Debugging a single file dotnet app with command line arguments is very unclear/obtuse

[Mattwmaster58]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

The happy path for single file debugging is just clicking the button: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/csharp/debugging#_debug-with-editor-debugrun-buttons

This apparently all falls apart when you want to pass command line arguments to your own program.

Describe the solution you would like

Better documentation/out of the box support for passing command line args. I think single file apps are great for dotnet, and better supporting them in VSCode will lead to better adoptoin as well.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Blindly stumbling around the docs trying to get this to work - sort of annoying.

Additional context

I tried a lot of things, eventually ended up with with a custom prelaunch task to build the app:

    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "build myfile",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "dotnet",
            "args": [
                "build",
                "${workspaceFolder}\\myfile.cs",
                "--output",
                "${env:TEMP}\\myfile"
            ],
            "group": "build",
            "problemMatcher": "$msCompile",
            "presentation": {
                "reveal": "silent",
                "panel": "dedicated",
                "close": true
            }
        }
    ]

launch.json:

    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "myfile.cs",
            "type": "coreclr",
            "request": "launch",
            "preLaunchTask": "build myfile",
            "program": "${env:TEMP}\\myfile.dll",
            "args": [all the args to pass here]
        }]

[dibarbet]

@jjonescz / @WardenGnaw FYI

[jjonescz]

You can use .net launch profiles instead of VSCode launch profiles for this, see DamianEdwards/runfile#11 (comment).

I don't think there is a simple way to do this via VSCode's launch.json - even though you can have a launch profile for a file-based app like this:

{
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "C#: my file launch profile",
            "type": "dotnet",
            "request": "launch",
            "projectPath": "${workspaceFolder}/file.cs"
        }
    ]
}

it doesn't currently support command-line args AFAIK (and this is not limited to file-based apps - the same "type": "dotnet" launch profile is used for projects too).

[Mattwmaster58]

That comment was useful, seems like a great clean way to set this up.

To expand on what I did try, I say "launchSettingsProfile": "ProfileNameGoesHere" available for type: dotnet in launch.json. But IIRC, this would never launch my app, only build it. Probably another bug. Moot for my case as the above referenced comment is just an easier way to accomplish this.

[Mattwmaster58]

My own problem is solved but I would like to solve this for others - would a short example in the C# debugging section be the best place? It's already quite long: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/csharp/debugging But had it been there when I read the section it would have helped me, I think.

[WardenGnaw]

1. Docs missing can be tracked at [Docs] Add documentation for Debug Properties in vscode C# Debugging microsoft/vscode-dotnettools#2736
2. This is a bug on the Debug: Debug Properties command since it does not seem to generate the <appName>.run.json file.