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C++ Coding Track · Lesson 1

Setting Up Offline FRC VS Code

Before you can write any robot code, you need the FRC development environment installed on your computer. This lesson walks through installing WPILib and its bundled version of VS Code from the offline installer, then adding the VMX-pi extension so your projects can talk to the controller. Follow the steps in order — a clean setup here saves you a lot of trouble later.

What you need first
  • The WPILibInstaller package downloaded to your computer.
  • The offlineVsCode.zip file downloaded earlier (used in step 6).

Installation Steps

  1. Extract the WPILibInstaller. Unzip the WPILibInstaller to a folder on your system.
  2. Open the application. Navigate to the extracted folder and launch the installer application.
  3. Install for all users. Select the option to install WPILib for all users on your computer.
  4. Select / download VS Code. Choose the option to download or select an existing VS Code installation.
  5. Select an existing download. Opt for selecting an existing VS Code download.
  6. Select the offline VS Code ZIP file. Browse to and select the offlineVsCode.zip file you downloaded earlier.
  7. Execute install. Complete the installation by clicking the Install button.
  8. Open FRC VS Code 2020. Launch the newly installed FRC VS Code from your applications list.
  9. Install the VMX-pi WPILib extension. Open the Extensions view in VS Code, search for VMX-pi WPILib, and install the extension to enable compatibility.
  10. For C++ users — run the Gradle command. If you plan to code in C++, open the terminal in VS Code and run the Gradle command below to install the Raspbian toolchain.

C++ toolchain command (step 10)

installRaspbianToolchain
Why this matters for C++. The Raspbian toolchain is what lets your C++ code be compiled for the VMX-pi's processor. If you skip this step, your Java projects may still build, but C++ projects will fail to deploy to the robot.

Once the installation finishes and the VMX-pi extension is active, you have a working offline FRC environment. In the next lesson you'll set up the Control Station so you can enable, disable, and drive your robot.

Setting Up the Control Station →