VS Code C++ Parameter Autocomplete

Question

In VS Code, with the C++ extension, is there any way I can get the parameter names for functions to be filled out automatically after e.g. selecting a function name suggested by intellisense? The parameters should then be filled out as if they were a snippet. This feature is common in several IDEs, such as Eclipse.

Answer 1

I think this is a perfectly valid question and nothing to do with IDE-like features as some are suggesting in the comments.

Short answer is No. VS Code's C/C++ extension will not expand the autocompletion feature to the argument list of a function.

The more involved answer is that the authors of the C/C++ extension could do so but for some reason (probably a good one) have chosen not to.

The autocomplete feature is actually handled by the Language Server for C/C++. A Language Server is an implementation of the Language Server Protocol (LSP) which is simply a way to provide programming language-specific features for multiple code editors / IDEs.

The LSP, written by Microsoft originally for VSCode, absolutely permits such types of completion. After all, that is how snippets are handled. If you have a look at LSP's specification page you will see this bit

insertText is just a string so theoretically the server could pass the function name + argument list in the format of a snippet, set the variable InsertTextFormat == 2, marking it as a snippet and then pressing Tab would autocomplete to exactly what you want.

Here is an example of how it looks like (implemented in our Fortran language server)

You might want to open a feature request/ask the question in their repo. They will probably have a better answer as to why it is the way it is. If I had to guess I would say that it is related to overloading.