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powerful_think1966
Inspiring
November 12, 2019
Answered

$ .writeln doesn't work in vscode(ESTK debugger)

  • November 12, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 3419 views

I am a macOS user and recently updated to Catalina.
I found late that I couldn't run ESTK in Catalina.

 

ExtendScript Debugger Extensions for Visual Studio Code
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Adobe.extendscript-debug

 

As a workaround I am using ESTK debugger in VS code.
But when I use $ .writeln there is no response.

 

Do you know how to return results to VSCode's debug console?
Please answer, Thanks.

    Correct answer erinferinferinf

    Oh no, I just noticed this when I searched for "ExtendScript Debugger" to find a particular thread.

     

    Back in October, someone else reported the same issue in this prerelease group. writeln started working the next day, mysteriously, so hopefully your issue is already solved.

     

    If not, and for future search results, here's something to try:

     

    Did you perhaps have multiple Visual Studio Code windows open? It is extremely important to note that the ESD Plugin can only be active in a single Visual Studio Code window by default. As a result I highly recommend using the following workflow when dealing with the current ESD Plugin:

    1. Open the Extensions pane in Visual Studio Code.
    2. In the Enabled section, locate the ExtendScript Debugger entry.
    3. Click the cog icon to open the options.
    4. Select Disable.
    5. In the Visual Studio Code window that you want to use for ExtendScript debugging, find the Disabled section of the Extensions pane.
    6. Locate the ExtendScript Debugger entry.
    7. Click the cog icon to open the options.
    8. Select Enable (Workspace).

    When you're done debugging, run through steps 1-4 again. This ensures that the ESD Plugin will only run in a single instance of Visual Studio Code, eliminating the issue wherein you have multiple instances fighting each other for access to the underlying communication layer used to talk to host apps.

     

    Read this thread for a very detailed critique of the ES Debugger plugin, in it's current state.

     

    If you find that the debugger really doesn't cover your use cases and you still need ExtendScript Toolkit, here are some options:

     

    - Create a partition on your Mac fo running Mojave
    - Bootcamp your mac & install Windows on a partition (ESTK works better on Windows)
    - Try https://www.macincloud.com/
    - Try a Windows VM
    - Parallels' Bootcamp: https://www.parallels.com
    - Wait for our ES Debugger to go open source
    - Upgrade a VM to run older MacOS versions

     

    Also if you've lost ExtendScript Toolkit in the upgrade and need to download it, you can find it in our CEP github resources repo here.

    3 replies

    A
    Antilooper
    Participant
    March 10, 2025

    add:
    $.level = 1;
    $.bp();
    $.writeln("hello, world!");

    run once, and the issue will be solved

      TᴀW
      TᴀW
      Legend
      July 13, 2023

      The issue still happens in July 2023.

      I found that I needed to close both VS Code and the parent app (InDesign in this case). Restarting both brought $.writeln() back...

      I think the reason is that I had ESTK open previously, so even though it was now closed, the debugger was possibly somehow rerouting $.writeln commands to ESTK...

      erinferinferinf
      Adobe Employee
      erinferinferinfCorrect answer
      Adobe Employee
      January 22, 2020

      Oh no, I just noticed this when I searched for "ExtendScript Debugger" to find a particular thread.

       

      Back in October, someone else reported the same issue in this prerelease group. writeln started working the next day, mysteriously, so hopefully your issue is already solved.

       

      If not, and for future search results, here's something to try:

       

      Did you perhaps have multiple Visual Studio Code windows open? It is extremely important to note that the ESD Plugin can only be active in a single Visual Studio Code window by default. As a result I highly recommend using the following workflow when dealing with the current ESD Plugin:

      1. Open the Extensions pane in Visual Studio Code.
      2. In the Enabled section, locate the ExtendScript Debugger entry.
      3. Click the cog icon to open the options.
      4. Select Disable.
      5. In the Visual Studio Code window that you want to use for ExtendScript debugging, find the Disabled section of the Extensions pane.
      6. Locate the ExtendScript Debugger entry.
      7. Click the cog icon to open the options.
      8. Select Enable (Workspace).

      When you're done debugging, run through steps 1-4 again. This ensures that the ESD Plugin will only run in a single instance of Visual Studio Code, eliminating the issue wherein you have multiple instances fighting each other for access to the underlying communication layer used to talk to host apps.

       

      Read this thread for a very detailed critique of the ES Debugger plugin, in it's current state.

       

      If you find that the debugger really doesn't cover your use cases and you still need ExtendScript Toolkit, here are some options:

       

      - Create a partition on your Mac fo running Mojave
      - Bootcamp your mac & install Windows on a partition (ESTK works better on Windows)
      - Try https://www.macincloud.com/
      - Try a Windows VM
      - Parallels' Bootcamp: https://www.parallels.com
      - Wait for our ES Debugger to go open source
      - Upgrade a VM to run older MacOS versions

       

      Also if you've lost ExtendScript Toolkit in the upgrade and need to download it, you can find it in our CEP github resources repo here.

        Marnida
        Marnida
        Known Participant
        November 30, 2021

        I encountered this issue on a PC a while back and the above steps worked. I recently encountered it on an M1 pro Macbook, but the above steps didn't work.

        I tried a bunch of things, including checking out previous git commits to see where it started, but that didn't work.

         

        Then I simply tried renaming the whole folder, running a script and presto, the console was bac. And so far it has stayed working, having re connected it in git. I don't have an explanation.

          lwangaman
          lwangaman
          Participating Frequently
          March 1, 2022

          I was just having this same problem, and I only had one instance of VSCode open. I simply closed VSCode and opened it again, and voilà `$.writeln` started working again.

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