Actually, in VS IDE, there is a default node js project template that Microsoft provided.
You only have to install the workload Node.js development on the vs_installer so that you can use that template.
I think you should create such project template which follows the rule of VS IDE with node.js. And then migrate your old project's content into this new project.
Note: in this project, there is no such easy way to start several js files at the same time unless you nest nested js methods in the starting js file. And other types of projects do the same.
If you want to debug other js files, you only need to right-click on the file on the Solution Explorer. Every time switch like this, you can debug other js files.
You do not have to use npm start in this way and just click Debug to debug the project.
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Actually, in VS IDE, there is a default node js project template that Microsoft provided.
You only have to install the workload Node.js development on the vs_installer so that you can use that template.
I think you should create such project template which follows the rule of VS IDE with node.js. And then migrate your old project's content into this new project.
Note: in this project, there is no such easy way to start several js files at the same time unless you nest nested js methods in the starting js file. And other types of projects do the same.
If you want to debug other js files, you only need to right-click on the file on the Solution Explorer. Every time switch like this, you can debug other js files.
You do not have to use npm start in this way and just click Debug to debug the project.
I am not sure about Visual studio, but you can debug on Visual Studio Code. you can debug from run menu.
I used to write C++ / C# in Visual Studio back in the mid-2000s, and decided to open up a Node project in Visual Studio Community just for kicks and giggles.
Just from a moment's glance at the interface, it seems like it might be a solid experience. I know it's not as popular as VS Code (which I'm also a fan of), but it definitely seems to be an option.
Anyone here try it out and can compare to other IDEs (i.e., WebStorm, etc.)?
There was a question posted to the Microsoft Developer Community forums that also addresses this question. Quote:
Thank you for reporting this feedback. The NodeJS workload doesn’t install the Node Runtime and NPM on it’s own. The install you mentioned in the Visual Studio folder is used internally for Visual Studio operations. You would need to install the runtime you want to use separately, which would be picked up by NodeJS workload and corresponding apps.
In response to your question:
Must I install NodeJS again or should I use the version installed by Visual Studio?
Yes - so while it seems a whole separate copy of Node.js and npm is installed under C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Professional\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\NodeJs when you install Visual Studio (with the Node.js workload), you are meant to install the regular version of Node.js and npm from https://nodejs.org/ and use that in your day-to-day development activities, which is what I've been doing (except with VS2022) and have not encountered any conflicts so far.
Edit: IF you do encounter conflicts with installed Node.js or npm versions, there is a way to resolve them, by changing the order of precedance of paths that VS uses. Go to 'Tools -> Options -> CTRL+E: "External Web Tools"' and you should see this:
Move the $(PATH) entry up or down depending on which version should take priority.
You can check if NodeJS is installed or not using the node -v and check if npm package manager is installed using npm -v. If you find that NodeJS is not installed, then download the NodeJS from here.