visual studio code - Execute a bat file on keypress in VsCode

Question

I'm writing shaders for vulkan, which have to be compiled into spir-v. I have a very nice batch file that will go through and build my shaders for me using the GLSlangvalidator. I'm trying to get a keypress to run my batch file in VsCode so I can check my code for errors and so that it is built. I have the following:

    {
    "key": "f5",
    "label": "build",
    "type": "shell",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.sendSequence",
    "args" : {"text": ".\compile.bat"},
    "presentation" : {
        "reveal": "always"
    }

This nearly works - but I still have to focus on the inbuilt terminal panel and hit enter. Surely there is a way to execute a command, rather than to just input the string? Thanks!

Answer 1

In tasks.json, create a task to run the .bat. Something like this:

{
    "label": "MY_TASK",
    "type": "shell",
    "command": "MY_BAT_FILE.bat",
    "presentation": {"echo": true, "reveal": "always", "focus": false, "panel": "shared", "showReuseMessage": false, "clear": true},
    "group": {"kind": "build", "isDefault": true},
},

Then, use the Tasks: Run Build Task hotkey (CtrlShiftB by default).

---

You can have more than one such task.

At most one task can have "isDefault": true, the one that CtrlShiftB should run.

You can assign custom hotkeys to those tasks, by adding following to your keybindings.json:

{"key": "f5", "command": "workbench.action.tasks.runTask", "args": "MY_TASK"},
//       ^~ key                                                     ^~~~~~~ task name