The Visual Studio Code Extension for ROS1 provides support for Robot Operating System (ROS) development for ROS1 and ROS2 on Windows and Linux.
- Automatic ROS environment configuration.
- Allows starting, stopping and viewing the ROS core status.
- Automatically create
catkin_makeorcatkin buildbuild tasks. - Create catkin packages using
catkin_create_pkgscript orcatkin create pkg. - Run
rosrunorroslaunch - Resolve dependencies with
rosdepshortcut - Syntax highlighting for
.msg,.urdfand other ROS files. - Automatically add the ROS C++ include and Python import paths.
- Format C++ using the ROS
clang-formatstyle. - Preview URDF and Xacro files.
- Debug a single ROS node (C++ or Python) by attaching to the process.
- Debug ROS nodes (C++ or Python) launched from a
.launchfile.
You can access the following commands from the Visual Studio Code command pallet, typically accessed by pressing ctrl + shift + p and typing the command name you'd like to use from the table below.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| ROS: Create Catkin Package | Create a catkin package. You can right click on a folder in the explorer to create it in a specific location. |
| ROS: Create Terminal | Create a terminal with the ROS environment. |
| ROS: Show Status | Open a detail view showing ROS core runtime status. |
| ROS: Start | Start ROS1 core or ROS2 Daemon. |
| ROS: Stop | Terminate ROS core or ROS2 Daemon. |
| ROS: Update C++ Properties | Update the C++ IntelliSense configuration to include ROS and your ROS components. |
| ROS: Update Python Path | Update the Python IntelliSense configuration to include ROS. |
| ROS: Preview URDF | Preview URDF and Xacro files. The display will update after the root URDF changes are saved. |
| ROS: Install ROS Dependencies for this workspace using rosdep | Shortcut for rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Attaching to a running ROS Node | Learn how to attach VSCode to a running ROS node |
| Debugging all ROS Nodes in a launch file | Learn how to set up VSCode to debug the nodes in a ROS Launch file |
| ROSCON 2019 ROS Extension Talk Video | Walkthrough of VSCode from ROSCon 2019 |
| Deep Dive - Episode 0 | About the VSCode ROS extension @ a Polyhobbyist |
| Deep Dive - Episode 1 | Installing on Windows & WSL @ a Polyhobbyist |
| Deep Dive - Episode 2 | Installing on Linux @ a Polyhobbyist |
| Deep Dive - Episode 3 | General Usage with ROS1 @ a Polyhobbyist |
| Deep Dive - Episode 4 | General Usage with ROS2 @ a Polyhobbyist |
| Deep Dive - Episode 5 | Debugging Python @ a Polyhobbyist |
| Deep Dive - Episode 6 | Debugging C++ @ a Polyhobbyist |
| Deep Dive - Episode 7 | Using with SSH @ a Polyhobbyist |
| Deep Dive - Episode 8 | Using with with Containers @ a Polyhobbyist |
The VSCode ROS extension will attempt to detect and automatically configure the workspace for the appropriate ROS Distro.
The extension will automatically start when you open a catkin or colcon workspace.
The build system (e.g. catkin_make or catkin build) will automatically be confirmed from the hidden files associated with
each system.
The Visual Studio Code extension for ROS supports launch debugging for ROS 1 and ROS 2 nodes, written in Python and C++. The ROS node or nodes to be debugged must be placed in a ROS launch file with the extension .launch for ROS1 or ROS2 or with the extension .py for ROS2.
.vscode/launch.json is a file which defines a debug launch configuration within VSCode.
To create a .vscode/launch.json with ROS debugging support
- C++ or Python file is selected, vscode uses the selected file to seed the launch creation UI.
- Click the
Run and Debugtab on the left sidebar - Select the link to create a
.vscode/launch.jsonfile. - VSCode will drop down from the command pallet with a list of options, which includes 'ROS'. Select this option.
- In the next dialog, type the name of the ROS package containing a launch file you'd like to debug.
- Then find the launch file.
Once this is created, you can use the play button in the title bar, or the "start debugging" accelerator key, or from the command palle (CTRL-SHIFT-P), select Debug: Start Debugging.
NOTE: Other VSCode extensions may interfere with the selection list. If you do not see ROS in the first drop down list, you'll need to create a new file called
.vscode/launch.json, then use the manual option described below.
Other Notes:
- Create a new ROS launch file with just the nodes you'd like to debug, and a separate ROS launch file with all other ROS nodes.
- Debugging a launch file with Gazebo or rviz is not supported as this time. Please split these out into separate launch files.
- ROS Run is not supported.
- Traditional XML launch files are supported for ROS1, and python based launch files are supported for ROS2.
If you have an existing launch.json file (or if there is an extension conflict as mentioned above), you can manually add a launch configuration by adding a new block like this.
{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"name": "ROS: Launch my file",
"request": "launch",
"target": "<full path to your launch.py or launch file>",
"launch": ["rviz", "gz", "gzserver", "gzclient"],
"type": "ros"
}
]
} Be sure to include the full path to your launch file, including file extension.
The ROS Launch configuration block supports the following configuration:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| name | The name which will be displayed in the VSCode UI launch configuration |
| request | launch or attach for launching a ROS launch file, or attaching using the attach UI for Pyton or C++ |
| target | the launch file path |
| type | must be ros to indicate to VSCode that this is a ROS launch configuration |
| arguments | Arguments passed to roslaunch such as map:=/foo.yaml' |
| symbolSearchPath | A semicolon delimited search path for Windows symbols, including ROS for Windows symbols downloaded from https://ros-win.visualstudio.com/ros-win/_build |
| additionalSOLibSearchPath | A semicolon delimited search path for Linux symbols |
| sourceFileMap | A mapping of Source files from where Symbols expect and the location you have on disk. |
| launch | If specified, a list of executables to just launch, attaching to everything else. e.g. "launch": ["rviz", "gz", "gzserver", "gzclient"] which prevents attaching a debugger to rviz and gazebo. NOTE: the debugger will ignore file extension: x.py is the same as x.exe. |
| attachDebugger | If specified, a list of executables to debug. "attachDebugger": ["my_ros_node"] will only attach to my_ros_node.exe, my_ros_node.py or my_ros_node. |
The ROS extension supports the following global settings, which can be overridden in the workspace.
| Json Option | Setting Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ros.distro | ROS installation distro to be sourced | The Distribution to be sourced. On linux, this cause the extension to look for the ROS setup script in /opt/ros/{distro}/setup.bash. On Windows, c:\opt\ros\{distro}\setup.bat |
| ros.rosSetupScript | ROS workspace setup script. Overrides ros.distro. | If specified, this will cause the extension to source this script before generating the launch debugging or ROS terminal environment. This overrides the ros.distro, and can be used to specify user scripts or ROS installs in a different location. |
| ros.isolateEnvironment | Specify if the extension should not capture the environment VSCode is running in to pass to child processes. | Off by default, This setting will prevent the ROS extension from capturing it's hosting environment in case this would conflict with the ROS environment. |
Workspace example:
└── .vscode
├── launch.json
├── settings.json
└── tasks.jsonsettings.json
{
"ros.distro": "foxy",
"ros.rosSetupScript": "/opt/ros/foxy/install/setup.bash",
"ros.isolateEnvironment": "false"
}Security issues and bugs should be reported privately, via email, to the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) at secure@microsoft.com. You should receive a response within 24 hours. If for some reason you do not, please follow up via email to ensure we received your original message.
Further information, including the MSRC PGP key, can be found in the Security TechCenter.
This extension collects usage data and sends it to Microsoft to help improve our products and services. Read our privacy statement to learn more.
This extension respects the telemetry.enableTelemetry setting, learn more about this option.
Contributions are always welcome! Please see our contributing guide for more details!
A big Thank you! to everyone that have helped make this extension better!
- Andrew Short (@ajshort), original author
- James Giller (@JamesGiller)
- PickNikRobotics (@PickNikRobotics) for code formatting
This extension leverages ROS Web Tools for URDF Previewing.
Russell Toris, Julius Kammerl, David Lu, Jihoon Lee, Odest Chadwicke Jenkins, Sarah Osentoski, Mitchell Wills, and Sonia Chernova. Robot Web Tools: Efficient Messaging for Cloud Robotics. In Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2015
Footnotes
-
ROS is a trademark of Open Robotics. ↩