How to run multiple tasks in VS Code on build?

Question

Using tasks.json version 2.0.0, I have not been able to make it so that, when I build my application, multiple tasks are run at the same time. I'm using gulp for my SCSS compilation, and running my Compile/minify cms.scss task on its own works fine, so it's not a problem with the task itself, just VS Code's task runner. When I Run Build Task in VS Code, my gulp task is not being run, even though it has "group": "build" — only the dotnet one is.

tasks.json

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "build",
            "command": "dotnet",
            "type": "process",
            "args": [
                "build",
                "${workspaceFolder}/HpsCoreWeb.csproj"
            ],
            "problemMatcher": "$msCompile",
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            }
        },
        {
            "label": "Compile/minify cms.scss",
            "type": "gulp",
            "task": "cms.scss:cms.min.css",
            "problemMatcher": "$node-sass",
            "group": "build"
        }
    ]
}

According to the VS Code Tasks documentation:

group: Defines to which group the task belongs. In the example, it belongs to the test group. Tasks that belong to the test group can be executed by running Run Test Task from the Command Palette.

The dotnet build task is succeeding, so shouldn't the other task, which is also part of the build group, be run as well? What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

The problem is that "Run Test Task" and "Run Build Task" do not execute all tasks in that specific group. Usually you get a drop down selection so you can choose which task to execute. Since you have specified one of the tasks as default, the selection will be skipped and instead the default task is executed.

You can work around that by adding dependencies. Take the following example:

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "Echo 1",
            "command": "echo",
            "type": "shell",
            "args": [ "echo1" ],
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            },
            "dependsOn":["Echo 2"]
        },
        {
            "label": "Echo 2",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "echo",
            "args": [ "echo2" ],
            "group": "build"
        }
    ]
}

As Echo 1 depends on Echo 2, Echo 2 will be executed prior to executing Echo 1. Note that the definition is a list, so more than one task can be specified. In that case the tasks are executed in parallel.

In your case adding "dependsOn":["Compile/minify cms.scss"] to your main build task should execute both tasks.