How to use Clang compiler with MSBuild?

This is easy to do from either command line or project file. The properties you need to configure are $(CLToolExe) and $(CLToolPath).

From the command line:

msbuild MyProj.vcxproj /p:CLToolExe=clang-cl.exe /p:CLToolPath=c:\whatever\path\to\the\tool

Alternatively, inside your .vcxproj file:

<PropertyGroup>
  <CLToolExe>clang-cl.exe</CLToolExe>
  <CLToolPath>c:\whatever\path\to\the\tool</CLToolPath>
</PropertyGroup>

If you are calling task CL directly inside your .vcxproj file, as opposed to just relying on common targets, just set corresponding parameters ToolExe and ToolPath of the CL task.

Since Visual Studio 2019 16.2, Microsoft provide an integration of MSbuild and ClangCl. So this can be achieved by:

• Installing the “C++ Clang Tools for Windows” component
• Choosing the "LLVM (clang-cl)” toolset in the IDE

Microsoft's blog post has more information on this: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/clang-llvm-support-for-msbuild-projects/