angular - Debug with Visual Studio Code not working

Question

I'd like to be able to debug an Angular2 application with Visual Studio Code.

Here's my environment:

• OS: Ubuntu 16.10 x64
• Browser: Chromium 53.0.2785.143
• Node: 6.8.0
• Angular-cli: 1.0.0-beta.19-3

Creating a new project with angular-cli :

ng new test-VSC-debug
cd test-VSC-debug

Then I open VSC and load the project : File/open folder

I click on the debug logo and I configure launch.json by selecting chrome. It generates the following file :

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Launch Chrome against localhost, with sourcemaps",
            "type": "chrome",
            "request": "launch",
            "url": "http://localhost:8080",
            "sourceMaps": true,
            "webRoot": "${workspaceRoot}"
        },
        {
            "name": "Attach to Chrome, with sourcemaps",
            "type": "chrome",
            "request": "attach",
            "port": 9222,
            "sourceMaps": true,
            "webRoot": "${workspaceRoot}"
        }
    ]
}

Then I just start the angular2 project by running :

ng serve

Once it has started, in VSC I select : "Launch Chrome against localhost, with sourcemaps".

Then, I get the following error :
"Can't find chrome : Install it or set the runtimeExecutable field in the launch config."

So I set :
"runtimeExecutable": "chromium-browser"
(as I do not have chrome but chromium on my Ubuntu).

Angular-cli default port to launch the app is 4200. Change url from : "http://localhost:8080" to "http://localhost:4200".

Now the browser is opening the app but VSC has the following error: "Cannot connect to runtime process, timeout after 10000 ms - (reason: Cannot connect to the target: connect ECONREFUSED 127.0.0.1:9222".

From other answers found on stackoverflow/github issues, I've read that I might have to kill all chrome instances before trying to do that, so I just close chromium and run killall chromium-browser.

I try to run the debug again : Same error as before (cannot connect).

I've also seen that the following arguments might help :

"runtimeArgs": [
  "--remote-debugging-port=9222",
  "--user-data-dir"
]

But it does not change anything.

I decided to use VSC for my typescript devs (mostly angular2) and this way of debugging seems very powerful. I have the feeling that it'd be too bad not to use it :).

Thanks for any help !

PS: Some related stackoverflow questions and github issues :
- Debug & Run Angular2 Typescript with Visual Studio Code?
- https://github.com/angular/angular-cli/issues/2453
- https://github.com/angular/angular-cli/issues/1936
- https://github.com/angular/angular-cli/issues/1281

EDIT 1: !!! Partial improvement !!! I found a way to have debug info within Visual Studio Code console ! So it's not perfect yet as breakpoints doesn't work but here's the thing. So far, if I opened http://localhost:9222 I was not able to see anything. ("localhost doesn't authorized the connection").

BUT, if I launch chromium like that :

chromium-browser --remote-debugging-port=9222 --user-data-dir=remote-profile

The important thing is to notice that argument : --user-data-dir=remote-profile. If you just pass --user-data-dir it launches a new window with no one connected. But it's not enough. You need to pass remote-profile as value.

• it opens a new browser window
• I open http://localhost:4200 AND I can also reach http://localhost:9222 !
• I'm able to connect VSC with "Attach to chrome with source map" option ! (as you can see, I do have the "Angular 2 is running in the development mode. Call enableProdMode() to enable the production mode." displayed in console and the footer now has an orange background)

So far, I hope it can help some people. But the problem now is that breakpoints are not working.

I keep digging and 'll make another edit if I found why.

Answer 1

I was able to solve this problem on OSX. The reason it's such a pain is there are multiple things causing the issue.

1. You hit on the first with --user-data-dir=remote-profile: If you're already running Chrome (for example, already have tabs open - who doesn't?), you have to use a different userDataDir to have Chrome launch an independent instance.
   The correct way to do this, however, is to add "userDataDir": "${workspaceRoot}/.vscode/chrome", to your launch.json configuration (see below). This needs to be a path. If 'remote-profile' is used it attempts to find a relative directory named 'remote-profile'.
2. You need to set sourceMapPathOverrides in your launch.json config, the value of which depends on your OS:
   OSX: "sourceMapPathOverrides": { "webpack:///./*": "${webRoot}/*" }
   Windows: "sourceMapPathOverrides": { "webpack:///C:*":"C:/*" }
   Linux: "sourceMapPathOverrides": { "webpack:///*": "/*" }
   (Note: I have not tested the Windows or Linux versions)

Here is my working launch.json on OSX:

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible Node.js debug attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Launch Chrome against localhost, with sourcemaps",
            "type": "chrome",
            "request": "launch",
            "url": "http://localhost:4200",
            // This forces chrome to run a brand new instance, allowing existing
            // chrome windows to stay open.
            "userDataDir": "${workspaceRoot}/.vscode/chrome",
            "sourceMaps": true,
            "webRoot": "${workspaceRoot}",
            //"diagnosticLogging": true,
            "sourceMapPathOverrides": { "webpack:///./*": "${webRoot}/*" }
        },
        {
            "name": "Attach to Chrome, with sourcemaps",
            "type": "chrome",
            "request": "attach",
            "url": "http://localhost:4200",
            "port": 9222,
            "sourceMaps": true,
            "webRoot": "${workspaceRoot}",
            "diagnosticLogging": true,
            "sourceMapPathOverrides": { "webpack:///./*": "${webRoot}/*" }
        }
    ]
}

For this to work, run ng serve in a terminal, then hit F5 inside of Visual Studio Code.

Here are the versions I'm working with:

• angular-cli: 1.0.0-beta.24
• node: 7.3.0
• Chrome: 55.0.2883.95
• Visual Studio Code: 1.8.1
• VSCode Extension "Debugger for Chrome" msjsdiag.debugger-for-chrome: 2.4.2