Color.Attribute

Visual Studio extension: Color C++ Attributes.

Status

Branch	Build Status
2022
2019
2017

Description

Extension adds options to overwrite colors of certain C++ Attributes.
Extension works in files of ContentType "C/C++", eg .cpp or .h files.

Usage

New entries will appear in Tools → Options → Environment → Fonts and Colors → Text Editor.
Each will begin with C++ Attribute: prefix.

• Edit their color values, until you want to keep extension default ones (listed below).
• If you don't want to change some attribute's color at all, set it's Item foreground value to Automatic.

Preview

Default Attributes without extension	Color Attributes with extension enabled

Limitations

In order to provide fast execution, some rare syntax patterns are not supported by extension right now. There are no plans to waive those restrictions until intellisense shall classify C++ attributes.

Nested [[ & ]]

Due to high cost of parsing balanced-token, extension non greedily matches anything between [[ and ]] in SnapshotSpan, splits content by , and trims, then finally matches standard attributes. Thus, attribute containing nested double squares can be incorrectly colored, eg [[test::covered([[likely]])]].

Comments

Comments in attributes are not supported. They are treated as text for faster execution. This can cause some attributes to be incorrectly colored, eg [[using/*civ1*/civ2: fast, nodiscard]].

Multiline attributes

If multiline attribute will be split into multiple spans upon classification, it won't be matched at all.

deprecated and nodiscard reason

deprecated and nodiscard attribute's reason, if present, must be enclosed in ", and such created string-literal can be prefixed by any number of characters different than ", eg [[deprecated(u8"Use API v2 instead.")]], but not [[deprecated(CMacro_Reason)]].

assume expression

Assume's expression can be a balanced-token, eg [[assume(max(a, b) > 0)]].

List of Attributes

Extension exposes all Standard Attributes for customization.

Full list of customizable Attribute entries, with their default colors:

Attribute entry	Type	Color	RGB (0 – 255)
C++ Attribute	Plain	Dark White	176, 176, 176
assume	Positive	Green	176, 224, 128
assume: Expression	Plain	Dark White	176, 176, 176
carries_dependency	Keyword	Blue	128, 176, 224
deprecated	Warning	Yellow	224, 224, 128
deprecated: Reason	String	Red	224, 128, 128
fallthrough	Flow	Violet	128, 128, 224
likely	Positive	Green	128, 224, 128
maybe_unused	Warning	Yellow	224, 224, 128
no_unique_address	Keyword	Blue	128, 176, 224
nodiscard	Keyword	Blue	128, 176, 224
nodiscard: Reason	String	Red	224, 128, 128
noreturn	Warning	Yellow	224, 224, 128
optimize_for_synchronized	Keyword	Blue	128, 176, 224
unlikely	Negative	Red	224, 128, 128

Older versions

2019

• Branch: 2019
• Release: 1.0.2.2+2019
• Download: Color.Attribute.vsix
• Marketplace: Color.Attribute (2019)

2017

• Branch: 2017
• Release: 1.0.2.1+2017
• Download: Color.Attribute.vsix
• Marketplace: Color.Attribute (2017)