Using the VSCode/ExtendScript Debugger

Below my (Mac specific) working notes for working with the new ExtendScript debugger plug-in for VSCode. I decided to put these out in the open and hope to save someone some frustration.

Your mileage may vary. I find it currently very hard to use because it is brittle and there is no end to crashes, lockups, and general wonkiness.

Switching from ESTK to VSCode:

• Replace ‘#’ for directives with ‘//@’:
  #targetengine -> //@targetengine
  etc…
• Add your parent folder with your script or scripts to a new workspace in VSCode. Save the workspace file somewhere close by.
• Create a .vscode/launch.json file in the workspace folder.
  App "targetSpecifiers” are as in ESTK.
  Examples:
  indesign-14.064 -> 14 refers to InDesign CC 2019, 064 refers to it being a 64 bit version.
  illustrator-23.064 -> 23 refers to Illustrator CC 2019, 064 refers to it being a 64-bit version.
  And so on…
  For the path to the script I right-click the .jsx file in workspace source tree view in the left hand side of the VSCode window.
  Select Copy Path from the context menu, then paste it into the launch.json for the "program" property.

Example launch.json that I use to start with:

{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"type": "extendscript-debug",
"request": "launch",
"dontBreakOnErrors": true,
"targetSpecifier": "indesign-14.064",
"engineName": "whateverengine",
"name": "A name",
"program": "pathToTheScript",
"stopOnEntry": false
}
]
}

• In VSCode, switch to Debug mode (click the bug icon in left hand toolbar)
• Click the popup right of the green ‘Play’ button at the top, and select a config that you listed in the launch.json
  
• Make sure ESTK is not running. If it is running, you’ll get
  (#15) Can’t initialize target
  in the next step.
• In VSCode, click at the bottom, on the yellow
  Select the target Application
  

• If ESTK is not running but you still get 
  (#15) Can’t initialize target
  you need to quit VSCode and on the command line, run
  
  killall "Code Helper"
  
  Restart VSCode, then try selecting target application again as before.
• If you get
  
  (#15) Cannot execute script in target engine ‘…’!
  
  It most often indicates a syntax error or so. The fun bit is when it comes to //@include files: VSCode will not report any issues (so all seems well), but it will refuse to run. If that’s the case, you need to open all include files and hunt for the error. Or launch ESTK, which does report the issue straight away.
  
• For debugger versions before 1.1.0: If you get
  
  Cannot debug Error #1116
  
  you might have inadvertently upgraded to VSCode >= 1.33 which is incompatible.
• If so, first turn off automatic updates in VSCode. Switch them off now, or it will immediately re-update as soon as you install VSCode 1.32.
• Then downgrade to VSCode 1.32
  https://vscode-westeu.azurewebsites.net/updates/v1_32
• Once it’s all good, click the green ‘Play’ button at the top.
• If your find things start to go wonky (e.g. you cannot inspect certain variables any more or other general wonkiness), you need to start over. Quit your target app, quit VSCode, do the killall…

Useful links

Cannot initialize target:

https://medium.com/adobetech/extendscript-debugger-for-visual-studio-code-public-release-a2ff6161fa01

https://forums.adobe.com/message/10952076#10952076

Version 1.32 of VSCode (1.33 is broken)
https://vscode-westeu.azurewebsites.net/updates/v1_32

Forum
https://forums.adobe.com/community/creative_cloud/add-ons/extensions

ESTK Cannot debug Error #1116
https://medium.com/adobetech/workaround-for-extendscript-toolkit-debugger-error-1116-f067f81f96c6

https://medium.com/adobetech/extendscript-debugger-for-visual-studio-code-windows-compatible-prerelease-f1537375c3f6

Prerelease forum

https://forums.adobeprerelease.com/exmancmd/categories/estkvsc

ReadMe
https://forums.adobeprerelease.com/exmancmd/discussion/42/extendscript-debugger-for-macos-readme/p1