{"id":82016,"date":"2017-02-06T00:01:32","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T08:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/heyscriptingguy\/?p=82016"},"modified":"2019-02-18T09:10:11","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:10:11","slug":"debugging-powershell-script-in-visual-studio-code-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/debugging-powershell-script-in-visual-studio-code-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Debugging PowerShell script in Visual Studio Code \u2013 Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/strong>: Here’s a look at the\u00a0many features of the PowerShell debugger for Visual Studio Code.<\/span><\/p>\n

In previous blog posts, we covered how to get started with PowerShell development in Visual Studio Code<\/a> and the editing features of Visual Studio Code and the PowerShell extension<\/a>.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t already have Visual Studio Code configured with the PowerShell extension, read those blog posts to get caught up.<\/p>\n

In the first of this two-part series, we will cover the many features of the PowerShell debugger for Visual Studio Code.\u00a0 These features are provided by the PowerShell extension, or, more accurately, by the PowerShell Editor Services module which comes with the PowerShell extension.<\/p>\n

PowerShell Editor Services runs in a separate process and supplies both language and debugging services to Visual Studio Code via a JSON remote procedure call (RPC) protocol that\u2019s defined by Visual Studio Code. One advantage of this approach is that a crash of the PowerShell Editor Services process doesn\u2019t cause Visual Studio Code to crash. And, with the latest version of the PowerShell extension, you can simply restart the current PowerShell session without restarting Visual Studio Code to get going again.<\/p>\n

First look at the PowerShell Debugger in Visual Studio Code<\/h2>\n

Press Ctrl+Shift+P (Cmd+Shift+P on Mac) to open the PowerShell extension\u2019s Examples<\/strong> folder, type PowerShell open examples<\/strong>, and then press Enter. After the Examples folder has loaded, open the DebugTest.ps1 file, and set a breakpoint on the line that has the Start-Sleep command.\u00a0 To set the breakpoint, either click in the left editor margin or press F9 to toggle the breakpoint on and off for the current line.<\/p>\n

To open the Debug view, in the View Bar select Debug<\/strong> from the View<\/strong> menu or press Ctrl + Shift + D. In the Launch\u00a0Configuration<\/strong> dropdown (shown in the following screenshot), select the PowerShell Launch (current file)<\/strong> configuration. Like the PowerShell integrated scripting environment (ISE), this configuration will execute the file that\u2019s in the active editor window under the debugger when debugging is started.<\/p>\n

\"Selecting<\/a><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start a debug session. First, make sure the DebugTest.ps1 file\u2019s editor window is still the active window, and then press F5 or click the green Start Debugging<\/strong> button to the left of the Launch\u00a0Configuration dropdown (shown in the previous screenshot).<\/p>\n

After the debugger starts, you will see the Debug actions pane (shown in the following screenshot), and the debugger should pause at the breakpoint that you set.<\/p>\n

\"Debug<\/a><\/p>\n

The Debug actions pane provides buttons for:<\/p>\n