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Launch a subset of Compose services

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If you have an application that consists of multiple services and uses Docker Compose, you can configure which services run and debug by creating or editing an existing launch profile in Docker Compose launch settings. Launch profiles allow you to dynamically run only the services that matter to your current scenario. You can create and select from launch profiles in order to customize your debugging experience and set specific launch actions such as Browser Launch URL. You will also have the option of either choosing each service individually or by choosing a Docker Compose profile, which also looks at your Compose file to determine the group of services to run.

For information about Docker Compose profiles, see Using profiles with Compose.

Prerequisites

Manage launch settings

Consider the following Docker Compose project in which the docker-compose.yml has five services and three Compose profiles (web, web1 and web2).

version: '3.9'

services:
  webapplication1:
    image: ${DOCKER_REGISTRY-}webapplication1
    profiles: [web, web1]
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: WebApplication1/Dockerfile

  webapplication2:
    image: ${DOCKER_REGISTRY-}webapplication2
    profiles: [web, web2]
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: WebApplication2/Dockerfile

  webapplication3:
    image: ${DOCKER_REGISTRY-}webapplication3
    profiles: [web]
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: WebApplication3/Dockerfile

  external1:
    image: redis

  external2:
    image: redis

There are a few options to open the Docker Compose launch settings dialog:

  • In Visual Studio, choose Debug > Manage Docker Compose Launch Settings:

    Screenshot of Debug Manage Compose Settings menu item

    Screenshot of Debug Manage Compose Settings menu item

  • Right-click on the Visual Studio docker-compose project and select Manage Docker Compose Launch Settings

    Screenshot of the context menu item

    Screenshot of the context menu item

  • Use the Quick Launch (Ctrl+Q) and search for Docker Compose to find the same command.

In the example below, the web1 Compose profile is selected, which filters the Services list to only the three out of five included in that profile:

"Screenshot of launch settings dialog box"

Note

The Docker Compose profiles section only appears if there are profiles defined in your docker-compose.yml files.

The next example demonstrates selecting between individual services instead of filtering to the services in a Compose profile. Here, we show how the dialog would look if you created a new launch profile named test2 that only starts two out of the five services, webapplication1 with debugging and webapplication2 without debugging. This launch profile also launches a browser when the application starts and opens it to the home page of webapplication1.

Screenshot of launch settings dialog with some services deselected

And this information will be saved in launchSettings.json as shown below

{
    "profiles": {
      "test2": {
        "commandName": "DockerCompose",
        "composeLaunchServiceName": "webapplication1",
        "serviceActions": {
          "external1": "DoNotStart",
          "external2": "DoNotStart",
          "webapplication1": "StartDebugging",
          "webapplication2": "StartWithoutDebugging",
          "webapplication3": "DoNotStart"
        },
        "composeLaunchAction": "LaunchBrowser",
        "commandVersion": "1.0",
        "composeLaunchUrl": "{Scheme}://localhost:{ServicePort}"
      }
   }
}

Create a launch profile that uses a Docker Compose profile

You can also further customize launch behaviors by creating Visual Studio launch profiles that make use of the Compose profiles.

To create another profile that makes use of the Compose profile, select Use Docker Compose profiles and choose web1. Now the launch profile includes three services – webapplication1 (which belongs to both web and web1 Compose profiles), external1 and external2. By default, the services without source code such as external1 and external2 have the default action of Start without debugging. .NET applications with source code will default to Start debugging.

Important

If a service doesn't specify a Compose profile, it will be included in all Compose profiles implicitly.

Screenshot of launch settings dialog with another profile created

This information will be saved as shown in the following code. The configuration for the service and its default action are not saved unless you change the default action.

{
  "profiles": {
    "test1": {
      "commandName": "DockerCompose",
      "composeProfile": {
         "includes": [
            "web1"
         ]
      },
      "commandVersion": "1.0"
    }
  }
}

You can also change the action of webapplication1 to Start without debugging. The settings in launchSettings.json then look like the following code:

{
  "profiles": {
    "test1": {
        "commandName": "DockerCompose",
        "composeProfile": {
          "includes": [
              "web1"
              ],
          "serviceActions": {
              "webapplication1": "StartWithoutDebugging"
          }
        },
    "commandVersion": "1.0"
    }
  }
}

Properties

Here is a description of each property in the launchSettings.json:

Property Description
commandName Name of the command. Defaults to "DockerCompose"
commandVersion Version number used to manage the schema of the DockerCompose launch profile.
composeProfile Parent property that defines the launch profile definition. Its child properties are includes and serviceActions
composeProfile - includes List of the Compose profile names that make up a launch profile.
composeProfile - serviceActions Lists the selected Compose profiles, services, and the launch action of each service
serviceActions Lists the selected services and the launch action.
composeLaunchAction Specifies the launch action to perform on F5 or Ctrl+F5. Allowed values are None, LaunchBrowser, and LaunchWCFTestClient.
composeLaunchUrl The URL to use when launching the browser. Valid replacement tokens are "{ServiceIPAddress}", "{ServicePort}", and "{Scheme}". For example: {Scheme}://{ServiceIPAddress}:{ServicePort}
composeLaunchServiceName Specifies the service used for replacing the tokens in composeLaunchUrl.

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