Mocha breakpoints using Visual Studio Code

Question

Is it possible to add breakpoints to ones Mocha tests using Visual Studio Code?

Normally when debugging code one need to configure the launch.json, setting the prog

Answer 1

I've figured out a way to do this which I classify as a workaround. I expect the Visual Studio Code team to provide a more definitive solution for this but meanwhile this what I've done:

1. I've created a ./settings/mocha.js file which runs mocha programatically passing arguments as a list of files to be run. You can see the full file here;

2. I've created a launch config which will run the ./settings/mocha.js as the program and passes the files/file patterns we need to test as arguments:

   {
       "name": "Unit tests",
       "type": "node",
       "program": ".settings/mocha.js",
       "stopOnEntry": true,
       "args": ["test/unit/*.js", "test/unit/**/*.js"],
       "cwd": ".",
       "runtimeExecutable": null,
       "env": { }
   }
   

   Full launch.json example

So this is the equivalent of doing mocha test/unit/*.js test/unit/**/*.js and now we can use breakpoints in our mocha tests.