How do I set up Visual Studio Code to compile C++

Question

Microsoft's Visual Studio Code editor is quite nice, but it has no default support for building C++ projects.

How do I configure it to do this?

Answer 1

With an updated VS Code you can do it in the following manner:

1. Hit (Ctrl+P) and type:

   ext install cpptools
   

2. Open a folder (Ctrl+K & Ctrl+O) and create a new file inside the folder with the extension .cpp (ex: hello.cpp):

3. Type in your code and hit save.

4. Hit (Ctrl+Shift+P and type, Configure task runner and then select other at the bottom of the list.

5. Create a batch file in the same folder with the name build.bat and include the following code to the body of the file:

   @echo off
   call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x64     
   set compilerflags=/Od /Zi /EHsc
   set linkerflags=/OUT:hello.exe
   cl.exe %compilerflags% hello.cpp /link %linkerflags%
   

6. Edit the task.json file as follows and save it:

   {
   // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
   // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
   "version": "0.1.0",
   "command": "build.bat",
   "isShellCommand": true,
   //"args": ["Hello World"],
   "showOutput": "always"
   }
   

7. Hit (Ctrl+Shift+B to run Build task. This will create the .obj and .exe files for the project.

8. For debugging the project, Hit F5 and select C++(Windows).

9. In launch.json file, edit the following line and save the file:

   "program": "${workspaceRoot}/hello.exe",
   

10. Hit F5.

Answer 2

There is a much easier way to compile and run C++ code, no configuration needed:

1. Install the Code Runner Extension
2. Open your C++ code file in Text Editor, then use shortcut Ctrl+Alt+N, or press F1 and then select/type Run Code, or right click the Text Editor and then click Run Code in context menu, the code will be compiled and run, and the output will be shown in the Output Window.

Moreover you could update the config in settings.json using different C++ compilers as you want, the default config for C++ is as below:

"code-runner.executorMap": {
    "cpp": "g++ $fullFileName && ./a.out"
}

Answer 3

Out of frustration at the lack of clear documentation, I've created a Mac project on github that should just work (both building and debugging):

vscode-mac-c-example

Note that it requires XCode and the VSCode Microsoft cpptools extension.

I plan to do the same for Windows and linux (unless Microsoft write decent documentation first...).

Answer 4

If your project has a CMake configuration it's pretty straight forward to setup VSCode, e.g. setup tasks.json like below:

{
    "version": "0.1.0",
    "command": "sh",
    "isShellCommand": true,
    "args": ["-c"],
    "showOutput": "always",
    "suppressTaskName": true,
    "options": {
        "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}/build"
    },
    "tasks": [
        {
            "taskName": "cmake",
            "args": ["cmake ."]
        },
        {
            "taskName": "make",
            "args" : ["make"],
            "isBuildCommand": true,
            "problemMatcher": {
                "owner": "cpp",
                "fileLocation": "absolute",
                "pattern": {
                    "regexp": "^(.*):(\\d+):(\\d+):\\s+(warning|error):\\s+(.*)$",
                    "file": 1,
                    "line": 2,
                    "column": 3,
                    "severity": 4,
                    "message": 5
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

This assumes that there is a folder build in the root of the workspace with a CMake configuration.

There's also a CMake integration extension that adds a "CMake build" command to VScode.

PS! The problemMatcher is setup for clang-builds. To use GCC I believe you need to change fileLocation to relative, but I haven't tested this.

Answer 5

Here is how I configured my VS for C++ using g++ compiler and it works great including debugging options:

tasks.json file

{
    "version": "0.1.0",
    "command": "g++",
    "isShellCommand": true,
    // compiles and links with debugger information
    "args": ["-g", "-o", "hello.exe", "hello.cpp"],
    // without debugger information
    // "args": ["-o", "hello.exe", "hello.cpp"],
    "showOutput": "always"
}

launch.json file

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "C++ Launch (Windows)",
            "type": "cppdbg",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${workspaceRoot}/hello.exe",
            "MIMode": "gdb",
            "miDebuggerPath": "C:\\MinGw\\bin\\gdb.exe",
            "stopAtEntry": false,
            "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}",
            "externalConsole": false,
            "visualizerFile": "${workspaceRoot}/my.natvis"
        }
    ]
}

I also have 'C/C++ for Visual Studio Code' extension installed in VS Code

Answer 6

You can reference to this latest gist having a version 2.0.0 task for Visual Studio Code, https://gist.github.com/akanshgulati/56b4d469523ec0acd9f6f59918a9e454

You can easily compile and run each file without updating the task. It's generic and also opens the terminal for input entries.