Running Golang in Visual Studio Code - windows

Can anyone tell me how can I run and use debugger in Visual Studio for a simple go program in Windows step by step?
I took a reference from this page:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=lukehoban.Go
But I was not able to run the code. My current GOPATH is C:\dev\go.
Please let me know if any other details are required.

First of all, debuggers are not part of Go. C#, F# and other managed languages under the Microsoft stack have debuggers as that's part of the .NET stack.
Second, Visual Studio Code != Visual Studio. VS Code is a light(er) weight IDE that is geared towards extensibility to support a wide range of languages by creating runners. But that's the thing: someone else needs to write the runners and hopefully they created a seamless experience with a Debugger (if available). This is why you have multiple versions of language runners.
In other words: if you want a VSCode-compatible Debugger+Runner for X language, read up on X language about how to debug it.
Go is no exception. You must read the language spec, and specifically I recommend Effective Go as it explains why you don't need a Debugger.
--
Now with all of that said, the community has come together and created somewhat of a debugger for GoLang. It is called Delve.
Learning how to install it for VS Code is beyond this post. I recommend finding a VSCode package that supports Go coding with Delve (there is at least one out there, as I have used it).
Opinion: it's an Ok experience in VSCode to debug Go. I've experimented with it. While visually pleasing, I went back to Atom for it's large package support of many other Go utilities and Linters - most of which is missing in VSCode (and some packages didn't allow me to modify the config to exclude certain Go workflows).
EDIT 2018: After a few years, VSCode has matured nicely! I've since switched 100% to VSCode as my primary editor.

One possible option to install Debugger for Go language on Windows is:
go get github.com/derekparker/delve/cmd/dlv
After that the Visual Studio Code (vscode) will be able to run (debug) launch configuration.
By default, file launch.json points to the root of the project:
"program": "${workspaceRoot}"
If you want configure it to the another location (eg. your/package/foo/dir) then edit it as the following:
"program": "${workspaceRoot}/foo/dir"

In case you want to debug a Go module running inside an application server you can have a look at debugging golang appengine module with visual studio code.
Explanations are for Appengine server, but you can easily understand how to do remote debugging from vscode using Delve.

Related

Go debugging with GDB using Visual Studio Code

Is there any way to set up lauch.json file, so that we can debug Go file with GDB using VSC?
lauch.json won't be enough to achieve that. To actually use GDB from VS Code you will need a plugin supporting GDB. You can probably try "Native Debug" plugin for that. But I'd like to point out that GDB has several issues with debugging Go programs. And generally recommended debugger for Go is delve. And debugging with delve is supported (among many other things) by "Go for Visual Studio Code" plugin. Both plugins include detailed instructions on necessary configuration.

Custom Visual Studio Debug Engine for Simulator

I have a requirement for developing a debugger extension for Visual Studio. The code is in C++, however, it is run in a simulator environment. The application is capable of receiving break points and displaying variable information.
I have looked into the Concord API, but it seems rather complex. Do I have to develop an Expression Evaluator, even though the code is in C++?
Basically I just want the program to run and hit the breakpoints that the user has created for starters.
Should I try and write a visual studio extension instead? Although I don't see any way of halting execution of a program in debug mode?
Thanks
Ah the joy of writing a custom debugger! I'm writing one now. See the visual studio custom debug engine sample to start with. Python Tools for Visual Studio, MIDebugEngine are more complex but also more complete and production code. Much easier to write the debugger in C#.
Some blogs that helped me a lot.
https://limbioliong.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/creating-a-com-server-using-c/
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jmstall/2009/07/09/icustomqueryinterface-and-clr-v4/
VS2005 SDK PDF has more detailed debugger documentation.
VS2015/17 C# Extension projects has a custom project type package which comes with a script debugger launcher to start with.

Debugging in Unity (C#) + Visual Studio Code Work on OS X?

I really like the idea of working with Visual Studio, C# and Unity on OS X.
Has anyone made debugging with C# in Unity work with Visual Studio Code on OS X?
Yes it works absolutely fine. Unity is C#, JavaScript or Boo. So, you don't need .NET for it. Unity uses Mono runtime. So, an existing VS project can be opened in Unity for Mac OS X.
EDIT
Here is a link that helps you to attach a debugger to the VS endpoint.
http://www.yunspace.com/2015/01/19/integrating-visualstudio-with-unity3d-on-mac-using-vstools/
You can try VS Tools for Unity too.
http://unityvs.com
UPDATE
There is this awesome Unity Plugin by dotBunny that solves the problem and integrates Code with Unity tools.
Hi the solution is https://github.com/dotBunny/VSCode This plugin works on both MacOS and Windows and gives you the following capabilities:
•An option to enable VS Code integration (Editor –> Assets –> Enable Integration), this updates your solution files and (more importantly) keeps them in sync. This also sets the preferred external tool editor in the Unity preferences.
*Note, the old “Sync MonoDevelop” option is now gone in the Unity editor from V5.2
•It writes out the necessary (and sometimes hard to find) VS Code configuration files, including the ability to hide “non-code” files in the editor (hides things like .sln, .csproj and the ever present unity .meta files)
There are a couple of other settings in there to help speed up the integration.
•Automatically launches VS Code direct to your project folder, EVERY-TIME. no longer do you have to worry about keeping that window open, or switching around if you work on multiple projects
One thing to be aware of, once you enable the VSCode integration, changing your preferred code editor in the External Tools preferences will have no effect as the plugin takes over opening code files. If you want to use another editor, you’ll have to disable the integration first.
These are just the main highlights as there are more features in there as well.
Currently you need to download the plugin files from GitHub
An existing Visual Studio solution can be build and debugged with Visual Studio Code on the Mac with Mono. You have to use the launch.json and tasks.json files.
I described it on my blog: Compile and Debug
To build Unity in Visual Studio Code, you can hook up Mono xbuild compiler as a task runner, so you don't even have to leave IDE to have errors and warnings.
See https://twitter.com/_eppz/status/846859856787259392 for more.
It's a little unstable. But it's possible from recent VSC version.
1) Install this VSC Unity plugin-in.
https://github.com/dotBunny/VSCode/
2) Follow these commands. (Step 1, 2 and 3)
https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/runtimes/unity
3) After you complete the settings, launch the VSC using Unity menu.
Assets/Open C# Project in Code
4) Play the Unity project.
You can see the debug port number on the unity console.
And the project's launch.json file will be renewed automatically.
To open launch.json, click option icons.
the file exists in this folder.
.vscode/launch.json
sample.
{
"version":"0.1.0",
"configurations":[
{
"name":"Unity",
"type":"mono",
"address":"localhost",
"port":56621
}
]
}
5) Start debug in VSC debug tab.
That's it. Hope this help.
Update, 2016 - the petition was popular enough that some VS Code extensions have been written for it: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/search?term=unity&target=VSCode&sortBy=Relevance
Petition for it on the Visual Studio UserVoice page: http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/293070-visual-studio-code/suggestions/7752702-unity-integration
[Feb 2017] It is now possible to do this without the dotBunny plugin.
i.e. Support is built into Unity natively.
Just to repeat, you don't need to fiddle with Unity, just VSCode.
Instructions here
Instructions are incomplete though, and I didn't take screenshots (please do!), but basically what I did was:
(...and please improve these instructions as you go, I'm working from memory...)
I deleted/renamed my .vscode/Launch.json file, as per the link.
Double-click on some file to bring up the project in VSCode (maybe first make sure that in Unity's settings you have selected VSCode as your default code editor)
clicking the bug icon then the cogwheel, as per the link.
I had to install that vscode-unity-debug plugin in VSCode, just filtering the search with 'unity' found it.
I then had to press the green 'play' triangle.
I set a breakpoint in my code.
Now over to unity and press play, and the breakpoint gets hit.
The Unity Debugger for Visual Studio Code is working, but doesn't work well enough when doing any kind of serious work for now. I really hope they will improve it in the future as I prefer VS Code over VS.
Current problems I encountered
-Sometimes I cannot step in a function, the debugger will hang until you detach
-no local variable, you have to watch everything
-some more complex variable have no support, so you can't see what is inside
-A bit overall unstable with unexpected behaviours.
What I love about it,
Attaching & Detaching is a breeze. Just press a button, allowing to attach and detach quickly as needed. e.g. At the beginning of the program I work on, there will be an bunch of exception. I can detach and attach quickly to skip the exceptions.
The problems with it are too constraining as it currently stands, I had to go back to the classic Visual Studio.

Can I disable all compilation in Visual Studio?

This is a new one for me. I have been asked, for legal reasons, to setup a laptop with Visual Studio, but to disable the ability to compile projects/solutions. The purpose is to enable browsing of the source code, but not allow building or executing it.
Yes, I know this is really a stupid question and unfortunately I can't get into too many details. I've asked about using alternative text editors, but I have been told no. So until I can prove it isn't possible (or that I have at least made a reasonable effort), I have to try and make this work. Notepad++ would be an excellent alternative, but that has been rejected.
This would be in Visual Studio 2010 or later. Is there any way that I can do this?
UPDATE
After trying Marius Bancila's suggestion of removing the compilers and MSBuild, I was surprised to find out that VS continued to work fine (except for building, of course). I did not expect that functionality like F12 (Go To Definition) would continue to work.
This may mean that there still remains the ability to build something somewhere somehow. But as it stands with MSBuild permanently deleted and the Visual Studio Build command not working, it'll take some effort to get around it (if a way in fact does exist).
You didn't say what projects should not be possible to build (VC++, VC#, VB.NET, F#, etc.). Starting with VS2010 they are all built using MSBuild. So if you delete MSBuild they will not be able to build from inside Visual Studio. However, one can still be able to build from the command line, so the only possibility I see is that you delete all the compilers that come with Visual Studio.
It's a little bit crazy, but if you really have to ...
Try deleting some important binaries after installing Visual Studio e.g. linker (link.exe) and compiler (cl.exe).
Use a text editor instead. Notepad++ even comes with color syntax highlighting.
You cannot prevent people from compiling the code. Visual Studio Express is available to anyone, and the compiler can be executed from the command line, without Visual Studio's help.

Java IDEs vs Microsoft IDEs

I come from a strong Java background and in recent years have been also developing in C#.
What I can never understand is how far behind (Personal Opinion) the Visual Studio IDE's are in compared with Intelli-J IDEA and Eclipse (Java).
There have been improvements by Microsoft from VS 2005 to VS 2008, but I feel they are not quite there in terms of taking the development experience to the next level.
What I want to know is, is VS 2010 any different?
Why is it that the tools and syntax editors are so much more "evolved" in the Java IDE's.
Just to name a few:
Code Completion (Much more advance in Java IDE's)
Ant Integration (Eclipse and IDEA) vs Visual Studio Build Events
Lack of Code Repository integration in VS (Subversion and CVS) out of the box.
Lack of Advance Re-factoring Tools in Visual Studio.
Thanks.
A few points…
People tend to like what they know.
It is quicker to get up-to-speed in C# as the IDE and most of the tools / docs come from a single source.
In the Java world you have a lot more chooses, this is great for expert that spend times learning about them all, but does also lead to its own problems.
Adding ReSharper or Refactor to Visual Studio may give you what you want.
The Visual Studio debugging is great.
Visual Studio tries to make life easy for you by trying to find missing dlls etc and then storing where they are in the registry. This may be great for a 1 man project, but can often lead to build problems across developer’s machines if you are not careful. In the Java world you have to edit more config file by hand, but at least you can put these files under source code control.
There is not a small command line tool that works well on a build server that will build all types of Visual Studio projects. However in day to day usage you don’t need to learn how to use command tools, as Visual Studio hides them form you.
I think these days most programmers
are just happier with the IDE they
know best.
Note I wrote this over 6 years ago, since then C#/.Net has got a lot more complex, with lots of open source projects. Microsoft has also open sourced a lot of the .net framework. For web and server side development I expect there is now little to choose between the Java world and the .Net world. For “smart clients” .net still have a lot to offer including the new support from cross device phone development.
For multi-threaded IO, I think c# is years ahead of Java, but that could change as C# and Java keeps learning from each other...
Visual Studio has definitely been coming on over the last few years - although many of the improvements have basically been things that Eclipse has had for ages (I haven't used IDEA myself).
You may well want to look at ReSharper, which brings more goodness to Visual Studio, along with the VS2010 Productivity PowerTools.
Also, have a look at Scott Guthrie's blog series about improvements in VS2010. Lots of goodies in there.
All tools have their strengths and weaknesses - these days I'm about as happy in Visual Studio as in Eclipse... although I'm much happier writing C# than Java :) One area where Visual Studio really shines is debugging though... I find things like the VS Watch window to be much better than Eclipse's equivalent.
Visual studio 2017 is still far far behind Intellij IDEA. I'm using both and i can say that even VS2017 with ReSharper is not comparable with IDEA.
Biggest problem for me is that VS still doesn't offer usable hot reload debugging experience. I'm crying every time i have to rebuild my .NET MVC project (it is +- fast, but IIS Express load time ~ 15s EVERY time you make even the smallest change in your code).
If you want to argue with "Edit and continue" so so hotreload function - it is absolutely useless, you can't do almost any change in code without rebuilding (and everytime you have to manually break code and close opened tab with useless information).
So i'm really looking forward for full version of IntelliJ Rider bringing all super user friendly possibilities of IntelliJ IDEA to the .NET world!
I don't agree with you. I think VS is much more easy to use.
For example, when i need to create a web application. I open VS and create a new project (Web Application). After the project created, i press f5 and tadda!...
But if want to create my web application with Java, i need to install a server or some frameworks. Still i don't know how can i create a web application?
Or, Windows Application.
At VS, you don't need do any thing to create a windows based application like web application. but if i want to create windows based application with Java, i had to do something.
I think VS IDE is more user friendly than Java IDE's.

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