VSCode can't launch haxe

[RedHairHead]

I have the following configuration files:

build.hxml

-cp src
-D analyzer-optimize
-main Main
--interp

task.json

{
	"version": "2.0.0",
	"tasks": [
		{
			"label": "Broken",
			"command": "haxe",
			"args": [
				"build.hxml"
			],
			"group": "build"
		},
		{
			"label": "Working",
			"command": "haxe.cmd",
			"args": [
				"build.hxml"
			],
			"group": "build"
		},
	]
}

As you can see, the two tasks differ only in that the first calls command haxe, and the second command haxe.cmd.
When second task works, first produces an error:

> Executing task: C:\npm\haxe build.hxml <

The terminal process command 'C:\npm\haxe build.hxml' failed to launch (exit code: {2})

Not sure, but it's possible that this only reproduced on Windows 10, because I don’t remember that I came across this on Windows 7 (now there is no way to check).

And one more important point. A broken task will work without errors if haxe is installed on the system through a standard installer, but the installed version of the compiler is executed, and not the one specified in .haxerc.

Version: 1.42.1 (user setup)
Commit: c47d83b293181d9be64f27ff093689e8e7aed054
Date: 2020-02-11T14:45:59.656Z
Electron: 6.1.6
Chrome: 76.0.3809.146
Node.js: 12.4.0
V8: 7.6.303.31-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.18362

[Gama11]

Is there a reason you use custom tasks, rather than those auto-generated by vshaxe? Together with the Lix VSCode extension, that should work fine.

[RedHairHead]

@Gama11 It's funny what exactly you ask about it because I started using tasks in this way when I saw something similar in your repository.
https://github.com/Gama11/HaxeRepro/blob/c4061a64456c1f2a994dbcdd43e169339e37cf97/.vscode/tasks.json

It seems to me very convenient that for each goal its own task is used and each of them can be configured as you like without changing the .hxml file.

[Gama11]

Have a look at the settings.json in that repo. If you do it that way, the tasks will still be generated by vshaxe.

[RedHairHead]

Sorry for the noobs questions. I still can’t understand why the usual way to start tasks does not work, but I downloaded HaxeRepro and tried to figure out what to do. As I understand it, I have to choose a configuration using >Haxe: Select Configuration, and then run >Tasks: Run Build Task. This works, but I also get an error when starting the debugger:

PreLaunchTask 'HL / JIT (debug)' exited with exit code {1}.

This appears not only for HL, but for all targets. Although, if click Debug Anyway, debugging works. This is normal?

[Gama11]

That only works as long as you already compiled HL successfully before.

I'm not sure what's wrong with with your tasks, I was just wondering why you were doing it that way to begin with. Are you using a local or a global lix setup?

[RedHairHead]

I am successfully compiling HL. The error occurs when preLaunchTask passes any arguments to the compiler. I use this because it works with a typical haxe installation. This is convenient because I can describe the general arguments of the compiler in the hxml file, and the specific ones for each targets in the tasks. But when using Lix, I can have only one default task ("active configuration"), others just do not work. Lix setup local, but this does not affect anything in this case.

[Gama11]

If you have a local lix setup, you probably want to be calling Haxe through npx haxe - so in your VSCode task, that would be command: "npx", and haxe as the first argument.

I am successfully compiling HL

With a VSCode task? Or on the command line?

[RedHairHead]

The error occurs even when I use the global setup. Running Haxe from the command line works. But running through a task (with the same arguments) doesn`t work.

With a VSCode task?

Tasks don't work (except for the active configuration task). And since a task is called in the debugger configuration("preLaunchTask": "HL/JIT (debug)"), this also causes an error.
As a result, I cannot create my own tasks and cannot specify tasks in the debugger configuration.

[Gama11]

Have you tried with npx haxe?

[RedHairHead]

I tried it. Same error.
The terminal process command 'C:\Program Files\nodejs\npx haxe build.hxml --interp' failed to launch (exit code: {2})

[RedHairHead]

I tried to do the same on my old laptop with Windows 7. And it works without errors! Apparently the problem is in VSCode on Windows 10. Sadness.

[RedHairHead]

Since the tasks still work, if I call haxe.cmd, the question is, does haxe.exe do something that haxe.cmd doesn't, or can I use it safely?

[Gama11]

The terminal process command 'C:\Program Files\nodejs\npx haxe build.hxml --interp' failed to launch (exit code: {2})

Hm, I can reproduce that too, not sure why that's happening...

[Gama11]

Ah, you need "type": "shell". Makes sense, cmd files can't be launched as a process... (npx is a cmd file too)

[Gama11]

Something is still off though, VSCode docs claim that that should already be the default value, in which case explicitly specifying it shouldn't make a difference:

[RedHairHead]

Hmm, really weird, but it solves the problem. It is not clear why the error cannot be reproduced if you install Haxe using the installer. But such a solution is enough for me. Thanks!

[Gama11]

Well, with the regular Haxe installer there's no haxe.cmd, just a haxe.exe.

[Gama11]

I think everything other than that "default value" hint in VSCode is clear now (opened an issue for that: microsoft/vscode#91553), so I'll close.