Watch window or evaluate expressions while debugging in VS Code?

Question

I really like Visual Studio Code, it's a great editor but one thing is really annoying me while debugging Node apps:

I can't see any sort of watch window or the ability to evaluate expressions while debugging. This makes debugging pretty painful and I'm considering moving back to VS 2013.

I know we have the local and global variables windows but they are a pain to look through (maybe add a search box?) and some things just don't appear in the list.

For example using TypeScript, a class function compiles down to something like this:

Stack.prototype.push = function (item) {
    if (this.items.length == this.length)
        this.resize(length * 2);
    this.items[this.length++] = item;
};

When debugging this function however I don't have any access to the this variable while in the push() function. It does not appear in either the local or global variables and I can't evaluate it anywhere.

Has anyone else experienced this and found a solution?

Andre Weinand · Answer 1 · 2015-10-22T22:38:15.283

6

Since version 0.6.0 VS Code supports watches and since 0.8.0 VS Code has a debug console (aka REPL).

The "missing this" problem has been fixed.

edited Oct 22 '15 at 22:38

answered May 13 '15 at 08:28

Andre Weinand

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Thanks @Andre! Any ideas when the next release is due? – Dário May 30 '15 at 10:54
Our plan is to release about every 4 weeks. – Andre Weinand May 31 '15 at 20:41
@AndreWeinand When will we be able to evaluate expressions without adding watches in order to do so? – Spooky Oct 22 '15 at 21:45
@Spooky this is possible since two releases of vscode – Andre Weinand Oct 22 '15 at 21:54
1

@AndreWeinand Oh, yeah, I just found it. I tried clicking everything but I missed that one little "Open Console" button. Would you like to update your answer? – Spooky Oct 22 '15 at 22:14

Watch window or evaluate expressions while debugging in VS Code?

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