__DATE__ macro expansion incorrect in editor

[unsigned_char_array]

Gcc and Visual Studio correctly compile today's date __DATE__ to "May  6 2024". However STM32CubeIDE editor expands the macro incorrectly if I hover the cursor over it.

• Month name is in Dutch
• Month name is in lower case
• Day of month is left-padded with 0 instead of a space

[unsigned_char_array]

It is indeed a relatively minor issue, but it can be frustrating if the editor lies to you about the value of a macro while debugging said macro. It also makes me distrust other values.

[Andrew Neil]

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@unsigned_char_array wrote:

It also makes me distrust other values.

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Probably unnecessarily:

This one is a Special Case: it is generated entirely internally by the compiler - so, unlike other macros, there's nowhere for the editor to get it from the Project or the Source files.

PS:

Here's the list of such Predefined Macros - for GCC:

https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/cpp/Predefined-Macros.html

__DATE__, __TIME__, __FILE__, etc are among the Standard ones - defined by the language spec:

https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/cpp/Standard-Predefined-Macros.html 

[Andrew Neil]

In the case of __GNUC__, the IDE doesn't even try to expand it:

@SofLit  - Maybe that would be a better solution?

PS:

But why does it say, "Write occurrence"? See separate thread.

[SofLit]

According to the internal feedback it isn't a GCC issue but rather a Eclipse CDT indexer issue.

[Andrew Neil]

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@SofLit wrote:

 a Eclipse CDT indexer issue.

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It can't be the indexer: as noted earlier, there is nothing to index - it is not defined anywhere in the source code nor in the Project settings.

So Eclipse must be making it up somewhere...

As also noted earlier, I think a better solution would be to treat it as for things like __GNUC__ - where it doesn't even try to expand it.

[SofLit]

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@Andrew Neil wrote:

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@SofLit wrote:

 a Eclipse CDT indexer issue.

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It can't be the indexer: as noted earlier, there is nothing to index - it is not defined anywhere in the source code nor in the Project settings.

So Eclipse must be making it up somewhere...

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This is our expert analysis not mine ;) .. Anyway I will keep you informed when it will be fixed.

[Andrew Neil]

I'm still suggesting that the best fix would be to not try to expand it at all - as for __GNUC__, et al.

[unsigned_char_array]

I tried to research the cause of the bug.
First I checked the Eclipse CDT repo: https://github.com/eclipse-cdt/cdt

I searched for the macro: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Aeclipse-cdt%2Fcdt%20__DATE__&type=code

I found this function:

private static final DynamicMacro __DATE__ = new DateMacro("__DATE__".toCharArray()); //$NON-NLS-1$

And it uses DateMacro which has the following method:

private char[] createDate() {
		char[] charArray;
		StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder("\""); //$NON-NLS-1$
		Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
		DateFormatSymbols dfs = new DateFormatSymbols(Locale.ENGLISH);
		buffer.append(dfs.getShortMonths()[cal.get(Calendar.MONTH)]);
		buffer.append(" "); //$NON-NLS-1$
		int dom = cal.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH);
		if (dom < 10) {
			buffer.append(" "); //$NON-NLS-1$
		}
		buffer.append(dom);
		buffer.append(" "); //$NON-NLS-1$
		buffer.append(cal.get(Calendar.YEAR));
		buffer.append("\""); //$NON-NLS-1$
		charArray = buffer.toString().toCharArray();
		return charArray;
	}

These lines matter:

int dom = cal.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH);
if (dom < 10) {
	buffer.append(" "); //$NON-NLS-1$
}
buffer.append(dom);

As you can see a space is inserted and not a 0. So this is not a bug in CDT. At least not in the current version.

In an earlier version there was the language of the month bug that was fixed Aug 30, 2024 by ST:
https://github.com/eclipse-cdt/cdt/commit/9b09dce3a05daef6aa2763de629e6f72650794ef

There was an issue about the day of month too: https://github.com/eclipse-cdt/cdt/pull/896

I think the issue is that the fix is after the latest CDT release: CDT 11.6.1 Jul 3, 2024. And STM32CubeIDE V1.17.0 uses 11.4.0.2023. So either we wait for CDT to create a new release and ST updating their version of CDT to that version or ST makes a hot fix.