How to build and run C++ code in Visual Studio Code?

Question

I have a tasks.json script that currently compiles the code

{
    "version": "0.1.0",
    "command": "gcc",
    "isShellCommand": true,
    "args": ["-Wall", "${relativeFile}", "-o", "${relativeFile}.exe", "-pedantic"],
    "echoCommand": true,
    "showOutput": "always",
    "problemMatcher": {
        "owner": "cpp",
        "fileLocation": ["relative", "${workspaceRoot}"],
        "pattern": {
            "regexp": "^(.*):(\\d+):(\\d+):\\s+(warning|error):\\s+(.*)$",
            "file": 1,
            "line": 2,
            "column": 3,
            "severity": 4,
            "message": 5
        }
    }
}

This works fine, but when I want to run the file I have to run the exe from command line. Is it possible to do this in the task as well? So if it finishes building succesfully it then runs a different task?

Answer 1

If anyone else comes across this when searching like I did, you can now set the property preLaunchTask in your launch.json to your build task's name property and it will run before your launch.

For Example

"name": "Debug (gdb) Launch", "preLaunchTask": "Build All",

Will run the "name": "Builld All" in your tasks.json before launching your program.

You can read the information on this on the Debugging in Visual Code docs page.