Can task.dependsOn be used to depend on tasks in other projects

[SimonAlfie]

Hi All,

I have a multi root workspace with several projects in it. Each project has its own build task that calls an external script to do the build. One project requires all the others to be built prior to it's build as it is required to link against them. I will call this the "app" project from now on.

I have tried using the dependsOn in the app's tasks.json build config, but referencing the name of the external build tasks has no effect if a command is specified, and throws an error if no command is specified. e.g:

  {
      "label": "build-app",
      "group": "build",
      "dependsOn": [
          "devices"
           "app",
      ],
      "dependsOrder": "sequence",
      "problemMatcher": []
  }

Gives the error, even though the task 'devices' does exist and works in another tasks.json file:

Couldn't resolve dependent task 'devices' in workspace folder 'file:///home/simon/git-repos/workspace/app'

Now that suggests it is not searching outside the current workspace folder, so I tried creating a top level "workspace" tasks in the .code-workspace file and referencing the build tasks in there:

  {
      "label": "build-app",
      "group": "build",
      "dependsOn": [
          "devices"
           "app",
      ],
      "dependsOrder": "sequence",
      "problemMatcher": []
  }

This results in a similar error:

Couldn't resolve dependent task 'devices' in workspace folder 'file:///home/simon/git-repos/workspace/app.code-workspace'
Couldn't resolve dependent task 'app' in workspace folder 'file:///home/simon/git-repos/workspace/app.code-workspace'

Now that looks like the it is not searching outside the .code-workspace file.

I can with a little bit of trickery get it to work the way I want, but I have to specify all the tasks in the app/tasks.json file change directory and specify the problem matcher "relative path" for each task. e.g.:

    {
        "type": "shell",
        "label": "devices",
        "command": "cd ${workspaceFolder}/../devices && ./build.py",
        "problemMatcher": {
            "base": "$gcc",
            "fileLocation": ["relative", "${workspaceRoot}/../devices"]
        },
        "group": "build",
    },

That is all kind of OK, as I can now do what I want and create a build dependency but the task definitions are not in the correct place. They are all in the app/tasks.json not in each project's own tasks.json. It just seems like the logic is in the wrong place.

I checked the tasks.json Schema at https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/tasks-appendix to see if there were extra parameters you can set on the dependsOn entries, and there is not even a mention of dependsOn or dependsOrder.

Is there are way to configure the tasks in the individual project tasks.json files and reference them in the dependsOn of a task in another project or the top level workspace configuration?

Where can I find the full schema for the tasks.json file? Or the code that is used to read this file in?

Simon.

[sean-mcmanus]

I found a feature request at microsoft/vscode#106940 that got closed due to not enough upvotes, so it looks like it's not supported.

The discussion at microsoft/vscode-docs#2480 recommends not looking at the schema. There's some more info at https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/editor/tasks .

[SimonAlfie]

Thanks for the info Sean.

It is a shame that feature failed to get enough up votes.

I have been through the tasks documentation already, it is helpful, but obviously does not mention the features I needed because they don't exist. I see from microsoft/vscode-docs#2480 the schema is extended at run time by the installed extensions.

Anyway, I will continue with the clunky method I am using now, as it works for me. It means there are duplicates of the tasks in different projects, but so be it!

Thanks again,

Simon.

P.S. I realised I had posted this to the wrong project almost immediately after I submitted. It really should have gone on the the micorsoft/vscode project.