Could not find the preLaunch task 'build'

Question

To configure Visual Studio Code to debug C# scripts on OSX, I followed through all the steps listed in the article below:

Debugging C# on OSX with Visual Studio Code

When I tried to debug the sample C# script, Visual Studio Code reported this error:

Could not find the preLaunch task 'build'

As a consequence, I could not inspect the variables defined in the script.

This is a copy of the launch.json file:

{     "version": "0.2.0",     "configurations": [         {             "name": "Launch console application",             "type": "mono",             "request": "launch",             "preLaunchTask": "build",             "program": "${workspaceRoot}/Program.exe",             "args": [],             "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}",             "stopAtEntry": false         }     ] } 

This is a copy of the tasks.json file:

{     "version": "0.1.0",     "command": "mcs",     "args": [         "-debug",         "Program.cs"     ],       "showOutput": "silent",     "taskSelector": "/t:",     "tasks": [         {             "taskName": "exe",             "isBuildCommand": true,             "problemMatcher": "$msCompile"         }     ] } 

How do I resolve this?

Answer 1

You can use the Visual Studio Code to solve it.

When you see the error message, click on the steps below

1. Configure Task
2. Create tasks.json file from template
3. NET Core Executes .NET Core build commands

The VSCode will create a file like it:

{     // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558     // for the documentation about the tasks.json format     "version": "2.0.0",     "tasks": [         {             "label": "build",             "command": "dotnet build",             "type": "shell",             "group": "build",             "presentation": {                 "reveal": "silent"             },             "problemMatcher": "$msCompile"         }     ] } 

It's finished. The VSCode will build the project before run.

Answer 2

The error occurs because Visual Studio Code cannot find any task in the tasks.json with the taskName value set to 'build'.

The preLaunchTask property of the launch.json file defines the task that should be executed before the script is launched. From the question, Visual Studio Code has been configured to run the task build before launching the script:

preLaunchTask: 'build' 

But there's no task named 'build' in the tasks.json file.

To fix this, you should change the value of the preLaunchTask property to 'exe', which is the build task that has been defined in the tasks.json file.