Launch another program before debugging in VS?

I'm not aware of any way to do that within Visual Studio. But you can always add a special command-line option to the client that starts the server.

There are a few options.

In your project properties, on the "Build Events" page, add your batch file as a post-build event program. It will execute those programs after your project successfully builds.

Another option is to modify the "Debug" page, change it to start an external program rather than the project. Your external program should be the batch file that runs your server and then runs your client program.

Your client can have a command line option to forcefully start the server if it doesn't detect one.

If you have more complex needs, you could write a small Visual Stduio plugin. The free DXCore plugin library from DevExpress makes writing your own simple plugins in C# or other languages extremely simple.

If your needs are even more complex than that, you can write a program that sits on the side, watching for your program to show up on the processes list. When your program is run, it can do whatever external magic you need.

I'm sure a creative person could come up with many other ways to do this.

Quote:

Original post by frob Another option is to modify the "Debug" page, change it to start an external program rather than the project. Your external program should be the batch file that runs your server and then runs your client program.

I don't think you can do that. I think the debugger needs to attach to the target program and so a batch file will not work.