmake gdb git valgrind installs all necessary tools.

All platforms

  • Install Visual Studio Code (VSCode).
  • Install Git, if not already installed.
  • On Windows, open Developer PowerShell (or Command Prompt) for VS. On MacOS and Linux, use regular Terminal. Change directory to user preferred location for source repositories, or make one.
  • Get reaper-sdk-vscode files, preferably with git clone --recursive https://github.com/ak5k/reaper-sdk-vscode.git, or by creating a new repository from this template and cloning it to local host. Currently templates don't include submodules, in this case WDL library.
  • Change directory to root of this repository.
  • Install VSCode C/C++ Extension Pack with code --verbose --install-extension ms-vscode.cpptools-extension-pack. This might take a while.
  • If command code isn't found on Mac, see this and try again.
  • Open new VSCode workspace by issuing command code . (in root directory of this repository).
  • VSCode finishes installing the C/C++ Extensions pack. This is indicated in Status Bar.
  • Wait, until all dependencies have been downloaded and installed. This might take a while.
  • Then quit VSCode and restart.
  • If VSCode notifies about Reload, then Reload.
  • If VSCode notifies to configure project 'plugin' with CMake Tools, choose Yes to configure. CMake Tools can also be set to allow always configure new C/C++ projects.
  • Select appropriate build kit for platform and architecture. Visual Studio for Windows, Clang for MacOS and GCC for Linux (e.g. Visual Studio Community Release 2019 - amd64 for modern Windows PC).
  • VSCode should also notify about setting up IntelliSense for current workspace. Allow this.
  • If this did not happen, these can be set up by issuing VSCode Command Palette Commands (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + P) CMake: Configure and CMake: Select a Kit, or from VSCode Status Bar.

Template files

CMakeLists.txt

  • From VSCode workspace Explorer (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + E) open up CMakeLists.txt file.
  • Configuration for plugin and building/compiling.

src/main.cpp

  • "The" REAPER plugin.

src/my_plugin.cpp

  • "The" actual source.

First steps

  • By default, VSCode builds a debug version of the plugin it by running CMake: Build or keyboard shortcut F7.
  • Install plugin with VSCode command CMake: Install.
  • Start REAPER, and new plugin and it's Action ("ak5k: my plugin" by default) should show up in the Actions List.
  • Running the Action should result in 'hello, world' Console Message.
  • VSCode docs and Microsoft C++ docs are a helpful resource. And, of course, ReaScript, JSFX, REAPER Plug-in Extensions, Developer Forum.
  • Choosing between debug and release builds can be done with CMake: Select Variant.
  • Debugging is launched with F5. First time, VSCode opens up default Launch Task configuration for debugging. Choose correct Environment and select Default Configuration. In launch.json file, edit the "program": value to match REAPER executable/binary installation path, e.g. "program": "C:/Program Files/REAPER (x64)/reaper.exe".
  • VSCode debugger allows step-by-step code execution, watching variables, etc.
  • On Windows, VSCode needs to be started from Developer PowerShell (or Command Prompt) for VS. image