React is a popular JavaScript library developed by Facebook for building web application user interfaces. The Visual Studio Code editor supports React.js IntelliSense and code navigation out of the box.
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Welcome to React
We'll be using the create-react-appgenerator for this tutorial. To use the generator as well as run the React application server, you'll need Node.js JavaScript runtime and npm (Node.js package manager) installed. npm is included with Node.js which you can download and install from Node.js downloads.
Tip: To test that you have Node.js and npm correctly installed on your machine, you can type node --version and npm --version in a terminal or command prompt.
You can now create a new React application by typing:
where my-app is the name of the folder for your application. This may take a few minutes to create the React application and install its dependencies.
Note: If you've previously installed create-react-app globally via npm install -g create-react-app, we recommend you uninstall the package using npm uninstall -g create-react-app to ensure that npx always uses the latest version.
Let's quickly run our React application by navigating to the new folder and typing npm start to start the web server and open the application in a browser:
You should see the React logo and a link to 'Learn React' on http://localhost:3000 in your browser. We'll leave the web server running while we look at the application with VS Code.
To open your React application in VS Code, open another terminal or command prompt window, navigate to the my-app folder and type code .:
Markdown preview
In the File Explorer, one file you'll see is the application README.md Markdown file. This has lots of great information about the application and React in general. A nice way to review the README is by using the VS Code Markdown Preview. You can open the preview in either the current editor group (Markdown: Open Preview⇧⌘V (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+V)) or in a new editor group to the side (Markdown: Open Preview to the Side⌘K V (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K V)). You'll get nice formatting, hyperlink navigation to headers, and syntax highlighting in code blocks.
Syntax highlighting and bracket matching
Now expand the src folder and select the index.js file. You'll notice that VS Code has syntax highlighting for the various source code elements and, if you put the cursor on a parenthesis, the matching bracket is also selected.
IntelliSense
As you start typing in index.js, you'll see smart suggestions or completions.
After you select a suggestion and type ., you see the types and methods on the object through IntelliSense.
VS Code uses the TypeScript language service for its JavaScript code intelligence and it has a feature called Automatic Type Acquisition (ATA). ATA pulls down the npm Type Declaration files (*.d.ts) for the npm modules referenced in the package.json.
If you select a method, you'll also get parameter help:
Go to Definition, Peek definition
Through the TypeScript language service, VS Code can also provide type definition information in the editor through Go to Definition (F12) or Peek Definition (⌥F12 (Windows Alt+F12, Linux Ctrl+Shift+F10)). Put the cursor over the App, right click and select Peek Definition. A Peek window will open showing the App definition from App.js.
Press Escape to close the Peek window.
Hello World!
Let's update the sample application to 'Hello World!'. Create a new H1 header with 'Hello, world!' and replace the <App /> tag in ReactDOM.render with element.
Once you save the index.js file, the running instance of the server will update the web page and you'll see 'Hello World!' when you refresh your browser.
Tip: VS Code supports Auto Save, which by default saves your files after a delay. Check the Auto Save option in the File menu to turn on Auto Save or directly configure the files.autoSave user setting.
Debugging React
To debug the client side React code, we'll need to install the Debugger for Chrome extension.
Note: This tutorial assumes you have the Chrome browser installed. There are also debugger extensions for the Edge and Firefox browsers.
Open the Extensions view (⇧⌘X (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+X)) and type 'chrome' in the search box. You'll see several extensions which reference Chrome.
Press the Install button for Debugger for Chrome.
Set a breakpoint
To set a breakpoint in index.js, click on the gutter to the left of the line numbers. This will set a breakpoint which will be visible as a red circle.
Configure the Chrome debugger
We need to initially configure the debugger. To do so, go to the Run view (⇧⌘D (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+D)) and click create a launch.json file to customize Run and Debug. Choose Chrome from the Select Environment dropdown list. This will create a launch.json file in a new .vscode folder in your project which includes a configuration to launch the website.
We need to make one change for our example: change the port of the url from 8080 to 3000. Your launch.json should look like this:
Ensure that your development server is running (npm start). Then press F5 or the green arrow to launch the debugger and open a new browser instance. The source code where the breakpoint is set runs on startup before the debugger was attached, so we won't hit the breakpoint until we refresh the web page. Refresh the page and you should hit your breakpoint.
You can step through your source code (F10), inspect variables such as element, and see the call stack of the client side React application.
The Debugger for Chrome extension README has lots of information on other configurations, working with sourcemaps, and troubleshooting. You can review it directly within VS Code from the Extensions view by clicking on the extension item and opening the Details view.
Live editing and debugging
If you are using webpack together with your React app, you can have a more efficient workflow by taking advantage of webpack's HMR mechanism which enables you to have live editing and debugging directly from VS Code. You can learn more in this Live edit and debug your React apps directly from VS Code blog post and the webpack Hot Module Replacement documentation.
Linting
Linters analyze your source code and can warn you about potential problems before you run your application. The JavaScript language services included with VS Code has syntax error checking support by default, which you can see in action in the Problems panel (View > Problems⇧⌘M (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+M)).
Try making a small error in your React source code and you'll see a red squiggle and an error in the Problems panel.
Linters can provide more sophisticated analysis, enforcing coding conventions and detecting anti-patterns. A popular JavaScript linter is ESLint. ESLint, when combined with the ESLint VS Code extension, provides a great in-product linting experience.
First, install the ESLint command-line tool:
Then install the ESLint extension by going to the Extensions view and typing 'eslint'.
Once the ESLint extension is installed and VS Code reloaded, you'll want to create an ESLint configuration file, .eslintrc.js. You can create one using the extension's ESLint: Create ESLint configuration command from the Command Palette (⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P)).
The command will prompt you to answer a series of questions in the Terminal panel. Take the defaults, and it will create a .eslintrc.js file in your project root that looks something like this:
ESLint will now analyze open files and shows a warning in index.js about 'App' being defined but never used.
You can modify the ESLint rules in the .eslintrc.js file.
Let's add an error rule for extra semi-colons:
Now when you mistakenly have multiple semicolons on a line, you'll see an error (red squiggle) in the editor and error entry in the Problems panel.
Popular Starter Kits
In this tutorial, we used the create-react-app generator to create a simple React application. There are lots of great samples and starter kits available to help build your first React application.
VS Code React Sample
This is a sample React application used for a demo at the 2016 //Build conference. The sample creates a simple TODO application and includes the source code for a Node.js Express server. It also shows how to use the Babel ES6 transpiler and then use webpack to bundle the site assets.
TypeScript React
If you're curious about TypeScript and React, you can also create a TypeScript version of the create-react-app application by specifying that you want to use the TypeScript template:
See the details at Adding TypeScript on the Create React App site.
Angular
Angular is another popular web framework. If you'd like to see an example of Angular working with VS Code, check out the Chrome Debugging with Angular CLI recipe. It will walk you through creating an Angular application and configuring the launch.json file for the Debugger for Chrome extension.
Common questions
Download Vs Studio Code
Can I get IntelliSense within declarative JSX?
Yes. For example, if you open the create-react-app project's App.js file, you can see IntelliSense within the React JSX in the render() method.
The Microsoft Teams Toolkit enables you to create custom Teams apps directly within the Visual Studio Code environment. The toolkit guides you through the process and provides everything you need to build, debug, and launch your Teams app.
Installing the Teams Toolkit
The Microsoft Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code is available for download from the Visual Studio Marketplace or directly as an extension within Visual Studio Code.
Install Vs Code
Tip
After installation, you should see the Teams Toolkit in the Visual Studio Code activity bar. If not, right-click within the activity bar and select Microsoft Teams to pin the toolkit for easy access.
Using the toolkit
Set up a new Teams project
- Create a workspace/folder for your project in your local environment.
- In Visual Studio Code, select the Teams icon from the activity bar on the left side of the window.
- Select Open the Microsoft Teams Toolkit from the command menu.
- Select Create a new Teams app from the command menu.
- When prompted, enter the name of the workspace . This will be used as both the name of the folder where your project will reside, and the default name of your app.
- Press Enter and you will arrive at the Add capabilities screen configure the properties for your new app.
- Select the Finish button to complete the configuration process.
Import an existing Teams app project
- In Visual Studio Code, select the Teams icon from the activity bar on the left side of the window.
- Select Import app package from the command menu.
- Choose your existing Teams app package zip file.
- Choose the Select publishing package button. The configuration tab of the toolkit should now be populated with your app's details.
- In Visual Studio Code, select File -> Add Folder to Workspace to add your source code directory to the Visual Studio Code workspace.
Configure your app
At its core, the Teams app embraces three components:
- The Microsoft Teams client (web, desktop or mobile) where users interact with your app.
- A server that responds to requests for content that will be displayed in Teams, e.g., HTML tab content or a bot adaptive card .
- A Teams app package consisting of three files:
- The manifest.json
- A color icon for your app to display in the public or organization app catalog
- An outline icon for display on the Teams activity bar.
When an app is installed, the Teams client parses the manifest file to determine needed information like the name of your app and the URL where the services are located.
- To configure your app, navigate to the Microsoft Teams Toolkit tab in Visual Studio Code.
- Select Edit app package to view the App details page.
- Editing the fields in the App details page updates the contents of the manifest.json file that will ultimately ship as part of the app package. SeeApp Studio manifest editor
Package your app
Modifying the app details page, manifest, or .env files in your app's .publish folder will automatically generate your Development.zip file. You'll need to include two icons in that same folder.
Install and run your app locally
Run your app
Install and run your app locally
Refer to the *Build and Run content in your project homepage for detailed instructions on how to package and test your app. In general, you need to install your app's server, get it running, then setup a tunneling solution so that Teams can access content running from localhost.
Enable development from localhost
If you wish to debug your tab based app on localhost using HTTPS, you will need to tell your browser to trust the app being served from https://localhost. Navigate to https://localhost:3000/tab. If you see a warning indicating that the site isn't trusted, choose the option to proceed anyway. Your app should now be accessible from the Teams client.
Run your app in Teams
Prerequisites: Enable Teams developer preview mode
- Navigate to the activity bar on the left side of the Visual Studio Code window.
- Select the Run icon to display the Run and Debug view.
- You can also use the keyboard shortcut
Ctrl+Shift+D.