Support file-type-specific settings

[heaths]

In our project we have a number of files where tabs are strictly required (a format we do not control). However, we want to normalize tabs to spaces throughout the rest of the project.

For now, I just ask that people don't edit those files in VSCode. I even considered adding them to the ignore list for VSCode itself. But it's not uncommon to have file-specific settings, so I thought it would be nice if VSCode allowed for more complex patterns - much like files.exclude, perhaps something like:

"editor.insertSpaces": true,
"diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": true,
"files.settings": {
  "**/*.idt": {
    "editor.insertSpaces": false,
    "diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": false
  }
}

[bpasero]

👍

[SamVerschueren]

It's a nice idea but maybe It's a better idea to use an array instead of a map of globbing patterns. The order in which you specify the rules matter because what should be done in this case?

"files.settings": {
  "**/*.idt": {
    "editor.insertSpaces": false,
    "diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": false
  },
  "**/file.idt": {
    "editor.insertSpaces": true,
    "diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": true
  },
}

Maps don't keep their order so the result in this case is not known untill you test it. If **/*.idt is executed after **/file.idt, there is no way to specify other rules for file.idt.

When using an array, the order is kept and you know the outcome of the following settings.

"files.settings": [
  {
    "files": ["**/*.idt", "**/*.json"],
    "editor.insertSpaces": false,
    "diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": false
  },
  {
    "files": "**/index.idt",
    "editor.insertSpaces": true,
    "diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": true
  }
]

This way, you know for sure that index.idt will have the setting editor.insertSpaces: true.

We had a similar discussion in the XO linter for overridable configs. More information can be found here xojs/xo#58

[siegebell]

adding to @SamVerschueren's idea, the pattern should conform to a DocumentSelector, and the entries should be ranked by languages.match

[jessicah]

This would also help with editing patch files. Gets tiring accidentally bricking them because of the trailing space on empty lines :(

[calebmer]

Also nice for word wrapping in markdown or HTML files, but not code. A great improvement for developers who write a lot.

[sandy081]

Following is the proposal for introducing file (glob pattern) / language based editor settings.

Defining a new setting called workbench.editor.overrideSettings or workbench.overrideEditorSettings and its schema is as follows:

{
   "workbench.editor.showTabs": true
    "workbench.editor.overrideSettings": [
		{
			"files": [
				"**/*.idt",
				"**/*.json"
			],
			"editor.insertSpaces": false,
			"diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": false
		},
		{
			"files": "**/index.idt",
			"editor.insertSpaces": true,
			"diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": true
		},
		{
			"language": "markdown",
			"editor.wordWrap": 0
		}
	]
}

@Microsoft/vscode Please provide your feedback and suggestions.

Thanks

[SamVerschueren]

Looks good to me.

As a sidenote to everyone reading this topic, much of this already can be done with the EditorConfig plugin which in my opinion is a better alternative when working in teams. I agree, not everything is possible with EditorConfig, but if it's possible, then I suggest using that instead.

[bpasero]

Here is a little bit different suggestion (variant of yours):

{
   "workbench.editor.showTabs": true,
   "editor.overrides": [
   		{
   			"files": [
				"**/*.idt",
				"**/*.json"
			],
			"settings": {
				"editor.insertSpaces": false,
				"diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": false
			}
   		}
		{
			"files": "**/index.idt",
			"settings": {
				"editor.insertSpaces": true,
				"diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": true
			}
		},
		{
			"language": "markdown",
			"settings": {
				"editor.wordWrap": 0
			}
		}
	]
}

Difference:

• I call it editor.overrides because in most situations the settings would only apply when you open an editor with a specific file or language mode set and would not apply in other contexts
• I introduce an extra settings node to be able to distinguish the actual context the setting applies to (files or language) from the actual settings.

[rajinder-yadav]

With respect to configurable tab size and being able to specify filetype extension. I would suggest the following, it's pretty compact and flexible.

   // Don't need to specify the '.' before extension name.
   // Specify multiple extensions with '|' or separator.
   tabFileExtensions: {
    "cpp": "h|hpp|c|cpp|cc",
    "web": "js|html|css|ts"
   }

  "editor.tabSize": {
     "default": 4,
     "web": 2,
     "cpp": 3
   }

[wopian]

The current implementation looks more compact and doesn't sacrifice readability & ease of use. Users can simply copy & paste syntax settings straight into their settings.json.

"editor.tabSize": 4,
"[js,html,css,ts]": {
      "editor.tabSize": "2"
},
"[h,hpp,c,cpp,cc]": {
      "editor.tabSize": 3
}

Your implementation would require users to add the syntax settings into multiple areas of their settings.json

[sandy081]

Just to make sure that, as beginning and to be simple, we only support one language per entry. Multiple languages as a single key is not supported. So, one can write only as follows

"[js]": {
    "editor.tabSize": "2"
},
"[html]": {
   "editor.tabSize": "2"
}

[egamma]

Closing - the plan item is done.

[IgorNovozhilov]

@egamma, in which version this functionality available?

[sandy081]

@IgorNovozhilov Language based settings are available in current insiders. With respect to the issue you mentioned, I will take a look

[wopian]

@sandy081 any idea when the 1.9 insider might hit stable?

[fredrikaverpil]

@wopian here are the iteration plans: https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/wiki/Iteration-Plans

It says early February.

[sandy081]

@IgorNovozhilov There is a bug in the feature that following settings are not respected by language

editor.tabSize
editor.insertSpaces
editor.detectIndentation
editor.trimAutoWhitespace

Thanks for catching this scenario and reporting. I will be filing a separate issue to track this - #19511

[jonhoo]

@sandy081 it looks like it is not possible to set extension properties within a language-specific configuration block? For example, the following does not work:

    "[rust]": {
        "vim.textwidth": 100
    },

I also get the green underlining, with a warning saying "Unknown Identifier. Use language identifiers". I suspect this might be related to #19511, and perhaps also #4891?

[mjbvz]

@jonhoo I don't think extensions can contribute language specific settings at the moment. I've opened #26707 to track this

[sandy081]

@jonhoo Yes only core editor settings are supported in language-specific configuration block. Regarding warning, it is shown if there is no such language defined (in this case rust).

[cossio]

So how does this work in the end? I want to set word-wrapping for some filetypes. What do I do? Is this documented?

[cossio]

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/settings#_language-specific-editor-settings

[myfairsyer]

as beginning and to be simple, we only support one language per entry. Multiple languages as a single key is not supported.

So is later support of multiple langauges per key/entry something planned for the future?
Is there a seperate issue to track that?

[sandy081]

@myfairsyer Its not yet planned.. Feel free to file an issue for that. Thanks.