[remote] Allow to open remote files through vscode://vscode-remote/

[phknot]

When clicking on link in the form of vscode://vscode-remote/wsl+distro/path/to/file/in/open/workspace my current VS Code window is closed, and the file is opened in another window.

Expected behaviour would be that the file opens in your already open VS Code instance that's connected to that remote. This is also how VS Code behaves when opening the same file via the command line: code --remote wsl+remote /path/to/file/in/open/workspace.

Opening the links in your existing session would be great for opening stacktrace links from the browser and going directly to the code.

[aeschli]

Currently, URL starting with vscode://vscode-remote/ can only open folders not files.

@dpatou Just pinged me with the same request

[aeschli]

For remote URIs we can't do a stat to find out if the URI is a file or a folder.

• When opening a vscode: uri we always treat it as folder unless it ends with .code-workspace, then it's a workspace
• On the command line, we have a heuristic:
  • it's a folder if it ends with a slash
  • it's a workspace if it ends with .code-workspace,
  • it's a file if the name contains a dot

@bpasero I think you originally added the vscode handler for remote URI. Should we use the same heuristic as for the command line (which also has it's weaknesses)? You might know if that can break existing usages.
Alternative is to add a query parameter ?fileURI=true. If we add such a parameter we should also support it on the command line.

[bpasero]

@aeschli this code is used to support "Open in Desktop" from codespaces, so I am not sure we can do a change that risks breaking this flow. After all, repository names can possibly include ".".

[dpatou]

Alternative is to add a query parameter ?fileURI=true. If we add such a parameter we should also support it on the command line.

This seems to be the most reliable, and kinda "fixes" the current caveats of the command line in file/workspace/folder detection.

@bpasero does the open in desktop feature of codespace supports opening a given file/line-in-file (I haven't been able to access codespace yet) ?

[bpasero]

No, the idea is only to open workspaces/folders.

[aeschli]

I suggest we allow the :line:column syntax for the vscode protocol and use it to detect that the URI is a file uri.

In fact it's already works for local files, e.g. vscode-oss://file/home/martin/foo.txt:10 will open foo.txt at line 10

[aeschli]

With the pushed change, it is now possible to open remote files.

To indicate that a remote URL is a file, not a folder, the path needs to be followed by :linenumber[:column].

[aeschli]

To verify on WSL (or on any other remote)

• run the Devloper: Open URL command
• vscode://vscode-remote/wsl+distro/path/to/file:1:1 should open file

[dbaeumer]

Doesn't work for me. I am use the following URL

vscode://vscode-remote/wsl+Ubuntu-20.04/home/dirkb/tmp/package.json:1:1

And the file clearly exist on my file system

[aeschli]

Ok, my bad, but when using insiders, it's vscode-insiders://vscode-remote/wsl+distro/path/to/file:1:1

[chrisdias]

I tested the following and all seemed to work properly, opening the file (only) at the appropriate line/column. The last option opened the folder as expected.

• vscode-insiders://vscode-remote/wsl+Ubuntu/home/chrisdias/src/myexpressapp/app.js:1:1
• vscode-insiders://vscode-remote/wsl+Ubuntu/home/chrisdias/src/myexpressapp/app.js:1:20
• vscode-insiders://vscode-remote/wsl+Ubuntu/home/chrisdias/src/myexpressapp/app.js:20:1
• vscode-insiders://vscode-remote/wsl+Ubuntu/home/chrisdias/src/myexpressapp

If I provided the wrong path, a new unsaved file named app.js was opened.

• vscode-insiders://vscode-remote/wsl+Ubuntu/home/BLAH/src/myexpressapp/app.js:20:1

What I can't see, and don't know if its supported, is how to open the folder and the file at the same time, such that the myexpressapp workspace is opened, with app.js opened on a particular line/column.

[TylerLeonhardt]

Moving out to May and reopening so @chrisdias's comment doesn't get lost but @aeschli please do what you want with this issue.

[chrisdias]

to be clear - the files opened in the existing instance of Insiders. opening the folder resulted in a reload of the current instance.

[aeschli]

Through the vscode/'vscode-insiders' protocol handler, we only support opening one resource a time. I believe that's how a protocol handler typically works.
This feature request was just also allow opening a remote file, not only a remote folder.

@chrisdias Can you file a new feature request with your your use case?