Comment-based help is not shown in intellisense

[chriskuech]

Issue Type: Bug

1. Create a module in %PSMODULEPATH%.
2. Export a function from the module with some parameters.
3. Insert a comment-based help snippet and populate the fields.
4. Import the module in a different script.
5. Notice that tab completion works with the exported function, but no help synopsis/description is shown when hovering over the function call.

Extension version: 2019.5.0
VS Code version: Code 1.42.1 (c47d83b293181d9be64f27ff093689e8e7aed054, 2020-02-11T14:45:59.656Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.18363

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz (8 x 3592)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled flash_3d: enabled flash_stage3d: enabled flash_stage3d_baseline: enabled gpu_compositing: enabled metal: disabled_off multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on oop_rasterization: disabled_off protected_video_decode: unavailable_off rasterization: enabled skia_renderer: disabled_off surface_control: disabled_off surface_synchronization: enabled_on video_decode: enabled viz_display_compositor: enabled_on viz_hit_test_surface_layer: disabled_off webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled
Load (avg)	undefined
Memory (System)	15.91GB (2.95GB free)
Process Argv	.
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

[rjmholt]

Getting comment-based help directly from PowerShell source is not currently supported (and I'm not sure any other experiences support it either). Instead, we pick up module help from external help files, which you can generate from comment-based help with platyPS.

PowerShell itself doesn't do anything special to surface comment-based help, and it isn't recorded in a script AST. Instead, to support this, we would need to do extra work to sift through the tokens of a script file. Given this, I'll mark this feature request as up for grabs for now while we wait to see if others also want this feature.

Wasn't aware PowerShell handled this. See @SeeminglyScience's comment below.

[SeeminglyScience]

@chriskuech works for me, can you post a simple repro? Remember to restart the session after adding the CBH as help content is cached per session.

Also if restarting the session doesn't work, check that your CBH is inside the function. e.g.

function Test-Function {
    <# cbh #>
    param()
}

instead of

<# cbh #>
function Test-Function {
    param()
}

Not sure if it still matters, but there was a point where FunctionDefinitionAst.GetHelpContent() (which I believe is what Get-Help) would only work if the CBH was inside the function definition.

[staspk]

Yeah, neither version works for me either, in 2024. Even with the Powershell extension.

[JustinGrote]

@staspk works for me.

Note you actually have to load the function into your current session to get it.

[staspk]

It has never worked for me. I'm not 100% sure what "has to be loaded into the current session" means, but it does seem to be in the session, implied (I assume) by the intellisense tooltip showing the function name when hovering. Without Microsoft's Powershell extension, VsCode doesn't even do that.

By the way, I've tried moving the comments into the function as you do in your example, and a plethora of other variations, in comment and function syntax. Multiple sessions, over this last half year, I've attempted to get this to work (this functionality works basically out-of-the-box for me in every other language). In the beginning, I assumed it's some stupid error on my part. I'm now convinced it's most likely a bug in the environment/runtime itself, judging by the amount of people complaining they can't get this to work online, without resolution.

If you have any other ideas on how to fix this, would love to hear them! Is there perhaps some specific message in the output window after an extension host restart to look for?

[JustinGrote]

It means the comment-based help won't show until Get-Help Get-Test shows it, which means you have to actually have it loaded into the PowerShell Extension terminal session by dot sourcing the script or just cut-pasting it in.

If you can see the help in Get-Help your-command in the PowerShell Extension terminal (not any pwsh terminal, that one specifically) but the hover still doesn't work for you, then we can investigate.