Start debugging a Visual Studio Project using Powershell script

Question

I used to open a solution file in Visual Studio, right click a project, select "Debug" -> "Start a new instance" to start a debug session.

Can I write a powershell script to automate this? To make things easier, the automation does not have to rebuild and Project, the script only needs to start a debug session in Visual Studio executing myApplication.debug.exe

ScheuNZ · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-16 10:01:40Z

1

Visual Studio has a 'DebugExe' command-line parameter you can use to accomplish this.

param
(
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
    [String]
    $TargetFileName
)

& "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" /command "Debug.Start" /debugexe "$TargetFileName"

answered Apr 16, 2015 at 10:01

ScheuNZ

9118 silver badges19 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

6 Comments

Will Murphy Over a year ago

For me, this command launches a new visual studio instance, which then reports "Command 'Debug.Start' is not available." Any quick thoughts or should I post a whole new question?

ScheuNZ Over a year ago

@willmurphyscode, what version of Visual Studio were you using? From memory I tried 2013 Pro and 2015 Ent. That seems like the most likely cause of a missing command.

ScheuNZ Over a year ago

@willmurphscode, I just did another quick test and can confirm it works with Visual Studio 2012 Premium, 2013 Premium, 2015 RC Enterprise. I didn't have any edition of 2010 available to try though.

Will Murphy Over a year ago

@SchneuNZ thanks! I'm in VS2013 Premium. I'm pretty new to PowerShell, so it's probably my mistake. I typed exactly '& "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" /command "Debug.Start" /debugexe "PluginRegistration.exe"'. It launches VS, but refuses to attach the debugger.

ScheuNZ Over a year ago

You probably want to try specifying the full path and file name to the executable you want to launch. That's what I was doing.

|

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Start debugging a Visual Studio Project using Powershell script

1 Answer 1

6 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

6 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related