Re# C++ Syntax Parsing and " INTELLISENSE"

Created August 02, 2024 14:39

I write kernel-mode software (like device drivers and file system minifilters) for Windows. A commonly used feature that's available to Windows kernel-mode developers is something called WPP Tracing. This feature dynamically creates (a long series of obtuse) macros that are defined in a build-time created created file, with definitions like this:

// Functions
#undef DoDebugTrace
#ifdef __INTELLISENSE__
#define DoDebugTrace(TRACELEVEL, MSG, ...) ((void)(MSG, ## __VA_ARGS__))
#else
#define DoDebugTrace WPP_(CALL)
#endif
#undef DoTraceMessage
#ifdef __INTELLISENSE__
#define DoTraceMessage(LEVEL, MSG, ...) ((void)(MSG, ## __VA_ARGS__))
#else
#define DoTraceMessage WPP_(CALL)
#endif

Note that use of #ifdef __INTELLISENSE__ in the above.

When Re# encounters the invocation of these macros in source code, Re# of course flags them with an error “Cannot resolve symbol ‘WPP_<something here>’ "

This is super annoying and results in dozens of red-squiggle underlines in a typical source code file.

Is there ANY work-around that I could use that'll get Re# C++ to NOT flag these macros? Is there any reason that Re# can't define __INTELLISENSE__ when it does its very clever syntax parsing? Maybe, even, as an option or something?

This problem affects just about anybody who does Windows driver development AND uses Re# C++… I get that we're a small community, but it seems like this problem might occur in user-land in places as well.

4 comments

Kirill Filin

Created August 06, 2024 06:11

Hello Petergv,

Thank you for the detailed description.

You can use the same approach in ReSharper. ReSharper has a macro that is similar to __INTELLISENSE__ called __RESHARPER__, so you can use something like:

#undef DoDebugTrace
#ifdef __RESHARPER__
#define DoDebugTrace(TRACELEVEL, MSG, ...) ((void)(MSG, ## __VA_ARGS__))
#else
#define DoDebugTrace WPP_(CALL)
#endif
#undef DoTraceMessage
#ifdef __RESHARPER__
#define DoTraceMessage(LEVEL, MSG, ...) ((void)(MSG, ## __VA_ARGS__))
#else
#define DoTraceMessage WPP_(CALL)
#endif

Directly in the code or create/modify the templates used to generate .tmh.

As an example, a template snippet for ReSharper might look like this:

// R# macros
`FORALL f IN Funcs WHERE !DoubleP && !MsgArgs && !NoMsg`
#undef `f.Name`
#ifdef __RESHARPER__
#define `f.Name`(`f.FixedArgs`MSG, ...) ((void)(MSG, ## __VA_ARGS__))
#else
#define `f.Name` WPP_(CALL)
#endif
`ENDFOR`
`FORALL f IN Funcs WHERE !DoubleP && !MsgArgs && NoMsg`
#undef `f.Name`
#ifdef __RESHARPER__
#define `f.Name`(`f.FixedArgs`) ((void)0)
#else
#define `f.Name` WPP_(CALL)
#endif
`ENDFOR`
`FORALL f IN Funcs WHERE DoubleP && !MsgArgs`
#undef `f.Name`
#ifdef __RESHARPER__
#define `f.Name`(ARGS) ((void)ARGS)
#else
#define `f.Name`(ARGS) WPP_(CALL) ARGS
#endif
`ENDFOR`
`FORALL f IN Funcs WHERE MsgArgs`
#undef `f.Name`
#ifdef __RESHARPER__
#define `f.Name`(`f.FixedArgs`MSGARGS) ((void)(MSGARGS))
#else
#define `f.Name`(`f.FixedArgs`MSGARGS) WPP_(CALL)(`f.FixedArgs`MSGARGS)
#endif
`ENDFOR`
`FORALL r IN Reorder`
#undef  WPP_R`r.Name`
#define WPP_R`r.Name`(`r.Arguments`) `r.Permutation`
`ENDFOR`

Let me know if you encounter any issues in your environment using this method.

Petergv

Created August 06, 2024 13:04

Thanks for the reply.

The problem is that this is a system supplied, build-time generated, file. So, I can’t change the definition.

Could I, perhaps, in another header, do:

#ifdef __RESHARPER__
#define __INTELLIESENSE__
#endif

Would you anticipate any issues with that?

Kirill Filin

Created August 07, 2024 16:06

Petergv, Thank you for the information.

Would you mind setting __INTELLIESENSE__=1 in Project Properties under ReSharper? It should help with WPP macro resolution without source code changes.

Petergv

Created August 07, 2024 19:58

Ah, HA! THAT WORKS!

THANK you… I really appreciate you taking the time to look into this (I see you tested with the wdfserial example… excellent).

You have solved what has been a long-standing annoyance for me. I'm super grateful. :-)

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