Testing a Visual Studio Code extension in Che

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) extensions work in a workspace. VS Code extensions can run in the Che-Theia editor container, or in their own isolated and preconfigured containers with their prerequisites.

This section describes how to test a VS Code extension in Che with workspaces and how to review the compatibility of VS Code extensions to check whether a specific API is available.

The extension-hosting sidecar container and the use of the extension in a devfile are optional.

Testing a VS Code extension using GitHub gist

Each workspace can have its own set of plug-ins. The list of plug-ins and the list of projects to clone are defined in the devfile.yaml file.

For example, to enable an AsciiDoc plug-in from the Eclipse Che dashboard, add the following snippet to the devfile:

components:
 - id: joaopinto/vscode-asciidoctor/latest
   type: chePlugin

To add a plug-in that is not in the default plug-in registry, build a custom plug-in registry. See Customizing the registries, or, alternatively, use GitHub and the gist service.

Prerequisites

A running instance of Che. To install an instance of Che, see Installing Che.
A GitHub account.

Procedure

Go to the gist webpage and create a README.md file with the following description: Try Bracket Pair Colorizer extension in Eclipse Che and content: Example VS Code extension. (Bracket Pair Colorizer is a popular VS Code extension.)
Click the Create secret gist button.

Clone the gist repository by using the URL from the navigation bar of the browser:

$ git clone https://gist.github.com/<your-github-username>/<gist-id>

Example of the output of the git clone command

git clone https://gist.github.com/benoitf/85c60c8c439177ac50141d527729b9d9 (1)
Cloning into '85c60c8c439177ac50141d527729b9d9'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 3, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (3/3), done.
remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), done.

1	Each gist has a unique ID.

Change the directory:
```
$ cd <gist-directory-name> (1)
```
1 Directory name matching the gist ID.
Download the plug-in from the VS Code marketplace or from its GitHub page, and store the plug-in file in the cloned directory.

Create a plugin.yaml file in the cloned directory to add the definition of this plug-in.

Example of the plugin.yaml file referencing the .vsix binary file extension

apiVersion: v2
publisher: CoenraadS
name: bracket-pair-colorizer
version: 1.0.61
type: VS Code extension
displayName: Bracket Pair Colorizer
title: Bracket Pair Colorizer
description: Bracket Pair Colorizer
icon: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redhat-developer/codeready-workspaces/master/dependencies/che-plugin-registry/resources/images/default.svg?sanitize=true
repository: https://github.com/CoenraadS/BracketPair
category: Language
firstPublicationDate: '2020-07-30'
spec:                                                             (1)
  extensions:
  - "{{REPOSITORY}}/CoenraadS.bracket-pair-colorizer-1.0.61.vsix" (2)
latestUpdateDate: "2020-07-30"

1	This extension requires a basic Node.js runtime, so it is not necessary to add a custom runtime image in `plugin.yaml`.
2	`{{REPOSITORY}}` is a macro for a pre-commit hook.

Define a memory limit and volumes:

spec:
  containers:
    - image: "quay.io/eclipse/che-sidecar-java:8-0cfbacb"
      name: vscode-java
      memoryLimit: "1500Mi"
      volumes:
      - mountPath: "/home/theia/.m2"
        name: m2

Create a devfile.yaml that references the plugin.yaml file:

apiVersion: 1.0.0
metadata:
  generateName: java-maven-
projects:
  -
    name: console-java-simple
    source:
      type: git
      location: "https://github.com/che-samples/console-java-simple.git"
      branch: java1.11
components:
  -
    type: chePlugin
    id: redhat/java11/latest
  -
    type: chePlugin (1)
    reference: "{{REPOSITORY}}/plugin.yaml"
  -
    type: dockerimage
    alias: maven
    image: quay.io/eclipse/che-java11-maven:nightly
    memoryLimit: 512Mi
    mountSources: true
    volumes:
      - name: m2
        containerPath: /home/user/.m2
commands:
  -
    name: maven build
    actions:
      -
        type: exec
        component: maven
        command: "mvn clean install"
        workdir: ${CHE_PROJECTS_ROOT}/console-java-simple
  -
    name: maven build and run
    actions:
      -
        type: exec
        component: maven
        command: "mvn clean install && java -jar ./target/*.jar"
        workdir: ${CHE_PROJECTS_ROOT}/console-java-simple

1	Any other devfile definition is also accepted. The important information in this devfile are the lines defining this external component. It means that an external reference defines the plug-in and not an ID, which pointing to a definition in the default plug-in registry.

Verify there are 4 files in the current Git directory:

$ ls -la
.git
CoenraadS.bracket-pair-colorizer-1.0.61.vsix
README.md
devfile.yaml
plugin.yaml

Before committing the files, add a pre-commit hook to update the {{REPOSITORY}} variable to the public external raw gist link:

Create a .git/hooks/pre-commit file with this content:

#!/bin/sh

# get modified files
FILES=$(git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter=ACMR "*.yaml" | sed 's| |\\ |g')

# exit fast if no files found
[ -z "$FILES" ] && exit 0

# grab remote origin
origin=$(git config --get remote.origin.url)
url="${origin}/raw"

# iterate on files and add the good prefix pattern
for FILE in ${FILES}; do
 sed -e "s#{{REPOSITORY}}#${url}#g" "${FILE}" > "${FILE}.back"
 mv "${FILE}.back" "${FILE}"
done

# Add back to staging
echo "$FILES" | xargs git add

exit 0

The hook replaces the {{REPOSITORY}} macro and adds the external raw link to the gist.

Make the script executable:
```
$ chmod u+x .git/hooks/pre-commit
```

Commit and push the files:

# Add files
$ git add *

# Commit
$ git commit -m "Initial Commit for the test of our extension"
[master 98dd370] Initial Commit for the test of our extension
 3 files changed, 61 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 CoenraadS.bracket-pair-colorizer-1.0.61.vsix
 create mode 100644 devfile.yaml
 create mode 100644 plugin.yaml

# and push the files to the main branch
$ git push origin

Visit the gist website and verify that all links have the correct public URL and do not contain any {{REPOSITORY}} variables. To reach the devfile:

$ echo "$(git config --get remote.origin.url)/raw/devfile.yaml"

or:

$ echo "https://<che-server>/#$(git config --get remote.origin.url)/raw/devfile.yaml"

Verifying the VS Code extension API compatibility level

Che-Theia does not fully support the VS Code extensions API. The vscode-theia-comparator is used to analyze the compatibility between the Che-Theia plug-in API and the VS Code extension API. This tool runs nightly, and the results are published on the vscode-theia-comparator GitHub page.

Prerequisites

Personal GitHub access token. See Creating a personal access token for the command line. A GitHub access token is required to increase the GitHub download limit for your IP address.

Procedure

To run the vscode-theia comparator manually:

Clone the vscode-theia-comparator repository, and build it using the yarn command.
Set the GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable to your token.
Execute the yarn run generate command to generate a report.
Open the out/status.html file to view the report.