The include and macro lists can usually be copy & pasted directly from the IAR IDE project settings. You also need to add any command line or compiler predefined macros for the project to the macros list this allows it to parse conditionally compiled sections accurately and 'grey-out' disabled code sections. For code completion and browsing to work, you need to add all your sources to the VC++ project (often the tedious part because VC++'s 'add files' will not recurse subdirectories), and add all the include search paths for the project (including the compiler's default paths) to the VC++ project's include paths.

You use IAR's IDE to maintain the project (add files, remove files, change compiler/linker options etc.), but use Visual Studio for editing and building your project day-to-day.

This last option is perhaps the simplest, and works well if other team members want to continue using the IAR IDE.

You have a number of choices for setting this up you could create a makefile to work with Microsoft's nmake utility (similar but not identical to GNU make), you could use GNU make and a traditional makefile, you could use a different build manager altogether, or you could use IAR's command line build utility (iarbuild.exe). Using VC++ works well in my experience, but takes some initial setting up. If your existing IAR compiler is working for you and it is just the IDE stability and code completion that you are interested in, then you might consider using plain Eclipse/CDT or even the free Visual C++ Express Edition using a 'makefile project', and simply invoke the IAR command line tools directly or via a makefile to avoid the IDE. The current version of Code Composer Studio is Eclipse based, so that may be an option.

Cost of iar embedded workbench for arm