Add the ability to generate definitions from declarations and vice versa

[benjaminjack]

I spend a lot of time typing out lists of arguments (or copying and pasting them) when I'm defining functions that have already been declared in a header file. It would be nice if cpptools could automatically generate a skeleton definition of a function that has already been declared, or at least provide a shortcut to auto-fill the argument list.

[BrianSipple]

I was going to suggest something very similar. I'd also be interested in a feature to create a header- and source-file pair with a single task invocation. This would be similar to XCode, for example, which generates both a .h and .cpp file when the user selects an option to create a new class file.

[sean-mcmanus]

@bobbrow I believe this is the most used feature in VS that we are missing (used more often than Find All References).

As mentioned in #3056, we should also support the "opposite" case of adding the declaration to the header from an existing definition.

[bobbrow]

Yeah, I have seen this feedback a few times in our survey responses. It is on my radar.

[daranday]

Would love to have this feature!

[davidbitton]

Upvote!

[exocode]

Is this something you are looking for?:

It is able to preserve existing methods and inclusions

https://github.com/reignofwebber/vscode-c-cpp-definition-generator

[davidbitton]

@exocode yep! your work?

[yannickbt64]

Can't wait to have this implemented. Such a basic feature, yet very useful.

[ArcticLampyrid]

Can't wait to use it.
Do we have any plan to implement it?

[sean-mcmanus]

@1354092549 Yes, but we don't have it on our schedule yet.

[rafaelchen]

it would be really useful feature :)

[PoetaKodu]

I would love that!

[exocode]

@davidbitton sorry, no.. some other genius did that for all of us :-)

[dbsxdbsx]

Just upVote it, and it woud be better to have it with funcitonality like "changing signature".

[Flamefire]

Very related: Move implementation to source file (possibly creating it) which not only generates the signature but also moves the implementation from header to source.

[bobbrow]

This feature is available for preview. Switch to the prerelease version of the C/C++ extension to install version 1.13.4 and give it a try. There are a few known issues with the first implementation documented here: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cpptools/releases/tag/v1.13.4.

[khlebnikov]

Filed an issue related to the new functionality: #10189

[bobbrow]

@khlebnikov thanks! We're looking into it.

[tirupatihemanth]

Hello! Is this feature released for the general public?
i.e the ability to generate definitions of methods/classes from declarations/function calls etc.,

[pfeerick]

@tirupatihemanth Please read #664 (comment)

First release version of the extension to include it was https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cpptools/releases/tag/v1.13.6, and https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cpptools/releases/tag/v1.13.8 is the current latest version of the extension.

[tirupatihemanth]

@pfeerick Thank you for the reply. I have the v1.13.8 of cpp extension. I am using gcc compiler on the windows machine.
I still couldn't seem to activate this feature. I call a function in a method which hasn't been written yet. Now when I type
"Ctrl+." which brings up quickfix I don't see a suggestion to generate the method. How do I activate this feature?

[sean-mcmanus]

@tirupatihemanth Do you see the "..." under the start of the declaration of the methods that aren't implemented yet? Like in this screenshot?

[tirupatihemanth]

@sean-mcmanus Yes I get that for function declarations in a class.
Say If I call a function func2(); from main() function or any other global function then it doesn't suggest to generate the definition. It would be super useful if it can do that.

[sean-mcmanus]

@tirupatihemanth The feature works for you on a function declaration, right? It doesn't work when on a usage of a function that is not defined because our parser will see the identifier as just being undefined.

[tirupatihemanth]

@sean-mcmanus Yes it works for function declarations. It would be super useful if it suggests to generate definition of an undefined function on usage.
It works on visual studio this way for c#. Hope this feature comes to vscode for cpp.
Thank you,
Happy New Year

[sean-mcmanus]

I've filed a feature request on VS at https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/Add-support-for-Create-Declaration--Def/10242237 .

[Mulf]

Other than genenrating function definition one by one, we need to generate a whole cpp files from the header. i.e. After we finish the declaration of a class or some functions in .h, we can create a .cpp with those definitions there. The extention c/c++ definition generator extenstion implements some functions, but far away from perfect.

It would be great if cpptool adding such a feature.

[sean-mcmanus]

@Mulf Your suggested feature request is being tracked in #10414 .