Make 'download' in file explorer an API

[xisui-MSFT]

There's a 'download' button in the file explorer when connecting vscode to remote:

Currently to download a file from remote in an extension, a file server is needed on the remote. Making this download button an API would greatly simply such work in extensions.

[bpasero]

I would think that vscode.fs covers this + maybe some other API we have to produce a external URI.

[jrieken]

Not that I understand the issue. Are you an UI extension and want to download files? Did you try the vscode.workspace.fs API for that? It should allow you to fetch a file

[xisui-MSFT]

Yes we want to download a file in the UI extension. So workspace.fs.readFile + writeFile work in this case? Does the download button do the same thing, and would this method have any impact on the performance of vscode?

[jrieken]

Does the download button do the same thing, and would this method have any impact on the performance of vscode?

More or less yes. For best performance use the fs.copy function

[jrieken]

closing as question since we have everything that's needed here