Visual Studio Code has been the center of Microsoft's attention lately when it comes to announcing developer-oriented features. The company recently revealed its roadmap for Java developers who use the IDE and also announced a fascinating extension called GitHub Copilot, which uses AI to write code for you. Now, it has enabled native debugging for JavaScript in Visual Studio Code.
Previously, developers mostly used the Chrome debugger or the Microsoft Edge Debugger extension in order to debug JavaScript code in Visual Studio Code. Now, the Redmond tech giant has built in native capabilities for this purpose in the IDE. Moving forward, you can either start debugging by pressing F5, press the debug icon, or use the Visual Studio Code command palette from where you can select Chrome, Edge, or Node.js as your debugging environment.
Those who opt for Edge can go through a one-time install process for Microsoft Edge DevTools for Visual Studio Code extension when they click on the "Inspect" button. This will enable you to view the DOM and network requests directly within the IDE. You can also utilize the Console Utilities API. If you want to automate this process to some extent, you can also configure these details in the launch.json file.
The ability to debug JavaScript without requiring any extensions - although you can opt to install the Edge DevTools extension if you want -, directly in Visual Studio will certainly be welcomed by many developers. You can provide your feedback on the capability by pressing Alt+Shift+I when DevTools are open.
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