I know that I can kick the the preprocessor to spit out output with the -E option in my particular circumstance. For generated code this preprocessor output is murderous. For example I have a 4gl application and Informix converts this into C which in turn gets spit out to a horrible ugly mess.
What I want is an editor that will allow me to specify what preprocessor values are in effect and show me only the relevant code. I have something very basic working in Vim matching #ifdef and #endif, but the code is riddled with more advanced constructs such is #ifndef, #if, and #else. To make matters worse, the constructs are logically more complex, and I don’t think my Vim scripting skills are adequate for me to get what I want out of it. For example:
#if DLEVEL > 5 #define SIGNAL 1 #if STACKUSE == 1 #define STACK 200 #else #define STACK 100 #endif #else #define SIGNAL 0 #if STACKUSE == 1 #define STACK 100 #else #define STACK 50 #endif #endif #if DLEVEL == 0 #define STACK 0 #elif DLEVEL == 1 #define STACK 100 #elif DLEVEL > 5 display( debugptr ); #else #define STACK 200 #endif Includes defining an expression evaluator if I want to tackle it. This has to be a solved problem! If you have Vim suggestions or other ones please let me know.
The Eclipse CDT editor does a pretty good job highlighting code based on the macros you declare to be active. You may want to check it out.