vscode custom task problem matcher does not find text that matches regex

Question

Here is my entire tasks.json file in the .vscode directory

{
    // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
    // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "make",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "make",
            "args": [
                "all"
            ],
            "group": "build",
            "presentation": {
                "reveal": "always",
                "echo": true,
                "showReuseMessage": false,
                "clear": true
            },
            "problemMatcher": [
                {
                    "owner": "ld65-a",
                    "fileLocation": [
                        "relative",
                        "${workspaceFolder}"
                    ],
                    "severity": "error",
                    "pattern": {
                        "regexp": "^(Unresolved external)\\s+'(.*)'.*:\\s+(.*)\\((\\d.*)\\)$",
                        "file": 3,
                        "line": 4,
                        "message": 1,
                        "code": 2
                    }
                },
                {
                    "owner": "ld65-b",
                    "fileLocation": [
                        "relative",
                        "${workspaceFolder}"
                    ],
                    "pattern": {
                        "regexp": "^ld65:\\s+(warning|error|Warning|Error):(.*)\\((\\d.*)\\):\\s+(.*)$",
                        "file": 2,
                        "line": 3,
                        "severity": 1,
                        "message": 4
                    }
                },
                {
                    "owner": "ld65-c",
                    "fileLocation": "autoDetect",
                    "pattern": {
                        "regexp": "^ld65:\\s+(warning|error|Warning|Error): (\\d+.*)$",
                        "kind": "file",
                        "severity": 1,
                        "message": 2
                    }
                },
                {
                    "owner": "cc65",
                    "fileLocation": [
                        "relative",
                        "${workspaceFolder}"
                    ],
                    "pattern": {
                        "regexp": "^(.*)\\((\\d.*)\\):\\s+(warning|error|Warning|Error):\\s+(.*)$",
                        "file": 1,
                        "line": 2,
                        "severity": 3,
                        "message": 4
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "label": "clean",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "make",
            "args": [
                "clean"
            ],
            "group": "build",
            "presentation": {
                "reveal": "always",
                "echo": true,
                "showReuseMessage": false,
                "clear": true
            }
        }
    ]
}

Here is the end of my text output that is being processed:

cl65 -C src/cmn-src-atarixl-xex.cfg --start-addr 0x4000 -Ln build/bin/cfgame.lbl --ld-args --dbgfile,build/bin/cfgame.dbg --mapfile build/bin/cfgame.map -o build/bin/cfgame.xex build/cf_fileUtils.o build/cf_font.o build/cf_mapEditor.o build/cf_pixmapViewer.o build/cf_tileMap.o build/cf_types.o build/cf_utils.o build/gr7utils.o build/gr12utils.o build/main.o build/pmg.o build/splash.o C:/cc65/lib/atarixl.lib
ld65: Warning: atari/crt0.s(207): 'lowcode area' reaches into $4000..$7FFF bank memory window
Unresolved external '_displaySplashExit' referenced in:
  src/main.s(97)
Unresolved external '_selectAppSplash' referenced in:
  src/main.s(71)
ld65: Error: 2 unresolved external(s) found - cannot create output file
make: *** [makefile:95: cfgame] Error 1
The terminal process "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe '-c', 'make all'" terminated with exit code: 2.

The problems that are detected come up earlier but it does also find the '2 unresolved external(s) found. It does not however find the specific information related to the Unresolved external text in the output. I tested my regex using regex101.com on this same output. I've tried a few variations on these - mostly some differences in the json defining the problem matcher.

The goal is to get the unresolved external items to be listed as individual problems referencing the actual symbol names.

I've read through other posts & answers related and tried different things, hence the reason the "owner" parameter has been set to strings 'ld65-a' etc.

I also tried changing the order the problem matchers are defined in, moving the unresolved external one to the first item in the array - this did not seem to matter.

I realize there are other ways to run the make task, but I needed to integrate with gnu make and this seemed a reasonable approach. Maybe there is a better idea here in terms of that - e.g. run gnu make on my vscode workspace from the app.

Where in the docs do you find an example of an array of problem matchers? — rioV8, Jul 28 '20 at 01:16
in this link: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/tasks-appendix it describes the schema of the task json data I think I found other examples by googling as well Also, it does manage to match more than 1 of my problem matchers - well at least I think it does - it doesn't tell you which problem matcher directly found the item. There was also this item which referenced the idea: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/8304 — SteveC1331, Jul 29 '20 at 02:07
PS It is certainly possible that I interpreted this info incorrectly — SteveC1331, Jul 29 '20 at 02:12
more succinctly, I think this item refers to exactly this idea: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/39604 — SteveC1331, Jul 29 '20 at 02:13
I did not know of this multiple matcher possibility, can be handy sometimes, they should add a sample of that in the docs. — rioV8, Jul 29 '20 at 03:06

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 29 '20 at 03:04

The Unresolved matcher is a multi-line problem matcher

        {
          "owner": "ld65-a",
          "fileLocation": ["relative", "${workspaceFolder}"
          ],
          "severity": "error",
          "pattern": [
            {
              "regexp": "^(Unresolved external)\\s+'([^']+)'.*:$",
              "message": 1,
              "code": 2
            },
            {
              "regexp": "^\\s+(.*)\\((\\d+)\\)$",
              "file": 1,
              "line": 2
            }
          ]
        },

vscode custom task problem matcher does not find text that matches regex

1 Answers1