Extensions: Query UI State

[hoovercj]

Extensions need to be able to query the UI State. Is the sidebar open, which viewlet is visible, are there multiple editor columns, in the bottom section is the terminal, output, or problem viewer active, etc.

For example, I have a small Auto-Collapse Explorer extension that I'd like to publish that needs this functionality.

When the active editor changes, the extension collapses the explorer and then focuses the active editor.

This should only happen if:

• There is an active editor (already possible to check)
• The sidebar is open (not currently possible)
• The explorer widget is open in the sidebar (not currently possible)

As the sidebar opens up to more viewlets (different SCM views, extension provided viewlets, etc.) this will become even more useful to extension developers.

[hoovercj]

Are these values that would be appropriate for VS Code to store in the global or workspace state on the extension.context object? That would prevent the need for adding new API surface for what is effectively "state"

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