Debugging both Typescript and C# with Angular AspNetCore.SpaTemplates

by John Pankowicz

This recipe shows how to use both the built-in JavaScript debugger and the C# for Visual Studio Code extension together to debug a C#/Typescript application generated by the Angular AspNetCore.SpaTemplates.

Prerequisites to install

• Google Chrome installed in its default location.

• Version 1.13.1 of the C# for Visual Studio Code extension installed in VS Code.

• .NET Core SDK 1.0 RC4 (or later) for Windows, Mac, or Linux

  ( See: Building Single Page Applications on ASP.NET Core with JavaScriptServices )

• Node.js, version 6 or later

Getting Started

• To install the Single Page Application (SPA) templates, run the following command:

  dotnet new --install Microsoft.AspNetCore.SpaTemplates::*
  

• Use SpaTemplates to create a new Angular application.

  mkdir my-app
  cd my-app
  dotnet new angular
  

• Restore dependencies

  dotnet restore
  npm install
  

• Open VS Code.

  code .
  

Vscode might ask: "Required assets to build and debug are missing from your project. Add them?" If so, choose Yes. This will add a .vscode directory with a launch.json and tasks.json file.

Configure launch.json File

• Click on the Debugging icon in the Activity Bar to bring up the Debug view. Then click on the gear icon to configure a launch.json file:

• Add the following configurations to the "configurations" array:

  {
   "version": "0.2.0",
   "configurations": [
        {
            "name": ".NET Core Launch (full)",
            "type": "coreclr",
            "request": "launch",
            "preLaunchTask": "build",
            // If you have changed target frameworks, make sure to update the program path.
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/bin/Debug/netcoreapp2.0/spa.dll",
            "args": [],
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
            "stopAtEntry": false,
            "internalConsoleOptions": "openOnSessionStart",
            "launchBrowser": {
                "enabled": false
            },
            "env": {
                "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
            },
            "sourceFileMap": {
                "/Views": "${workspaceFolder}/Views"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "chrome",
            "request": "launch",
            "name": "Chrome",
            "url": "http://localhost:5000",
            "webRoot": "${workspaceFolder}/wwwroot"
        }
    ],
    "compounds": [
        {
            "name": "Full stack",
            "configurations": [".NET Core Launch (full)", "Chrome"]
        }
    ]
  }
  

  Start Debugging

• Set a Typescript breakpoint in ClientApp\app\components\counter\counter.component.ts on the line:

  this.currentCount++;
  

• Set a C# breakpoint in Controllers\SampleDataController.cs on the line:

  var rng = new Random();
  

• Go to to the Debug view, select the 'Full stack' configuration, then press F5 or click the green arrow.

• When a browser opens with the sample application, click "Counter" in the left navigation bar. Click "Increment". You should then hit the Typescript breakpoint:

  

• Hit F5 or the green arrow in VSCode to continue execution.

• Click "Fetch Data" in the left navigation bar. You should then hit the C# breakpoint.