README.md

Forked from Dennis Jung VS Code - .NET Auto Attach

VS Code - .NET Watch

Improve debugging experience when working with dotnet-watch by auto re-attaching debugger

The ".NET Watch" extension is created to enable a .Net Core debugging experience closer to nodejs hot-reload.

Getting Started

1. Install the extension
2. Open the folder containing .net core Project(s).
3. Press F5 and select .NET Watch
4. Save file changes and 🤯

Save changes, hot reload and auto attach happens

Attaching debugger to externally launched dotnet watch process

1. Make code change
2. Save changes
3. ctrl+r to restart dotnet watch
4. Prompt to re-attach (Always, yes, no)

Manual reload (ctrl+r)

See Supported hot reload code changes Even if you make "un-supported" hot reload change, don't worry, with this extension, all you need to do is go to the terminal and press ctrl+r

Un-supported changes are not as bad as it sounds, it just means that .net runtime couldn't apply the assembly updates for various reasons, just reload and "lose state" and resume debugging.

Supports launch profiles (Visual Studio)

Launch Profiles has limited supported for VS Code but it works based on personal tests

Sample launch config for a compound tasks

Multiple projects can be debugged in a single launch by using compound tasks.

[
	{
		"type": "DotNetWatch",
		"request": "launch",
		"name": ".NET Core Watch: dotnet-test.console",
		"project": "dotnet-test.console.csproj",
		"env": {
			"ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
		}
	},
	{
		"type": "DotNetWatch",
		"request": "launch",
		"name": ".NET Core Watch: dotnet-test2.console",
		"env": {
			"ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development",
			"DOTNET_WATCH_RESTART_ON_RUDE_EDIT": "true"
		},
		"launchBrowser": {
			"enabled": true,
			"args": "${auto-detect-url}",
			"windows": {
				"command": "cmd.exe",
				"args": "/C start ${auto-detect-url}"
			},
			"osx": {
				"command": "open"
			},
			"linux": {
				"command": "xdg-open"
			}
		}
	}
]
...
"compounds": {
	{
		"name": "Watch all",
		"configurations": [
			".NET Core Watch: dotnet-test2.console",
			".NET Core Watch: dotnet-test.console"
		]
	}
}

Configuration Attributes

Configuration Attributes	Type	Description	Default
args	string[]	Command line arguments passed to the program.	[]
env	object	Environment variables passed to the program. (note: this has precedence over Visual Studio Launch Profiles)	{}
project	string	The project (.csproj) to start, if not provided, a quick pick menu will appear	""

For existing Launch.json

Delete it and generate or update launch.json configuration type from "coreclr" to "DotNetWatch" and remove the "preLaunchTask", "program", "cwd" (feel free to add them if you need)

Watching externally executed dotnet watch

Select the process you want to watch and let it reattach :)

Release Notes & Known Issues

See the CHANGELOG.md for the details of changes for each version and known issues.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details.

Coffee

If this extension helped you, consider buying me a coffee