STRIDE Extensions for Visual Studio

Introduction

If you are using the STRIDE Framework for Windows, an alternative to the standard method of building test apps (using make) is to use the STRIDE Extensions for Visual Studio and integrate directly into your existing Visual Studio C/C++ project.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2008 or later (an express distribution is fine)
• a recent version of the STRIDE Framework installed
• a static library version of the runtime built using the source files included in the Windows SDK:

> md %STRIDE_DIR%\SDK\Windows\lib
> cd %STRIDE_DIR%\SDK\Windows\src
> ..\bin\make clean
> ..\bin\make
> copy %STRIDE_DIR%\SDK\Windows\out\lib\stride-x86-Windows_NT.lib %STRIDE_DIR%\SDK\Windows\lib\stride.lib
> ..\bin\make clean
> ..\bin\make DEBUG=1
> copy %STRIDE_DIR%\SDK\Windows\out\lib\stride-x86-Windows_NT-d.lib %STRIDE_DIR%\SDK\Windows\lib\stride-d.lib

• an existing C/C++ Visual Studio project
  • or you can easily create a new one, e.g. "Win32 Console Application" (select Empty project), by using the project wizard provided within Visual Studio. Typically this is only done for self-training or evaluation.

Installation

STRIDE Extensions need to be added to any project that is to generate harnessing code (i.e. a project that includes header files with one or more scl pragmas.)

Visual Studio 2010 / 2012

• Right click on the project in the Solution Explorer window and choose Build Customizations… from the menu that is displayed.
• In the dialog that is displayed, click Find Existing… and select $(STRIDE_DIR)\SDK\Windows\settings\stride.targets (if asked, say “No” to adding to standard “Build Customizations Search Path”)
• Make sure the check box next to stride is enabled.

Visual Studio 2008

NOTE: Due to limitations in Visual Studio 2008 the STRIDE integration is much more complicated compared to new versions. We recommend upgrading to Visual Studio 2010 or 2012.

• Right click on the project in the Solution Explorer window and choose Build Custom Build Rules... from the menu that is displayed.
• In the dialog that is displayed, click Find Existing… and select $(STRIDE_DIR)\SDK\Windows\settings\stride.rules (if asked, say “No” to adding to standard “Rule Files Search Path”)
• Make sure the check box next to STRIDE Rules is enabled.

Configuration

The STRIDE Extensions execute a set of pre-build steps on your header files that generate test harnessing code that is later compiled in your application. To support the pre-build steps your global project settings require updating.

Adjust Project Properties

Adjust your project properties to compile and link with the STRIDE Runtime and generated test harnessing code.

NOTE: Make sure to apply the following changes to all project's configurations (e.g. Debug, Release).

C/C++ Properties

• Right click on the project in the Solution Explorer window and choose Properties from the menu that is displayed.
• From the properties dialog, select Configuration Properties | C/C++ | General from the tree view in the left pane.
• From the right pane, add to Additional Include Directories the following:

$(STRIDE_DIR)\SDK\Runtime
$(STRIDE_DIR)\SDK\Windows\src

• Select Configuration Properties | C/C++ | Preprocessor from the tree view in the left pane.
• From the right pane, add to Preprocessor Definitions the following:

STRIDE_ENABLED
STRIDE_STATIC
srCOMPLEX_TARGET

• Select Configuration Properties | C/C++ | Code Generation from the tree view in the left pane.
• From the right pane, set Runtime Library to Multi-threaded DLL (/MD) (or Multi-threaded Debug DLL (/MDd) for Debug configuration).

• Select Configuration Properties | C/C++ | Precompiled Headers from the tree view in the left pane.
• From the right pane, select Not Using Precompiled Headers

Linker Properties

• Right click on the project in the Solution Explorer window and choose Properties from the menu that is displayed.
• From the properties dialog, select Configuration Properties | Linker | General from the tree view in the left pane.
• From the right pane, add to Additional Library Directories the following:

If you built stride.lib from the makefile in the SDK

$(STRIDE_DIR)\SDK\Windows\lib

Note - if you build stride.lib using $(STRIDE_DIR)\Stride.sln (otherwise ignore this statement)

$(STRIDE_DIR)\$(Platform)\$(Configuration)

• Select Configuration Properties | Linker | Input from the tree view in the left pane.
• From the right pane, add to Additional Dependencies the following:

stride.lib
ws2_32.lib

Default Naming

The default settings are usually sufficient so you don't need to make any changes.

When you build your project, notice that:

• The STRIDE buiild tools automatically run and generate STRIDE database (.sidb) and intercept module (IM) source files. By default, these use $(TargetName) as their base names, and the files are written to the $(ProjectDir) directory.
• The IM source, $(TargetName)IM.cpp, is automatically compiled and linked along with your other project sources.

If you desire to rename the database name and / or the intercept module name right click on the project in the Solution Explorer window and choose STRIDE Compile-Instrument. From the right pane you can change the Database Name and the Intercept Module Name. Note - if you do not see this choice try adding a header file to the project first.

Sort Out Header Files

Every header file in the project that has one or more "scl pragmas" will cause harnessing code to be generated if it is input to the STRIDE. (Other header files can be harmlessly input to the STRIDE, but this will only have the effect of longer compile times.)

For each header file to be used as input to the STRIDE rules:

• Right click on the header file in the Solution Exporer window and choose Properties from the menu that is displayed.
• From the properties dialog, select Configuration Properties | General from the tree view in the left pane.
• From the right pane, set the Item Type property to STRIDE Compile-Instrument.

If there are any header files that contain no "scl pragmas", then we recommend disabling the build step for these files. This could be done in the last step from above by setting the Item Type to C/C++ header or by setting Exclude From Build property to Yes.

NOTE: As you add more header source files to the project, they will be automatically processed by STRIDE unless you explicitly disable that as specified above.

Update Your Startup

Update your application's main function to initialize the STRIDE subsystem as described in this article. You can use the provided $(STRIDE_DIR)\SDK\Windows\src\TestApp.c as a reference. Note, if you decide to use the TestApp.c reference example (i.e. evaluating, training, etc.) we recommend that you make a local copy of the file. Also, you will be required to add STANDALONE_TESTAPP to the Preprocessor Definitions.

STRIDE Compile-Instrument Properties (Advance)

The default settings are usually sufficient so you don't need to make any changes.

Visual Studio 2010 / 2012

The default harness generation assumes STUB settings for all captured functions. If you require different settings for any of your interfaces, you should create a text file containing the additional settings and specify it as follows:

• Right click on the project in the Solution Exporer window and choose Properties from the menu that is displayed.
• From the properties dialog, select Configuration Properties | STRIDE Compile-Instrument | Command Line from the tree view in the left pane.
• From the right pane, add to Additional Options property in the right pane.

--intercept_options_file="path\to\my\file.s2instrument"

Visual Studio 2008

• Right click on the project in the Solution Exporer window and choose Properties from the menu that is displayed.
• From the properties dialog, select Configuration Properties | STRIDE Compile-Instrument | Compile from the tree view in the left pane.
• From the right pane, add to Compile Options Files the following:

$(STRIDE_DIR)\SDK\Windows\settings\stride.s2scompile

• From the right pane, update Include Directories to be exactly the same the one specified in Additional Include Directories in Configuration Properties | C/C++ | General section.
• From the right pane, update Preprocessor Definitions to be exactly the same the one specified in Preprocessor Definitions in Configuration Properties | C/C++ | Preprocessor section.
• Build your project once to generate the STRIDE database (.sidb) and intercept module (IM) source files. Notice, that you will get linker errors during this build since you have not yet added the generated IM source to the project.
• From the $(ProjectDir) directory add the generated IM source file - strideIM.cpp, strideIM.h and strideIMEntry.h - to your project.
  • For strideIM.cpp make sure to set its Create/Use Precompiled Header property to Not Using....
  • For strideIM.h and strideIMEntry.h make sure to set their Excluded From Build property to Yes as specified above.
• Rebuild your project and resolve any compiler errors/warnings.

The default harness generation assumes STUB settings for all captured functions. If you require different settings for any of your interfaces, you should create a text file containing the additional settings and specify it as follows:

• Right click on the project in the Solution Exporer window and choose Properties from the menu that is displayed.
• From the properties dialog, select Configuration Properties | STRIDE Compile-Instrument | Instrument from the tree view in the left pane.
• From the right pane, add to Intercept Options File property in the right pane.

path\to\my\file.s2instrument

NOTE: As you add sources, you will likely also need to add Additional Includes and Preprocessor Defines to the project's STRIDE Compile-Instrument settings in order to successfully build.