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Insert key doesn't switch to overtype/overwrite mode #1012
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Please fix this! Incidentally, overtype-mode is an open issue in Atom, too: atom/atom#3023 Reproduced in:
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I aggre! For some very special use cases, passing in overtype mode can be very useful (for example to create a padded table in ascii mode). |
For example, It would be useful when editing a markdown table. |
I am really missing this while working with markdown tables inside vscode. Also for (now and then) editing fixed width ascii files. Would this be possible with a plugin? |
As it turns out, this can be done with an extension. So I did it! I put it together pretty quickly, so it could probably use some shakedown time before a 1.0 release. |
+1 I was shocked to discover that Windows Notepad and MS Word don't support this either. I had assumed that this feature was standard across every text editor. @AdamMaras have you considered making a PR against VS Code? |
@pgonzal I have not, I haven't taken the time to get familiar with the contribution guidelines. Also, since the extension's been installed by a handful of people and I'm getting some feedback, I think I'd like to iterate on it a bit more before proposing adding its behavior directly to Code. |
Bump, its so strange its not built into VSCode. |
+1 can't live without this feature.. editing docblocks, etc. |
Thankfully there is a plugin to tide us over in the meantime: |
I think this would be a good candidate for an iteration 'Extension Contribution'/integration directed towards improving VsCodeVim integration, while also being useful for others who do not use the extension. The current R replace mode in VsCodeVim is rather slow. The extension mentioned above is also quite slow. As mentioned replace/overtype mode is very useful when editing already aligned tables and definitions, especially in block selection mode. Without this I find myself fighting with alignment plugins fixing alignment multiple times when editing a table row. I currently use a combination of 'Virtual edit' past the end of the line would also be nice but is more niche. |
It is perplexing that this is not in VS Code. Would the VS Code team tell us why? Is it a design choice?? |
Any updates on this? I would also really like this feature. |
I was surprised this standard editor feature is missing in VS Code. |
Even Windows brought back Never Combine Buttons, just saying... |
Asking if this would be easy is not "righteous indignation", but one of the reasons for issue comments to exist in the first place. A user of the software is always going to have a really long uphill battle to implement anything because he's not going to know the internal structure of the program, or even the language it's done on. And the tragedy is that the developers may end up rejecting the contribution when it's done based on any lunacy that crosses their minds. The real issue here is not overtype but the fact that this code editor is missing some very basic, standard and key features that for some reason people have been asking for years, and years, and even more years, and are only finding "righteous ignoration". It's becoming clearer with the years that VScode had some good design decisions in the design stage that allowed for some good features like being able to colorize code of different languages on different parts of the files and the automation and plug-in capabilities, but looks like it got fatal flaws too that make very difficult or impossible to fix the missing features people need (like Virtual Space, proper column selection etc). Yes, this program is "free" and you don't have to get any rights on "free" software, but that is a very narrow view of reality. Reality is that this program is being done by a big corporation that spends a lot on making sure everyone uses their software, and many people are being FORCED to use it by the policies of the company they work at. It's not like this is being done by voluntaries at home giving their time for free. There's telemetry so you can be sure Microsoft is getting their money back in some way or another. Asking for insert mode in a code editor, column selection, or being able to move the cursor over empty parts of the file so you can edit with normality the values of an array of write aligned comments is not righteous indignation, it's people being baflled at what pretends to be a proper code editor that looks like it wasn't initially designed for programming. |
Not so easy. Fix normally should be done right in the Chromium browser (even not a fix, it will be a whole new feature), then ported into Electron framework, then VS Code should adopt new Electron version and enable functionality. Can you please do it? |
I am considering it. So you think this is an issue with Chromium, not with VS Code? |
Yes, maybe issue starts in the Chromium. Because Chromium does not support overwrite mode in its HTML edit. UPDATE: I have found that few comments above it was mentioned that VS Code uses something called "Monaco" as its text editor and it is likely not a HTML editing control under the hood. Nevertheless, that thing also doesn't support overwrite mode. |
It's just the opposite. Monaco is done by using the code FROM VS Code, as you can see in this issue about virtual space that gets closed and people directed to the VSCode issue: microsoft/monaco-editor#919 For Monaco to support text insert mode it has to be added in VSCode just as with virtual space. |
Note: There are extensions that provide this functionality now. Their approach might be useful. |
Related on Stack Overflow: Is there a cursor overwrite/overtype mode in VS Code? (sorry for the ping everyone. I have a habit of backlinking related SO posts so that if anyone in the issue ticket has useful info about how to work around the problem that's not already covered in the SO Q&A, they can go there and add it (though usually I also try to read through all the comments to write up a summary answer post there, which I have done in this case). have a nice day) |
I waiting this feature too |
Now since 9 years this feature is requested and ignored by the developers. |
This feature should be part of VS Code and not require any extension. It's true, though, that it's rarely used by developers, and there are a few workarounds that don't require too much effort. Nevertheless, it is needed. |
@javierparty "It's true, though, that it's rarely used by developers," ... Speak for yourself only! I probably toggle between insert and overtype almost a hundred times a day (or more) while I'm working. Not everyone has the same style of working with an editor! If we did, then there would actually be one great editor instead of many very good ones, each fitted to a different editing style. But regardless, this fundamental feature should never have been excluded in the first place and should be fixed ASAP. |
@nurbles, I exactly do not speak for my self, why should I. When I say developers, I mean in general. It is not about you, nor about me (I do need this feature actually). You are one of the few rare cases, I would dare to say, that need this in a regular basis. If this was indeed a feature that was statistically used by the majority of developers, it would surly have been addressed at an earlier stage of development at VS Code. So, when I say developers, I do not mean you, nor do I mean each developer, but rather a general majority. For something to happen, it has to be a general matter, not about the need of one person. So I do not speak for myself in this case. But I may be wrong. Even if I do not think so. :-) |
You could have left out the |
This may indeed be a feature that is not expected by the majority of developers (it is by me), but - from my experience - I would say, that it's not necessarily the real reason for it not being addressed. |
To be honest I'm baffled to read something like this. You don't really seem to edit many tables or initialize much data in arrays, right? You don't work with vectors or paste code that does similar operations with different variables and just type over the name of the variables? I use this for so many things that it would have never occurred to me that someone would think this is a niche feature. This has been available since at least the 1970s in an innumerable amount of text and code editors... Even text processors have this mode for typing. The fact that it's not included in VSCode doesn't mean it's a niche feature. Just see virtual space, rectancular selections and many more... |
We wouldn’t have this argument if this not-so-uncommon feature exist already.
Where’s a moderator / community manager when you need one.
📠
It beats me too how VSCode has multiple cursors and every feature one expect from a modern text editor except overtype mode. I’m also waiting for tabular CSV editing (#145092). That thread saw one reply in two days and went silent ever since. |
As age old as the Linux Vim versus Emacs versus Nano, and I used to be pretty decent with Vim back in the day, no attachment there, no horse in the race necessarily. Nowadays I just appreciate modern day "now taken for granted features". Like the insert versus overtype. |
This is a 14 years old video talking about overtype in Microsoft Word, of all things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3xC655rJP8 To be honest I think I can't even remember a code editor, ever, that didn't have this feature. |
Hi! When editing space fixed text that's necessary!! now i'm counting the spaces I have to insert, really bad. |
That is now officially available with the hex editor (which previously only had replace), so let's hope it will come to code editors as well. |
9 years later -- overwrite mode is well overdue. Amazingly, this is generally one of the very first features implemented in every editor, and many times is a standard part of the toolkit the editor is written using. Here is to eternal hope - and hoping eternal can be shortened a bit... |
You know you're failing as a developer when MS Notepad has functionality that your editor has been lacking for nearly a decade after it was requested. But hey, there's still hope: Wrike took over five years to implement dark mode (even though they created a new color scheme or layout overhaul every few months) after the request, so it's not impossible that overtype will eventually be a thing in VS Code. |
Took me about two days since first time trying VSC to hit this one. At least now I have idea how often I use it, I thought I'm using it like once per month or so... sigh ... This is common feature of PCs and text editors, probably older than me (ie. 1970s or earlier). What's going to be removed next, Page up/down keys? Oh, hey mac air users, hello! Nothing to see here, proceed further... /s |
There's a difference... it is not removed, it is never implemented in VS Code. |
Would have agreed with you but it looks like it's also not very well tested on macOS (see #219893 ) |
The insert key has been a standard feature of Windows text boxes since the 90s. You have to take effort to not support it. For example, every textbook in every WPF application I've ever wrote has it enabled by default. I didn't do anything, it just works. So yea, saying it was "removed" is a fair criticism. |
VS Code text editor is not standard Windows text box. It is rather custom HTML-based view/edit control from Chromium browser, on which Electron framework is based, on which VS Code is built. Completely custom thing. Moreover, VS Code is crossplatform. For example, I often use it on Linux. So reference to Windows functionality is not completely correct. |
Insert key should switch between insert and overtype modes but it does not.
Version 0.10.3
Commit 783ecf8
Date 2015-11-26T14:10:14.207Z
Shell 0.34.1
Renderer 45.0.2454.85
Node 4.1.1
Ubuntu 14.04
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