Arcade/JS testing in VS Code: How to run simple scripts?

[Bud]

When writing Arcade scripts, I think it would be helpful to do testing in an IDE beforehand, if the script doesn't use any Arcade-specific functions (or if it does, temporarily remove/fake out those parts). 

For example, define a polyline array manually...

var paths = [[[0,5,null],[10,10, null],[30,0, null],[50,10, null],[60,10, null]]]

...loop through the vertices, do some stuff, and output results as text.

So, I want to use VS code to do that testing...by running the Arcade expression as if it were JavaScript . I know Arcade isn't  the same thing as JS, but I think it's close enough for the testing I want to do.

Question:

Has anyone had any success running basic JS scripts in VS Code? That might be a dumb question, but I really have no idea where to start.
Unlike Python, it doesn't seem like you can just  type some JS like  console.log('Hello World');  and then run the code to output some text.

I tried searching the web and I got a bunch of results about node.js -- which I have installed. Unfortunately, I still can't figure out how run a basic script, such as print "Hello World".

Would someone be able to point me in the right direction?
Thanks.

[DavidPike]

Not exactly what you mean but may be helpful if you've not come across it Playground | ArcGIS Arcade | ArcGIS Developer

[Luke_Pinner · Accepted solution]

With node.js installed, in VS Code either open the folder containing your .js file (File -> Open Folder...) or open your .js file directly (File -> Open File...)

• with the folder open - click Run->Add Configuration... pick node.js, close the launch.json file then select your .js script in the sidebar to open it in the editor and Ctrl-F5 (or Run -> Run Without Debugging) to run.
• with the file open, Ctrl-F5 to run, pick node.js.

The advantage of opening the folder rather than the file is that you save your run config and don't have to set it up every time.

[Bud]

Yes! That worked!

I used the folder option you mentioned.

Thanks!


Related: Idea: Arcade Extension for Visual Studio Code