Debug single javascript file in “Visual Studio Code”

Question

Is there a way to debug a single javascript file step by step without launching a node server?

For example seed files by knex.

Node is definitely needed, but I do not know how to start the VSC debugger with only the file.

Answer 1

There are two ways to achieve this:

• Just add launch.json and give your file_name. and start debugging.

  For example, If your file_name is index.js. create a folder called .vscode and inside this folder create launch.json, structure looks like this:

                main_folder
                     |___ index.js
                     |___ .vscode
                             |___ launch.json
  

  and provide path as below in launch.json:

   {
       "version": "0.2.0",
         "configurations": [
           {
             "type": "node",
             "request": "launch",
             "name": "Launch Current Opened File",
             "program": "${file}"
           }
         ]
    }
  

• The second option is to create a package.json and give your file an entry point. when you press F5, vscode will consider this file as starting point.

                   main_folder
                       |___ index.js
                       |___ package.json
  

  you can create package.json manually or can create it using npm init, This will ask you a bunch of questions, and then write a package.json for you.

   {
     "name": "application_name",
     "version": "0.0.0",
     "description": "for single page debugging",
     "main": "index.js",
     "author": "",
     "license": "ISC"
   }
  

Answer 2

To launch(debug) currently opened/active *.js file, you should have the following configuration in your launch.json file:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
        "type": "node",
        "request": "launch",
        "name": "Launch Current Opened File",
        "program": "${file}"
    }
  ]
}