How to auto run a dotnet command when opening a so

Question

I am interested to run dotnet watch test when opening a solution with my unit tests in visual studio 2017. Is there a way to run that just after the solution is open without doing it manually?

Answer 1

Visual Studio Task Runner can run any arbitrary CMD command when a project/solution is opened.

Prerequisites: Command Task Runner extention.

1. Add Foo.cmd with a target command to your project having dotnet watch package installed. It could have one line of code:

   dotnet watch run
   

Make sure the file is properly encoded to UTF-8 without BOM.

2. After Command Task Runner extention install, Add to Task Runner option should be accessible from context menu of *.cmd files. Press it and choose per-project level. As a result, commands.json should appear in the project.

3. Go to VS View -> Other Windows -> Task Runner Explorer. Set up the binding for the Foo command in the context menu: Bindings -> Project Open (the window refresh could help to see a recently added command).

4. Re-open the solution and check a command execution result in Task Runner Explorer.

How it could look: