Expansion of ${generator} macro not working in preset conditions

[petwu]

Brief Issue Summary

In order to reuse our company-internal CMake presets I wanted to create a repository with common base presets and leverage the include and inherits capabilities. Since the build presets differ for single-config and multi-config generators (mainly the configuration property), I tried to leverage the condition properties to check what the value of ${generator} is. Unfortunately, the evaluation seems to fail and does not match CMake's command line behavior.

CMake Tools Diagnostics

{
  "os": "win32",
  "vscodeVersion": "1.74.2",
  "cmtVersion": "1.12.27",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "folder": "c:\\Users\\WDAGUtilityAccount\\Desktop\\presets-test",
      "cmakeVersion": "3.25.1",
      "configured": true,
      "generator": "Ninja",
      "usesPresets": true,
      "compilers": {}
    }
  ],
  "cpptoolsIntegration": {
    "isReady": false,
    "hasCodeModel": false,
    "activeBuildType": "",
    "buildTypesSeen": [],
    "requests": [],
    "responses": [],
    "partialMatches": [],
    "targetCount": 0,
    "executablesCount": 0,
    "librariesCount": 0,
    "targets": []
  },
  "settings": [
    {
      "communicationMode": "automatic",
      "useCMakePresets": "auto",
      "configureOnOpen": null
    }
  ]
}

Debug Log

No response

Additional Information

Example Presets

CMakePresets.json

{
    "version": 4,
    "configurePresets": [
        {
            "name": "base-single",
            "hidden": true,
            "generator": "Ninja"
        },
        {
            "name": "base-multi",
            "hidden": true,
            "generator": "Ninja Multi-Config"
        },
        {
            "name": "dev1",
            "inherits": ["base-single"]
        },
        {
            "name": "dev2",
            "inherits": ["base-multi"]
        },
        {
            "name": "dev3",
            "generator": "Ninja"
        },
        {
            "name": "dev4",
            "generator": "Ninja Multi-Config"
        },
        {
            "name": "dev5",
            "inherits": ["base-single"],
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev6",
            "inherits": ["base-single"],
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja Multi-Config"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev7",
            "generator": "Ninja",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev8",
            "generator": "Ninja",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja Multi-Config"
            }
        }
    ],
    "buildPresets": [
        {
            "name": "dev1-working",
            "configurePreset": "dev1",
            "environment": {
                "GENERATOR_MACRO": "${generator}"
            },
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${hostSystemName}",
                "rhs": "Windows"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev1-single",
            "configurePreset": "dev1",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev1-multi-debug",
            "configurePreset": "dev1",
            "configuration": "Debug",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja Multi-Config"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev1-multi-release",
            "configurePreset": "dev1",
            "configuration": "Release",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja Multi-Config"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev2-single",
            "configurePreset": "dev2",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev2-multi-debug",
            "configurePreset": "dev2",
            "configuration": "Debug",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja Multi-Config"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev2-multi-release",
            "configurePreset": "dev2",
            "configuration": "Release",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja Multi-Config"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev3-single",
            "configurePreset": "dev3",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev3-multi-debug",
            "configurePreset": "dev3",
            "configuration": "Debug",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja Multi-Config"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev3-multi-release",
            "configurePreset": "dev3",
            "configuration": "Release",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja Multi-Config"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev4-single",
            "configurePreset": "dev4",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev4-multi-debug",
            "configurePreset": "dev4",
            "configuration": "Debug",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja Multi-Config"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dev4-multi-release",
            "configurePreset": "dev4",
            "configuration": "Release",
            "condition": {
                "type": "equals",
                "lhs": "${generator}",
                "rhs": "Ninja Multi-Config"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Expected Behavior

All presets whose conditions are evaluated to true are displayed.

Actual Behavior

CMake > Select Configure Preset is missing the dev5 configure preset:

CMake > Select Build Preset does not show any of the associated build presets, whether the condition is met or not:

Also when a configure preset is selected for the first time, the first associated build preset is selected automatically even if its condition is not fulfilled and it is not visible in the dropdown:

For reference, these are the presets recognized by CMake:

$ cmake --list-presets=configure
Available configure presets:

  "dev1"
  "dev2"
  "dev3"
  "dev4"
  "dev5"
  "dev7"

$ cmake --list-presets=build
Available build presets:

  "dev1-single"       
  "dev2-multi-debug"  
  "dev2-multi-release"
  "dev3-single"       
  "dev4-multi-debug"  
  "dev4-multi-release"

Other Observations

With other properties such as environment the ${generator} macro gets correctly expanded. Also, conditions with other macros such as ${hostSystemName} work as expected. See dev1-working.

[elahehrashedi]

Thank you for reporting this issue. It looks like we are not evaluating the inherits when expanding the condition and it's causing it to fail.