Content outdated
For up-to-date documentation see Open Folder support for C++ build systems in Visual Studio.This post is going to cover how to use this feature from the ground up with the new changes since not everyone may be familiar with how and when to use this feature. However, for those who have used the feature before, here’s a quick summary of the changes:
- Your existing configuration files will still work with these changes, but IntelliSense will recommend using the new syntax going forward.
- Debug targets are now automatically launched with the environment you specify in CMakeSettings.json and CppProperties.json. Custom tasks have always had this behavior and still do.
- Debug targets and custom tasks can have their environments customized using a new “env” tag in launch.vs.json and tasks.vs.json.
- Configuration-specific variables defined in CppProperties.json are automatically picked up by debug targets and tasks without the need to set “inheritEnvironments”. CMakeSettings.json has always worked this way and still does.
Please try out the new preview and let us know what you think.
Customizing Environment Variables
There are now two ways to specify environment variables for CMake and C++ Open Folder. The first is to set up the overall build environment. This is done in CMakeSettings.json for CMake and CppProperties.json for C++ Open Folder. Environment variables can be global for the project or specific to an individual configuration (selected with the configuration dropdown menu). These environment variables will be passed to everything, including CMake builds, custom tasks, and debug targets.
Environment variables can also be used in any value in Visual Studio’s configuration JSON files using the syntax:
"${env.VARIABLE_NAME}"
Global and configuration specific environment variables can be defined in “environment” blocks in both CMakeSettings.json and CppProperties.json. For example, the following example sets environment variables differently for a “Debug” and “Release” configuration in CMakeSettings.json:
{
// These environment variables apply to all configurations.
"environments": [
{
"DEBUG_LOGGING_LEVEL": "warning"
}
],
"configurations": [
{
// These environment variables apply only to the debug configuration.
// Global variables can be overridden and new ones can be defined.
"environments": [
{
"DEBUG_LOGGING_LEVEL": "info;trace",
"ENABLE_TRACING": "true"
}
],
"name": "Debug",
"generator": "Ninja",
"configurationType": "Debug",
"inheritEnvironments": [ "msvc_x64_x64" ],
"buildRoot": "${projectDir}\\out\\build\\${name}",
"installRoot": "${projectDir}\\out\\install\\${name}",
"cmakeCommandArgs": "",
"buildCommandArgs": "-v",
"ctestCommandArgs": "",
"variables": []
},
{
// Configurations do not need to override environment variables.
// If none are defined, they will inherit the global ones.
"name": "Release",
"generator": "Ninja",
"configurationType": "RelWithDebInfo",
"buildRoot": "${projectDir}\\out\\build\\${name}",
"installRoot": "${projectDir}\\out\\install\\${name}",
"cmakeCommandArgs": "",
"buildCommandArgs": "-v",
"ctestCommandArgs": "",
"inheritEnvironments": [ "msvc_x64_x64" ],
"variables": []
}
]
}
The second way to specify environment variables is used to customize individual debug targets and custom tasks. This is done in launch.vs.json and tasks.vs.json respectively. To do this, you add an “env” tag to individual targets and tasks that specifies the environment variables that need to be customized. You can also unset a variable by setting it to null.
The following example sets an environment variable for a debug target to enable some custom logging in launch.vs.json and the same “env” syntax can be applied to any task in tasks.vs.json:
{
"version": "0.2.1",
"defaults": {},
"configurations": [
{
"type": "default",
"project": "cmake\\CMakeLists.txt",
"projectTarget": "envtest.exe",
"name": "envtest.exe",
"env": {
"DEBUG_LOGGING_LEVEL": "trace;info"
"ENABLE_TRACING": "true"
}
}
]
}
Keep in mind, if you want an environment variable to be set for all debug targets and tasks, it is better to do it globally in CMakeSettings.json or CppProperties.json
Send us Feedback
Your feedback is a critical part of ensuring that we can deliver the best experience. We would love to know how Visual Studio 2019 version 16.4 is working for you. If you find any issues or have a suggestion, the best way to reach out to us is to Report a Problem.
The @HostListener decorator is used to set up an event binding on the host element and is applied to a method. The example directive relies on the browser’s DOM API to manipulate its host element, both to add and remove class memberships and to receive the click event. Working with the DOM API in an Angular application is a useful technique…… Read More
Is there any chance that "CMakeSettings.json" to support the following form of environment inheritance:
(please note "variables", "paths", etc.)
```
{
"configurations": [
{
"name": "Ninja-MSVC-x64-Debug",
...