Vscode C++ Task.Json Include Path and Libraries (2023)

How do I set include path library directory and linker for VSCODE when I have Visual C++ build tools to work with (not g++)

As mentioned in the comments, you must use a C++ build system to manage dependencies and build your project. VSCode doesn't come with built-in build systems like Visual Studio.

VSCode tasks allow you to specify a command line, which can then be easily invoked in the IDE. The task shown is just a task of creating a running file, which is only really useful for trivial programs with no dependencies. It callscl.exeto the current source file (passing a few other arguments).

You can specify include directories and pass arguments to the linker by adding "args" to the array in the task, e.g. e.g.:

"/I", "D:\\Codebibliotheken\\boost_1_77_0",
"/link", "/LIBPATH:\"D:\\Codebibliotheken\\boost_1_77_0\\stage\\lib\"",

which assumes the Boost headers and (statically created) libraries are in the specified locations.

You could probably figure out how to build an entire project by adding command lines with VSCode tasks, but it's probably easier to use a build system (even if that system is CMake).

VSCode doesn't recognize includes from includepath

You haven't told your compiler about a file called Zipper.h or its location or anything related to it. "g++ test.cpp -o test" just tells the compiler to compile and link a source file called test.cpp. You must understand that Visual Studio Code is not an IDE and cannot be compiled by yourself. You should have a file called c_cpp_properties.json file in your .vscode directory. The one I'm using for example looks like this and is configured for mingw64.

{
"Configurations": [
{
"name": "Win32",
"includePath": [
"${workspaceFolder}/Source/**"
],
"compilerPath": "C:\\mingw-w64\\mingw64\\bin\\gcc.exe",
"intelliSenseMode": "gcc-x64",
"Browse": {
"Away": [
"${workspaceFolder}"
],
"limitSymbolsToIncludedHeaders": wahr,
"DatabaseFilename": ""
}
}
],
"Version": 4
}

This tells Visual Studio Code where your source files and libraries are located. This is used for intellisense (syntax highlights, error squiggles, code completion, etc.). However, this has absolutely nothing to do with the construction of your project. Now your compiler doesn't know about the include paths you set in Visual Studio Code. So in order to compile your project, you need to tell your compiler everything it needs to know. Visual Studio Code simply runs what you specify in the task. It's the same as going into that directory and typing the same thing into your command prompt. So I recommend you to read up on how to compile a C++ project with g++, your problem has nothing to do with Visual Studio Code at all. If you're planning on doing something a little larger than just a single source file, I highly recommend you learn CMake. Compiling by manually invoking gcc gets really complicated once you have more source files and includes/libraries to link. Once you have your cmake set up, you can simply specify a task in Visual Studio Code similar to this to build your project:

{
"Version": "2.0.0",
"Tasks": [
{
"label": "Build",
"type": "shell",
"Befehl": "cmake --build Build",
"Group": {
"Type": "Build",
"isDefault": true
}
}
]
}

I also recommend you to read this:
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/cpp/config-mingw

This is a really good explanation of what exactly Microsoft is trying to do and helped me understand this when I first started using Visual Studio Code for my C++ work.

Visual Studio Code, #include stdio.h labeled Add include path to settings

A more recent view of the situation. During 2018, the C++ extension added another option to the configurationCompilerPfadof thec_cpp_properties.jsonFile;

CompilerPfad(Optional)
The absolute path to the compiler you are using to build your project. The extension queries the compiler to determine the system include paths and default definitions to use for IntelliSense.

If used, theincludePathnot required as IntelliSense uses the compiler to figure out the system include paths.

Originally,

How and where can I add include paths in the following configurations?

The list is a string array, so adding an include path would look something like this:

"Configurations": [
{
"name": "Mac",
"includePath": ["/usr/local/include",
"/path/to/additional/contains",
"/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.11.sdk/usr/include"
]
}
]

Source; cpptools blog March 31, 2016.

The linked source has a gif showing the format for the Win32 configuration, but the same goes for the others.

The example above includes the SDK path (OSX 10.11) when Xcode is installed.

noteI find that the update can take a while once the include path has been changed.

The cpptools extension can be found here.

More documentation (from Microsoft) on C++ language support in VSCode can be found here.

For the sake of retention (from discussion) below are basic snippets for the contents of the tasks.json file to compile and run either a C++ file or a C file. They allow spaces in the filename (requires escaping the extra quotes in the json with\"). The shell is used as a runner, enabling compilation (clink ...) and the execution (&& ./a.out) of the program. It also assumes that the tasks.json file "lives" in the local workspace (under the .vscode directory). Further details on task.json, such as supported variables etc. can be found here.

For C++;

{
"Version": "0.1.0",
"isShellCommand": true,
"taskName": "GenericBuild",
"showOutput": "always",
"Command": "sh",
"suppressTaskName": false,
"args": ["-c", "clang++ -std=c++14 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic -pthread \"${file}\" && ./a.out"]
}

for C;

{
"Version": "0.1.0",
"isShellCommand": true,
"taskName": "GenericBuild",
"showOutput": "always",
"Command": "sh",
"suppressTaskName": false,
"args": ["-c", "clang -std=c11 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic -pthread \"${file}\" && ./a.out"] // Befehlsargumente...
}

Visual Studio-Code: C++-Include-Pfad

Okay, that was silly, but in case anyone uses itVisual Studio-Codeand has no trivial project. These instructions assume you are using the Clang compiler:

1. Open your project directory
2. Open.vscode/settings.json

3. Configure the following line inside the JSON object:

   // compiler options for C++ (e.g. ['-std=c++11'])
   "clang.cxxflags": [
   "-I/path/to/my/include/directory" // Header-Dateien
   ],
   

Elegant solution for VS Code C/C++, including path for IntelliSense and building project

Here's what I do: Uninstall Microsoft's C/C++ extension and replace it with Clangd for code completion and Native Debug for debugging. I've had better experiences with these two, including an easier configuration.

Clangd is configured by a single file calledcompile_commands.json, which is just a list of compiler flags for each source file.

Then start using an appropriate build system. For example, CMake can generate this file by default. For Make there is a tool to generate it. In a pinch, you can write it yourself.

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