C# output channel steals editor focus

[seraku24]

Environment data

dotnet --info output:

.NET Core SDK (reflecting any global.json):
 Version:   2.1.500
 Commit:    b68b931422

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Windows
 OS Version:  10.0.17134
 OS Platform: Windows
 RID:         win10-x64
 Base Path:   C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.1.500\

Host (useful for support):
  Version: 2.1.6
  Commit:  3f4f8eebd8

.NET Core SDKs installed:
  2.1.202 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  2.1.500 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

.NET Core runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.6 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.6 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.0.9 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.6 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]

To install additional .NET Core runtimes or SDKs:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet-download

VS Code version: 1.29.1 (x64)
C# Extension version: 1.17.1

Steps to reproduce

1. Start with the C# extension freshly installed (i.e. without any of the packages downloaded or installed)
2. Create a new C# file (e.g. hello.cs)
3. Begin typing in the editor

Expected behavior

Editor keeps focus while the C# extension downloads and installs packages.

Actual behavior

The C# output channel steals focus from the editor.

[akshita31]

@seraku24 Currently this is by design, because we want to bring to the customers notice that the dependencies for the C# extension is downloading, otherwise it would not be clear why intellisense takes a while to come up after you update.

[seraku24]

While I do appreciate the desire to keep users well-informed; at the end of the day, it must never be "by design" to steal focus from a user.

If it is not possible to preserve editor focus while showing the output panel, then it would seem an output channel is the wrong choice for surfacing this type of important information. A notification would be far more appropriate, as it is modeless and does not steal focus. For users that do wish to see the download/installation process, the notification ideally would provide an option to open the output channel for more details.

[rchande]

@seraku24 That's good feedback, thank you. I imagine there are a few possible improvements:

• show the channel in a way that doesn't steal focus (not sure if APIs allow this)
• provide a notification to allow interested users to focus the channel, as you suggested
• something else, perhaps show the output less often

We'll come up with a better design.