I created a very simple .r file insider a folder and want to debug this file using VSCode.

Here are the steps taken:

1. Create a new folder in desktop;
2. Create a .r file inside the new folder and add simple R code;
3. Load the new folder into VSCode and open the .r file;
4. Click the debug icon in VSCode, create a launch.json file and save it to the .vscode folder inside the new folder;
5. Click start debugging, the debug floating control pane appears but the step in/out icons are greyed out.

Here is the launch.json file:

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "type": "R-Debugger",
            "name": "Launch R-Workspace",
            "request": "launch",
            "debugMode": "workspace",
            "workingDirectory": "${workspaceFolder}"
        },
        {
            "type": "R-Debugger",
            "name": "Debug R-File",
            "request": "launch",
            "debugMode": "file",
            "workingDirectory": "${workspaceFolder}",
            "file": "${file}"
        },
        {
            "type": "R-Debugger",
            "name": "Debug R-Function",
            "request": "launch",
            "debugMode": "function",
            "workingDirectory": "${workspaceFolder}",
            "file": "${file}",
            "mainFunction": "main",
            "allowGlobalDebugging": false
        },
        {
            "type": "R-Debugger",
            "name": "Debug R-Package",
            "request": "launch",
            "debugMode": "workspace",
            "workingDirectory": "${workspaceFolder}",
            "includePackageScopes": true,
            "loadPackages": [
                "."
            ]
        },
        {
            "type": "R-Debugger",
            "request": "attach",
            "name": "Attach to R process",
            "splitOverwrittenOutput": true
        }
    ]
}

Here is the screentshot:

Why are the step in/out icons are greyed out? I simply cannot debug R file in VSCode in current state. Thank you.

CodePudding user response：

The error you are getting is:

Error: '.vsc.listenForJSON' is not an exported object from 'namespace:vscDebugger'

This is a known issue caused by an older version of the R package. According to the package maintainer, the solution to this issue is,

You can run rdebugger.updateRPackage in the command palette (ctrl shift p) to update the R package. If that doesn't work, there are some installation instructions in the readme.

If your problem still persists after following these instructions, I would considering opening a github issue. Someone opened what appears to be a similar issue 12 days ago so it may be the package has broken on some systems after a recent update either to this package or a dependency.