Start debugging specific project programmatically using EnvDTE.ExecuteCommand

Question

I have a solution with multiple start-up projects, and I am trying to relaunch one of them automatically on a nightly basis, while keeping the new process attached to the same debugger.

I was able to restart the process (using Process.Start) and attach the current debugger to it, but it has not been highly reliable so far, and by design, clicking on the Stop button only detaches from the process rather than terminating it.

I am aware the Visual Studio team has released a Visual Studio extension that allows automatically attaching child processes to the current debugger, which may work better than my code, but it would not be portable as it requires a local configuration.

The easiest way to achieve what I need seems to programmatically relaunch the project using the IDE itself, as I would do manually by right clicking on the project and selecting Debug > Start New Instance. I have access to the relevant DTE object in my code (when in development).

Hence, is there any way to make the following pseudo-code work, asking Visual Studio to start debugging a specific project/exe by passing it as a command argument?

DTE.ExecuteCommand("ClassViewContextMenus.ClassViewProject.Debug.Startnewinstance", "ProjectToBeRestarted");

DTE.ExecuteCommand("Debug.Start", "ProjectToBeRestarted");

DTE.ExecuteCommand("Debug.Start", "ProjectToBeRestarted.exe");

I would like to avoid as much as possible manipulating the UI (like storing the original start-up projects, setting an new one, and restoring the start-up projects).

Answer 1

The problem you are facing is there are very few Visual Studio commands that accept arguments as input. This makes sense considering commands typically use the current IDE context (e.g. selection, caret position, etc.) to infer what should actually be done. For instance, the ClassViewContextMenus.ClassViewProject.Debug.Startnewinstance command relies on the currently selected item in the Solution Explorer to know which project to start debugging, and it does not accept an argument.

For reference, you can find the full list of Visual Studio commands accepting arguments here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c338aexd.aspx

To solve your issue, you will need to use the DTE object to set the current project selection first, and then execute the Startnewinstance command.

DTE.ToolWindows.SolutionExplorer.GetItem("SolutionNameHere\\ProjectNameHere").Select(vsUISelectionType.vsUISelectionTypeSelect)
DTE.ExecuteCommand("ClassViewContextMenus.ClassViewProject.Debug.Startnewinstance")

Note: Depending on your programming language, the double backslash escape may or may not be needed. The final string should only have a single backslash.