VCVars

Generates a file called conanvcvars.bat that activates the Visual Studio developer command prompt according to the current settings by wrapping the vcvarsall Microsoft bash script.

The VCVars generator can be used by name in conanfiles:

conanfile.py

class Pkg(ConanFile):
    generators = "VCVars"

conanfile.txt

[generators]
VCVars

And it can also be fully instantiated in the conanfile generate() method:

conanfile.py

from conan import ConanFile
from conan.tools.microsoft import VCVars
class Pkg(ConanFile):
    settings = "os", "compiler", "arch", "build_type"
    requires = "zlib/1.2.11", "bzip2/1.0.8"
    def generate(self):
        ms = VCVars(self)
        ms.generate()

Customization

conf

VCVars is affected by these [conf] variables:

• tools.microsoft.msbuild:installation_path indicates the path to Visual Studio installation folder. For instance: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community, C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0, etc.

• tools.microsoft:winsdk_version defines the specific winsdk version in the vcvars command line.

• tools.env.virtualenv:powershell generates an additional conanvcvars.ps1 so it can be run from the Powershell console.

Reference

class VCVars(conanfile)

VCVars class generator to generate a conanvcvars.bat script that activates the correct Visual Studio prompt.

This generator will be automatically called by other generators such as CMakeToolchain when considered necessary, for example if building with Visual Studio compiler using the CMake Ninja generator, which needs an active Visual Studio prompt. Then, it is not necessary to explicitly instantiate this generator in most cases.

• Parameters:

  conanfile – ConanFile object The current recipe object. Always use self.

• generate(scope=’build’)

  Creates a conanvcvars.bat file that calls Visual vcvars with the necessary args to activate the correct Visual Studio prompt matching the Conan settings.

  • Parameters:

    scope – str activation scope, by default “build”. It means it will add a call to this conanvcvars.bat from the aggregating general conanbuild.bat, which is the script that will be called by default in self.run() calls and build helpers such as cmake.configure() and cmake.build().