Set debug/run environment variable in Visual Studio 2017 C++ project? - c++

Question

I'm trying to set automatically run/debug environmental variables for my project in Visual Studio.
I mean, is there any CMake or C++ code line to do this not needing to do it manually?
Here are the instructions how to do it manually (what I want to avoid).
Here there is an still unsolved question about how to do it with Cmake (seems not to be possible).
I also tried with setenv() and putenv() in different ways but it didn't work, because the main function doesn't even run until that line of code, before an error message shows up: "Some.dll was not found" and the program stops.

Answer 1

If your dll is one you are intending to use, this answer details how to quickly ensure it is found at runtime (putting the DLL alongside the executable)
If by 'automatic' you mean in code, you can set environment variables in code using _putenv as described in this answer similar to what you seem to be describing.
ostringstream classSize;
classSize << "classSize=" << howManyInClass;
_putenv(classSize.str().c_str());

Answer 2

The solution I found is base on this answer.
Steps for the solution:
Create a UserTemplate.vcxproj.user file next to the CMakeLists.txt file, with the next content:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="15.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">
<LocalDebuggerEnvironment>PATH=..\Your\Path\to\Binaries;%PATH%".</LocalDebuggerEnvironment>
<DebuggerFlavor>WindowsLocalDebugger</DebuggerFlavor>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
Where ..\Your\Path\to\Binaries is the relative path to your binary
files (the two points at the beginning .. are optional, if you
want to go up in the relative directory path, you may want to use
them).
Add the next lines of code in the CMakeLists.txt file.
# Configure the template file
SET(USER_FILE main.vcxproj.user)
SET(OUTPUT_PATH ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${USER_FILE})
CONFIGURE_FILE(UserTemplate.vcxproj.user ${USER_FILE} #ONLY)
Where ProjectName is the name of the VS project where you want to define your PATH variable.