Setting up a workspace in Visual Studio Code

[JPSvanderWalt]

Hi, I am looking to develop applications for the nRF5340.  After watching the "Introduction to Zephyr RTOS" webinar, I saw that the software engineer presenting the demo was using Visual Studio Code and West to build and debug Zephyr sample projects.  I was wondering if there is a guide on how to set up a workspace in VS Code for developing applications, debugging, and flashing?

I have gone through the "getting started guide" for Zephyr, but there is no mention of setting up VS Code.  I would appreciate it if someone could point me to a guide or explain the process.

[RAlexeev]

I also join the issue. Moreover, it would be interesting to know about integration to CLion.

[Martin Lesund]

Hi JPSvanderWalt,

Here is personally how I did it:

Open VS --> Open Folder --> select the NCS folder

View --> Terminal --> Select Default Shell --> Select "Bash" or "CMD"

Then you can use the command line tool "west" to build/flash samples.

How to use west is also showcased in the NCS tutorials:

• NCS Tutorial - Part 0
• NCS Tutorial - Part 1
• NCS Tutorial - Part 2
• NCS Tutorial - Part 3

e.g. how to build a sample:

Right click the folder for the application/sample you want to build

(Do some modification in the code if you want to add/remove any functionality)

Then use the command line to build the sample:

'west build -b <board> -d <build_folder>'

Building for nRF9160DK:

$ west build -b nrf9160dk_nrf9160ns -d build

Then you can flash that to your device by:

west flash -d <build_folder>

(Also described in the NCS tutorial part1)

Here is a link about debugging in VS code.

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Here is also a third party blog about VS code and nrf52 and there you can use this extension to debug

[JPSvanderWalt]

Thank you for your guidance.  I am able to build and flash but for some reason, I keep getting an error when trying to debug with JLink.  I have added the file path to the system PATH but still, I have had no success.

I keep getting the following error:

C:\Users\Petrus\zephyrproject\zephyr\samples\hello_world>west debug --runner jlink
-- west debug: rebuilding
[0/1] cmd.exe /C "cd /D C:\Users\Petrus\zephyrproject\zephyr\samples\hello_world\build\zephyr\cmake\flash && "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.exe" -E echo "

-- west debug: using runner jlink
FATAL ERROR: required program JLinkGDBServer not found; install it or add its location to PATH

[Martin Lesund]

Hi JP,
Please check out this somewhat similar thread that should help you out with regards to this issue.