Can I run fsx files from within Visual Studio without setting up a project?

Question

I want to use F# for some very basic tasks for which I previously used batch files. I can associate fsx files with fsi.exe and run it just by double clicking them. That's great so far.

However, sometimes I might want to dive into the code deeper and debug things. When I open the fsx file within Visual Studio I can't run it and I also can't select the lines and use "Send to interactive", though.

It seems to me as if those commands only work if you set up a full F# project. That seems to be cumbersome (as an batch file replacement). I wonder which is the right approach? I want to have my cake and eat it! I want a simple file that I can change quickly but I also want the ability to use the analyze things with Visual Studio on demand.

UPDATE I just figured out you can open the interactive console at "View\Other Windows\F# Interactive" and after that you do have the "Send to Interactive" command.

I'm still lacking the ability to run the code and set breakpoints, though..

Answer 1

As you already discovered, you don't need to create project to use the F# Interactive console.

I believe that features like debugging are a lot less important when you use F# for interactive development (or scripting), because you can quite easily evaluate code step-by-step to analyze its behaviour just by sending individual commands to FSI. So I don't feel the need for debugging in F# Interactive very often.

Although this isn't really a supported feature, you can debug code in a script file when using just F# Interactive. The trick is to attach the debugger to the fsi.exe process that's running behind the F# Interactive.

Just go to "Debug" -> "Attach to Process" and then select "fsi.exe". Then you should be able to place brakepoints in the fsx script file and the code running in F# Interactive will break. As I said, this is not really supported, but it generally works well for code in functions. I don't find this as useful often, but it may be useful now and then.