How to setup Visual Studio Code (Windows) for PyQGIS 2 or 3?

Question

I'm trying to use Visual Studio Code (VSC) as IDE for my QGIS plugins with the Python extension, but something doesn't work as expected. I've been reading about the PyCharm config from Gary S. but I couln't apply it to VSC.

Should I use an .env file? What should I set in the settings.json? How to call batch files when VSC starts?

Answer 1

We didn't want to use a script to open our workspace, so we finally found out how to configure Visual Studio Code through the settings.json file: https://github.com/isogeo/isogeo-plugin-qgis/blob/master/.vscode/settings.json

The requirement is to have QGIS LTR installed with OSGeo4W on the computer. We automated this step with the command-line: https://gist.github.com/Guts/6303dc5eb941eb24be3e27609cd46985

Answer 2

Create an empty file named visual_studio_code_for_qgis.bat

Paste this:

@echo off
path %PATH%;C:\Program Files\QGIS 3.2\bin
path %PATH%;C:\Program Files\QGIS 3.2\apps\grass\grass-7.4.1\lib
path %PATH%;C:\Program Files\QGIS 3.2\apps\Qt5\bin
path %PATH%;C:\Program Files\QGIS 3.2\apps\Python36\Scripts

set PYTHONPATH=%PYTHONPATH%;C:\Program Files\QGIS 3.2\apps\qgis\python
set PYTHONHOME=C:\Program Files\QGIS 3.2\apps\Python36   

start "VisualStudioCode for QGIS" /B "C:\Users\Zoran\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe" %*

Update paths if necessary.

Run the visual_studio_code_for_qgis.bat

More details can be found here: http://gis-expert.com/wp/2018/10/15/how-to-setup-qgis-3-and-visual-studio-code-plugin-development-windows/

Answer 3

Here I explain how configure Visual Studio Code for running alone scripts in Python that executes funcions of Qgis.

In the file "Visual_Studio_Code_Qgis\Work_Space_Configuration.code-workspace" is my file configuration that set the envoirment of operatig system.

With this configuration if you run your aplication from Visual Studio code there will be no errors with Python and Qgis.

For use this information: 1.- Goto to the configuration of workspace (Control+) 2.- Select workspace 3.- In right upper square click to Open Configuration Json 4.- Paste my code insight changing Directories.

In my configuration file I have a envoirment, if you don't want or don't have, delete the last lines.

This do the same like file "C:\Program Files\QGIS 3.12\bin\python-qgis.bat".

So if you run this file in CMD, and after that in the same CMD window, you write "set" and enter, you will have a list with the configuration of your system.

Answer 4

This works for me Edit your settings.json with the variables below. It can be your workspace settings only, or you global settings. Basically it informs VSCode where to locate for QGIS packages.

Also, I have made a tutorial video showing how to set these variables from the console, without changing settings.json https://youtu.be/qobogVuXtJU

{
    // Replicate the QGIS environment
    "terminal.integrated.env.windows": {
        "OSGEO4W_ROOT": "C:\\OSGeo4W", 
        "PATH":"C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\qt5\\bin;C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\Python39\\Scripts;C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\qgis-ltr\\bin;C:\\OSGeo4W\\bin;C:\\Windows\\system32;C:\\Windows;C:\\Windows\\system32\\WBem",
        "GDAL_DATA": "C:\\OSGeo4W\\share\\gdal", 
        "GDAL_DRIVER_PATH": "C:\\OSGeo4W\\bin\\gdalplugins", 
        "GS_LIB": "C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\gs\\lib", 
        "JPEGMEM": "1000000", 
        "OPENSSL_ENGINES": "C:\\OSGeo4W\\lib\\engines-1_1", 
        "SSL_CERT_FILE": "C:\\OSGeo4W\\bin\\curl-ca-bundle.crt", 
        "SSL_CERT_DIR": "C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\openssl\\certs", 
        "PROJ_LIB": "C:\\OSGeo4W\\share\\proj", 
        "QT_PLUGIN_PATH": "C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\Qt5\\plugins",
    "O4W_QT_PREFIX": "C:/OSGeo4W/apps/Qt5", 
    "O4W_QT_BINARIES": "C:/OSGeo4W/apps/Qt5/bin", 
    "O4W_QT_PLUGINS": "C:/OSGeo4W/apps/Qt5/plugins", 
    "O4W_QT_LIBRARIES": "C:/OSGeo4W/apps/Qt5/lib", 
    "O4W_QT_TRANSLATIONS": "C:/OSGeo4W/apps/Qt5/translations",
    "O4W_QT_HEADERS": "C:/OSGeo4W/apps/Qt5/include", 
    "O4W_QT_DOC": "C:/OSGeo4W/apps/Qt5/doc", 

    "PYTHONHOME": "C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\Python39", 
    "PYTHONPATH": "C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\qgis-ltr\\python;C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\qgis-ltr\\python\\plugins",
    "PYTHONUTF8": "1",

},
"python.autoComplete.extraPaths": ["C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\qgis-ltr\\python","C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\qgis-ltr\\python\\plugins"],
"python.pythonPath": "c:\\OSGeo4W\\bin\\python.exe",
"python.analysis.extraPaths": [
    "C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\qgis-ltr\\python",
    "C:\\OSGeo4W\\apps\\qgis-ltr\\python\\plugins"
]

}

Answer 5

Since it's 2022 now and some things that were mentioned here have changed, I decided to create a repository with a test example here:

https://github.com/MarByteBeep/pyqgis-standalone

The full explanation can be found here:

Looking for manual on how to properly setup standalone PyQGIS without GUI

Answer 6

Try this batch file for an Osgeo4w QGIS install.

https://github.com/frankbroniewski/visual-studio-code-qgis

Answer 7

For windows the simplest method is:

First copy all the paths using OSGeo4W shell. In this shell type:

py3_env

This will spit out all the paths. Copy these paths and paste inside environment variables. In windows search type env and inside environment variables click on path, edit and paste all the paths there.

The python command will start working within