Define multiple tasks in VSCode

Question

I have seen that it is possible to define a task in the VSCode. But I am not sure how to define multiple tasks in the tasks.json file.

Answer 1

The following worked for me:

tasks.json:

{
    "version": "0.1.0",
    "command": "cmd",
    "isShellCommand": true,
    "args": [
        "/c"
    ],
    "tasks": [
        {
            "taskName": "bower",
            "args" : ["gulp bower"],
            "isBuildCommand": true,
            "showOutput": "always"
        },
        {
            "taskName": "unittest",
            "suppressTaskName": true,
            "args" : ["dnx -p ${cwd}\\test\\MyProject.UnitTests test"],
            "isTestCommand": true,
            "showOutput": "always"
        }
    ]
}

MyProject.UnitTests\project.json:

 "commands": {
    "test": "xunit.runner.dnx"
  }

Run bower : Ctrl + Shift + B from vscode Run tests : Ctrl + Shift + T from vscode

Answer 2

You can list more than one task in the tasks property. Something like:

"tasks": [
    {
        "taskName": "build",
        ...
    },
    {
         "taskName": "package",
         ...
    }
]

Answer 3

I don't know the proper answer to this (and would also like to know), but my ugly workaround in case it helps anyone. I'm on Windows, I've ended up creating myself a simple batch script which could contain simply

"%1" "%2"

Then my tasks.json looks something like

{
    "version": "0.1.0",
    "command": "c:\\...\\mytasks.bat"
    "tasks" : [
        {
            "taskName": "myFirstTask",
            "args": "c:\\...\\task1.exe", "${file}"],
        },
        {
            "taskName": "mySecondTask",
            "args": "c:\\...\\task2.exe", "${file}"],
        },
    ]
}

Answer 4

I have an Electron app that needs to compile a less stylesheet then build and launch the program. I used @Ocean's solution which worked for me...nothing else worked.

Both my tasks.json and build-tasks.bat file are in the .vscode directory in the root of the project.

build-tasks.bat

@ECHO OFF
@ECHO Begin!
@ECHO Compiling Less

call lessc ./css/styles.less ./css/styles.css

@ECHO Build Electron App and Launch

call electron ./app.js

@ECHO Finished!

tasks.json

{
    "version": "0.1.0",
    "command": "${workspaceRoot}\\.vscode\\build-tasks.bat",
    "isShellCommand": true,
    "isWatching": true,
    "showOutput": "always",

    "args": [],

    "tasks": [
        {
            "taskName": "build",
            "isBuildCommand": true,
            "isWatching": true,
            "showOutput": "always"
        }
    ]
}

Answer 5

As of the February 2017 release, you can use Terminal Runner and compose multiple tasks by setting up dependency tasks. It's a little funky in that it will open up a separate integrated terminal for each task, which you have to watch to see if things work and remember to close (they "stack"), and you don't get a "done" notification, but it gets the job done. The functionality is preliminary but it is promising. Here's is an example to run tsc and jspm for a Cordova app.

{
// See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
// for the documentation about the tasks.json format
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [{
        "taskName": "tsc",
        "command": "tsc",
        "isShellCommand": true,
        "args": ["-p", "."],
        "showOutput": "always",
        "problemMatcher": "$tsc"
    }, {
        "taskName": "jspm",
        "command": "jspm",
        "isShellCommand": true,
        "args": ["bundle-sfx", "www/app/main.js", "www/dist/bundle.js", "--inline-source-maps", "--source-map-contents"],
        "showOutput": "always"
    },
    {
        "taskName": "build",
        "isBuildCommand": true,
        "dependsOn": ["tsc", "jspm"]
    }]
}

Answer 6

Thanks to this thread, I now have c# / dnxcore50 build and test debug etc working in vscode on osx with this:

{
"version": "0.1.0",
"command": "bash",
"args": [
],
"tasks": [
    {
        "taskName": "xbuild",
        "args": [
            "./src/Service.Host/Service.Host.csproj"
        ],          

        "showOutput": "always",
        "problemMatcher": "$msCompile",
        "isBuildCommand": true
    },
    {
        "taskName": "dnx",
        "args" : ["-p", "./test/Service.Tests.Unit", "test"],
        "isTestCommand": true,
        "showOutput": "always"    
    }      
]
}

I am sure linux would be basicly the same. The only thing that is anoying me is having to maintain the .csproj files just for debuging. I am looking forward to a way to debug with dnx, though I have not looked for a couple of weeks now.