Add support for Visual Studio 18 2026 generator (#4688)

* Initial plan

* Add support for Visual Studio 18 2026 generator

Co-authored-by: snehara99 <[email protected]>

* Add unit tests for VS generator version mapping

Co-authored-by: snehara99 <[email protected]>

* Fix issue number in changelog (#4637 instead of #4668)

Co-authored-by: snehara99 <[email protected]>

* Add runtime derivation of preferredGenerator for VS kits missing it

Co-authored-by: snehara99 <[email protected]>

* Restore .npmrc file that was accidentally removed

Co-authored-by: snehara99 <[email protected]>

---------

Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: snehara99 <[email protected]>

Author: Copilot

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Bug Fixes:
 - Fix `cmake.compileFile` failing to find compilation info when using presets without `CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS`. [#4484](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cmake-tools/issues/4484)
 - Fix "Copy Value" in CMake debugger copying variable name instead of value. [#4551](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cmake-tools/issues/4551)
 - cmakeDriver: Fixes getCompilerVersion by using compilerPath instead of compilerName. [#4647](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cmake-tools/pull/4647) [@lygstate](https://github.com/lygstate)
+- Add support for Visual Studio 2026 generator. [#4637](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cmake-tools/issues/4637)
 - Fix `$comment` not being accepted inside a cacheVariable object in CMake presets. [#4600](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cmake-tools/issues/4600)
 - Fix kits from `cmake.additionalKits` not being shown when `cmake.showSystemKits` is `false`. [#4651](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cmake-tools/issues/4651)
 

src/drivers/cmakeDriver.ts

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import { CMakeOutputConsumer } from '@cmt/diagnostics/cmake';
 import { RawDiagnosticParser } from '@cmt/diagnostics/util';
 import { ProgressMessage } from '@cmt/drivers/drivers';
 import * as expand from '@cmt/expand';
-import { CMakeGenerator, effectiveKitEnvironment, Kit, kitChangeNeedsClean, KitDetect, getKitDetect, getVSKitEnvironment } from '@cmt/kits/kit';
+import { CMakeGenerator, effectiveKitEnvironment, Kit, kitChangeNeedsClean, KitDetect, getKitDetect, getVSKitEnvironment, getVsKitPreferredGenerator } from '@cmt/kits/kit';
 import * as logging from '@cmt/logging';
 import paths from '@cmt/paths';
 import { fs } from '@cmt/pr';
@@ -752,8 +752,14 @@ export abstract class CMakeDriver implements vscode.Disposable {
         this._kitEnvironmentVariables = await effectiveKitEnvironment(kit, this.expansionOptions);
 
         // Place a kit preferred generator at the front of the list
-        if (kit.preferredGenerator) {
-            preferredGenerators.unshift(kit.preferredGenerator);
+        // For VS kits that don't have preferredGenerator (e.g., scanned before a VS version was added),
+        // try to derive it from the VS installation.
+        let kitPreferredGenerator = kit.preferredGenerator;
+        if (!kitPreferredGenerator && kit.visualStudio) {
+            kitPreferredGenerator = await getVsKitPreferredGenerator(kit);
+        }
+        if (kitPreferredGenerator) {
+            preferredGenerators.unshift(kitPreferredGenerator);
         }
 
         // If no preferred generator is defined by the current kit or the user settings,
@@ -1368,6 +1374,7 @@ export abstract class CMakeDriver implements vscode.Disposable {
      * The list of generators CMake supports as of 3.21
      */
     private readonly cmakeGenerators = [
+        "Visual Studio 18 2026",
         "Visual Studio 17 2022",
         "Visual Studio 16 2019",
         "Visual Studio 15 2017",

src/kits/kit.ts

@@ -764,9 +764,64 @@ const VsGenerators: { [key: string]: string } = {
     14: 'Visual Studio 14 2015',
     15: 'Visual Studio 15 2017',
     16: 'Visual Studio 16 2019',
-    17: 'Visual Studio 17 2022'
+    17: 'Visual Studio 17 2022',
+    18: 'Visual Studio 18 2026'
 };
 
+/**
+ * Get the CMake generator name for a given Visual Studio version
+ * @param version The major version of Visual Studio (e.g., '17' for VS 2022, '18' for VS 2026)
+ * @returns The CMake generator name, or undefined if the version is not recognized
+ */
+export function vsGeneratorForVersion(version: string): string | undefined {
+    return VsGenerators[version];
+}
+
+/**
+ * Get the preferred CMake generator for a Visual Studio kit.
+ * This is useful for kits that were scanned before a VS version was added to the VsGenerators mapping.
+ * @param kit The Visual Studio kit
+ * @returns The preferred generator, or undefined if the kit is not a VS kit or the VS version is not recognized
+ */
+export async function getVsKitPreferredGenerator(kit: Kit): Promise<CMakeGenerator | undefined> {
+    if (!kit.visualStudio || !kit.visualStudioArchitecture) {
+        return undefined;
+    }
+
+    // If the kit already has a preferredGenerator, return it
+    if (kit.preferredGenerator) {
+        return kit.preferredGenerator;
+    }
+
+    // Try to derive the preferredGenerator from the VS installation
+    const vsInstall = await getVSInstallForKit(kit);
+    if (!vsInstall) {
+        return undefined;
+    }
+
+    const version = /^(\d+)+./.exec(vsInstall.installationVersion);
+    if (!version) {
+        return undefined;
+    }
+
+    const generatorName = VsGenerators[version[1]];
+    if (!generatorName) {
+        return undefined;
+    }
+
+    const majorVersion = parseInt(vsInstall.installationVersion);
+    const hostArch = kit.visualStudioArchitecture;
+    const host: string = hostArch.toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, "").startsWith("host=") ? hostArch : "host=" + hostArch;
+    // For VS kits, use the hostArch as the target platform (x64 -> x64)
+    const targetArch = hostArch;
+
+    return {
+        name: generatorName,
+        platform: generatorPlatformFromVSArch[targetArch] as string || targetArch,
+        toolset: majorVersion < 15 ? undefined : host
+    };
+}
+
 /**
  * Try to get a VSKit from a VS installation and architecture
  * @param inst A VS installation from vswhere

test/unit-tests/kit-scan.test.ts

@@ -234,4 +234,26 @@ suite('Kits scan test', () => {
             ]);
         }).timeout(10000);
     });
+
+    suite('VS Generator mapping', () => {
+        test('returns correct generator for VS 2022', () => {
+            expect(kit.vsGeneratorForVersion('17')).to.eq('Visual Studio 17 2022');
+        });
+
+        test('returns correct generator for VS 2026', () => {
+            expect(kit.vsGeneratorForVersion('18')).to.eq('Visual Studio 18 2026');
+        });
+
+        test('returns correct generator for VS 2019', () => {
+            expect(kit.vsGeneratorForVersion('16')).to.eq('Visual Studio 16 2019');
+        });
+
+        test('returns undefined for unknown version', () => {
+            expect(kit.vsGeneratorForVersion('99')).to.be.undefined;
+        });
+
+        test('returns correct generator for legacy VS120COMNTOOLS', () => {
+            expect(kit.vsGeneratorForVersion('VS120COMNTOOLS')).to.eq('Visual Studio 12 2013');
+        });
+    });
 });