Compound debug configurations

Often you need to run multiple processes at once, but debug them as if they were the same project. A common scenario for this is running a React, Angular or Vue app, along with some sort of API service using Express or Hapi. VS Code has a feature called "Compound Launch Configurations" that allow you to launch multiple debug processes at one.

Exercise

• Open "4-compound-launch-config"

• Start the frontend application

• Create two launch configs..

  • One for the Node process that runs in the "/server" folder

  • One of the Chrome process that runs from the root

• Create a compound launch config that includes both of the above configs

• Run the compound launch config

• Add a breakpoint to "src/App.js"

• Add a breakpoint to "server/routes/index.js"

• Hit both the breakpoints

Answer

• Open a new integrated terminal instance (Cmd/Ctrl + `)

• Make sure that you are in the "4-compound-launch-config" folder

• Run the frontend application with npm start

• Open the Debug Explorer (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + D)

• Open the dropdown list and select "Add Config (4-compound-launch-config)

• Select "Chrome" from the prompt

• Modify the launch config so that it looks like this...

{
  // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
  // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
  // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "type": "chrome",
      "request": "launch",
      "name": "Launch Chrome",
      "url": "http://localhost:3000",
      "webRoot": "${workspaceFolder}/src"
    }
  ]
}

• Click the "Add Configuration" button

• Select "Node.js Launch Program" from the list

• Change the "program" value in the "Launch Program" config to be "${workspaceFolder}/server/server.js"

    "type": "node",
    "request": "launch",
    "name": "Launch Program",
    "program": "${workspaceFolder}/server/server.js"
},

• Right above the "configurations" attribute, add a "compound" attribute. Start typing and then select "compound" from the auto-complete.

• Name it "Launch Project 4"

• Set the "configurations" attribute to...

"compounds": [
  {
    "name": "Launch Project 4",
    "configurations": ["Launch Program", "Launch Chrome"]
  }
]

• Select "Launch Project 4" from the dropdown list in the Debug Explorer

• Press the green button next to the dropdown list

• VS Code will launch a new instance of Chrome and start the Express server project.

• Add a breakpoint to line 12 in the "server/routes/index.js" file

• Add a breakpoint to line 39 in the "src/App.js" file

• Change the color in the app and press the button

• Hit the breakpoints