Visual Studio Code – NEW FEATURES: 7 Debugging Improvements!

The 0.10.1 November release features a plethora of debugging improvements...

Debugging - Debug Console Improvements

  • Colored text output to highlight diagnostic errors and warnings
  • Support file path links with line and column information for quick source code navigation.

Colored Output

Debugging - Easy Variable Selection

Directly add selections to the Debug Console and Watch window with two new editor commands:

  • Debug: Evaluate - add the text selection to the Debug Console
  • Debug: Add to Watch - add the text selection to the Debug Watch window

add to watch

Debugging - Debug environment configuration

When you create your initial debug configuration (launch.json), VS Code now asks for your specific debug environment (Node.js, Mono) and creates a launch.json specific to that environment.  VS Code also detects the type of request ('launch' or 'attach').

select debug env

Debugging - Hover

Debug hover behavior has been improved: it is now possible to hover over object properties or variables that are not in the top stack frame.

Debugging - Node.js

Starting with this release, we are now launching the Node.js debug target in the internal VS Code Debug Console. This eliminates the tedious management of external console windows and brings program output and the Node.js REPL closer together. Since the Debug Console does not support programs that need to read input from the console, the external console is still available and you can enable it by setting the attribute externalConsole to true in your launch configuration.


Check out all the new features and update to VSC v0.10.3:


Have a great day!

   - Ninja Ed

Comments (10)
  1. Confusing says:

    Why even use .NET anymore if you can use nodejs on both client and server and benefit from shared code?  Microsoft, you are talking your own developers right out of your premiere technology stack.

  2. Confusing,

    For options. We want to do the right thing for the programmer. They can choose every option from within Visual Studio. Visual Studio Code is a one-stop shop, so you don't have to juggle IDEs and tools. Maybe you're right, and we'll deal with that. But this is what people need to be as productive as possible.

  3. Lutso says:

    Downloaded community 2015 3months ago and l have given  up using it coz l cant use it past register it always give me an error there something to do with the database. I download sql 2012 local server as my system had asked me to do. I followed all the instructions bu

    t still got the same error. Then l tried sql 2014 server and l still got the same error. I always wonder whats the problem because it aint suppose to give me such a headache.

  4. Mike-EEE says:

    Ed, thank you for engaging your developers and customers.  I would agree that this is confusing guidance from MSFT.  If you want to do the right thing for the programmer, please make a .NET client application development model that can compete with nodejs.

    It would be one thing if .NET was able to do everything that nodejs does and there was healthy competition, but it simply does not offer a viable client model like nodejs at present.  Adding to the systemic damage, the prevalent "guidance" from MSFT is to use nodejs on top of a .NET server tier.  This is prohibitive in cost as now there are two incompatible codebases (JS and .NET) that organizations have to maintain.  As a result, you are seeing these same organizations ditch MSFT tech all together and use nodejs all the way through.

    As awesome as Visual Studio Code is (and don't get me wrong, I am a fan of the direction here, but it's currently coming at a tremendous cost to .NET)… it is being overshadowed by the much bigger problem of .NET being left in the dust due to the very (indeed, confusing) guidance prescribed by MSFT leadership.

    MSFT developers should continue to let MSFT know that they want to preserve their countless hours and dollars of .NET investments by voting for this here:…/10027638-create-a-ubiquitous-net-client-application-develo

    and here:…/8912350-bring-windows-10-universal-apps-to-android-and-ios

    Thanks again for your support, engagement, and dialogue. 🙂

  5. Lutso,

    Understood. It's hard to pinpoint the problem. Please try the Setup and Installation forum:…/home

    There are a lot of people there who can help figure out what happened.

  6. Mike, those are great suggestions. Please continue submitting them to the User Voice feedback site, voting for them, and encouraging other customers to vote.

    Visual Studio Code gives options and is inclusive, which is what developers need. You're right that .NET is going to need to evolve in order to compete. Your feedback is vital. Please send me an email (edprice at Microsoft) so I can get to know you better and see if we have more opportunities for you to provide your valuable feedback. (Please reply here when you send the email, so I can make sure I don't miss it.)


  7. Mike-EEE says:

    Awesome Ed, you are now officially my new MSFT hero. 🙂  I tried looking for you on Twitter but it appears you are not on there.  Anyways, I did just send you an email so we can continue there.  Thanks again!

  8. Rabuschka says:

    Isn't Microsoft's dnx & dnu going a little towards the node.js model?

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