Cicode for VS Code

A VS Code extension providing syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, and navigation for Cicode, the scripting language used in AVEVA Plant SCADA (Citect).

Disclaimer: This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by AVEVA. It is a community-driven tool to improve the Cicode development experience in VS Code.

Features

Syntax Highlighting

Full syntax highlighting for .ci files including:

• Keywords, operators, and control flow
• Function declarations and calls
• Variables and type annotations
• Strings with escape sequences
• Comments (line //, !, | and block /* */)
• Doc comments (Doxygen XML commands with /** **/ and /// style)
• Format picture specifiers (:###,##0.00)

IntelliSense

• Autocompletion for functions (built-in and user-defined)
• Signature help with parameter documentation
• Hover information showing function signatures and docs

Navigation

• Go to Definition for functions and variables
• Find All References across your workspace
• Rename Symbol for variables and parameters
• Document Outline showing functions in the current file
• Workspace Symbol Search (Ctrl+T) to find any function

Diagnostics

• Undefined function warnings
• Argument count validation
• Duplicate function detection
• Unused variable warnings
• Line length and indentation checks

Formatting

• Basic code formatter with configurable options
• Consistent indentation for control blocks

Built-in Functions

• Automatically parses function documentation from your Plant SCADA installation
• Falls back to packaged builtins if Plant SCADA is not installed
• Hover over built-in functions to see docs with a link to open the full help page

Installation

1. Install from the VS Code Marketplace, or
2. Download the .vsix file and install via Extensions: Install from VSIX...

Configuration

Setting	Default	Description
cicode.avevaPath	C:/Program Files (x86)/AVEVA Plant SCADA	Path to AVEVA Plant SCADA installation. The extension auto-finds help files.
cicode.codeLens.enable	true	Show CodeLens references above function definitions
cicode.diagnostics.enable	true	Enable diagnostics (undefined functions, duplicates)
cicode.diagnostics.ignoredFunctions	[]	Regex patterns for function names to exclude from undefined and argument count checks
cicode.diagnostics.ignoredUndeclaredVariables	[]	Regex patterns for variable names to exclude from the undeclared variable check
cicode.diagnostics.warnInvalidTypes	true	Warn when a variable or function is declared with a tag data type not valid in Cicode (e.g. LONG, DIGITAL, BYTE)
cicode.diagnostics.warnUndeclaredVariables	false	Warn about variables that are used but never declared
cicode.format.enable	true	Enable the code formatter
cicode.format.maxConsecutiveBlankLines	1	Max blank lines to allow
cicode.hover.showHelpLink	true	Show "Open full help" link in hovers
cicode.indexing.excludePatterns	[]	Regular expressions matched against workspace-relative file paths to exclude from indexing
cicode.lint.enable	true	Enable lint diagnostics
cicode.lint.maxLineLength	160	Warn when lines exceed this length (0 = disable)
cicode.lint.maxCallNestingDepth	5	Warn when function calls are nested deeper than this level (0 = disable)
cicode.lint.maxBlockNestingDepth	6	Warn when control flow blocks are nested deeper than this level (0 = disable)
cicode.lint.warnMixedIndent	true	Warn on mixed tabs/spaces
cicode.lint.warnUnusedVariables	true	Warn about unused variables
cicode.lint.warnMissingSemicolons	true	Warn when declarations lack semicolons
cicode.lint.warnKeywordCase	false	Suggest uppercase keywords
cicode.lint.warnMagicNumbers	false	Warn about hardcoded numbers
cicode.documentation.docskeleton.useBlockComment	Block comment	Style of comments used for the doc comment skeleton, where comments can either be surrounded by /** ... */ or each line begins with ///
cicode.documentation.docskeleton.doxygenStyle	XML Doxygen commands	The style of Doxygen commands to be used by the doc comment skeleton, which can be either XML style commands, Javadoc commands (@), or regular Doxygen commands (\)

Commands

Command	Description
Cicode: Rebuild Builtin Functions	Re-parse built-in functions from help files
Cicode: Reindex All Files	Rebuild the workspace index
Cicode: Open Help for Symbol	Open AVEVA help page for the symbol under cursor
Cicode: Insert Doc Skeleton	Insert a doc comment template above the current function

Keybindings

Key	Command
Ctrl+Alt+D	Insert Doc Skeleton (when in a Cicode file)

Doc Comments

The extension supports both Doxygen XML, and regular Doxygen commands doc comments for documenting your functions:

// Example of XML style doc comment
/// <summary>
/// Calculates the area of a rectangle.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="width">The width of the rectangle.</param>
/// <param name="height">The height of the rectangle.</param>
/// <returns>The calculated area.</returns>
FUNCTION CalculateArea(REAL width, REAL height)
    RETURN width * height;
END

// Example of Javadoc style doc comment
/**
 * @brief Calculates the area of a rectangle.
 * @param width The width of the rectangle.
 * @param height The height of the rectangle.
 * @returns The calculated area.
 */
FUNCTION CalculateArea(REAL width, REAL height)
    RETURN width * height;
END

Use Ctrl+Alt+D to automatically generate a doc skeleton for the function at your cursor.

The style of doc comment can be configured in the cicode.documentation.docskeleton.useBlockComment and cicode.documentation.docskeleton.doxygenStyle configuration options.

Debugger

The extension includes a debugger that lets you set breakpoints and inspect local variables in Cicode while a Plant SCADA runtime is running.

Requirements

• AVEVA Plant SCADA must be running on the same machine
• The Cicode runtime must be running

How to use

1. Open the Run and Debug panel (Ctrl+Shift+D)
2. Add a launch configuration of type "Cicode: Attach to SCADA Runtime" (VS Code will offer to add one automatically)
3. Click Start Debugging (or press F5)
4. Set breakpoints by clicking the gutter in any .ci file
5. Trigger the Cicode function in the runtime. Execution will pause at your breakpoint
6. Inspect local variables in the Variables panel
7. Use Continue (F5), Step Over (F10), Step Into (F11), or Step Out (Shift+F11) to control execution

What it can do

• Set and remove breakpoints
• Conditional breakpoints with simple comparisons against local variables (e.g. myVar == 5, myVar = "SomeCoolString")
• Pause at breakpoints and inspect local variable values
• Step over, into, and out of functions
• Show the current stopped location in the editor

What it cannot do

• Evaluate arbitrary expressions or watch expressions
• Modify variable values at runtime
• Complex conditions in breakpoints (only simple ==, !=, <, > comparisons against local variables)
• Debug across multiple machines
• Pause the runtime

Note: Removing a breakpoint while execution is paused will take effect when you next continue. The debugger reconnects in the background to clear the runtime breakpoint.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.88.0 or higher
• For built-in function docs: AVEVA Plant SCADA installation (optional, packaged fallback available)

Links

• GitHub Repository
• Report Issues