Windows (Visual Studio) Quickstart Guide

Table of Contents

Installing Visual Studio

  • Download and install Visual Studio Community (free)

  • While installing, select Desktop development with C++ workload

  • You can optionally select C++ Clang Compiler for Windows

Method 1: vcpkg Package Manager (Preferred)

vcpkg provides cross-platform package management through source compilation. Initial builds may take considerable time due to source-based dependency building. For developers of Huira using Visual Studio, we recommend using vcpkg.

vcpkg Configuration:

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git C:\vcpkg
cd C:\vcpkg
.\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
.\vcpkg integrate install

Compilation Steps:

Once vcpkg is installed, Visual Studio can use it natively. To Build Huira simply:

  • Open the huira folder in Visual Studio

  • Wait for CMake configuration to complete

  • From the top tool bar, select Build -> Build All

Method 2: conda Environment Setup

This approach leverages conda for streamlined dependency management.

Step 1: conda Installation

If conda isn’t already available:

  • Go to: https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest

  • Download the Miniforge3-Windows-x86_64.exe installer

  • Run the installer and follow the prompts

  • Launch “Miniforge Prompt” and run conda init powershell so that the conda environment can be accessed from powershell.

Step 2: Environment Creation

conda env create -f packaging/environment.yml
conda activate huira_env

Step 3: Launch Visual Studio with conda Environment Enabled

Once the huira_env conda environment has been activated, we can have Visual Studio inherit all of the relevant PATH variables by launching it from within this environment using devenv.exe:

& "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe"

NOTE: The exact path to devenv.exe may vary slightly.