Have workspace.save and workspace.saveAs methods that return the URI

[karrtikr]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

Version: 1.77.0-insider (user setup)
Commit: 7f329fe
Date: 2023-03-29T09:56:00.839Z
Electron: 19.1.11
Chromium: 102.0.5005.196
Node.js: 16.14.2
V8: 10.2.154.26-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22518
Sandboxed: Yes

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Checkout the save() API here: https://code.visualstudio.com/api/references/vscode-api#TextDocument
2. Have an untitled file open, and attempt to save the document using the API
3. Textdocument.isClosed property is set to true

Also TextDocument.uri object is not updated to point to the updated saved URI. For Python extension it leads to issues like the following where wrong URI is sent to terminal, also notice that the file disappears:

[karrtikr]

Follow up question: how can one know the URI of the file after save?

[karrtikr]

Here's the workaround we're currently using:

const deferred = createDeferred<Uri>();
this.documentManager.onDidSaveTextDocument((e) => deferred.resolve(e.uri));
const commandManager = this.serviceContainer.get<ICommandManager>(ICommandManager);
await commandManager.executeCommand('workbench.action.files.save', file);
const savedFileUri = await deferred.promise;

[jrieken]

The uri of a document doesn't change and it is expected that saving an untitled documented emits a close event for it. There is unfortunately no easy way to know what the new uri is, using the save or open events is the best you have. To double-check you can compare the contents

[bpasero]

Related: #124117

We could still make this a bit easier on extensions and return a URI from a command such as workbench.action.files.save or workbench.action.files.saveAs. Would that be helping?

As for the underlying issue: code editor text models cannot change their model Uri. As such, we cannot transform an existing model from untitled to file URI. I still think it would be great to have though because there are other issues that originate from this limitation such as not being able to preserve the undo/redo buffer: #17977

[karrtikr]

That would be great.

As such, we cannot transform an existing model from untitled to file URI

Gotcha. Right now from a user's perspective TextDocument is able to update other properties such as isUntitled, isClosed but not the URI itself.

[karrtikr]

it is expected that saving an untitled documented emits a close event for it.

@jrieken Intiutively it feels like TextDocument.save should be the same as workbench.action.files.save, so I believe doc should be updated to add these nuances there:

Ideally, I would have expected it to return something like Uri | undefined instead of boolean to indicate the success.

[bpasero]

Btw, it is possible for a user to cancel the dialog to pick a save location for an untitled file, so you almost need 3 states (error, success, cancelled). But anyway, API changes like this are not in the cards and would require new methods.

I can see if the command can return the URI.

[karrtikr]

The APIs works perfectly for me 👍

[bpasero]

@karrtikr the saveEditor API is has now been finalised and will be available in stable for our January release early February.

[bpasero]

Verification:

• follow along Test: new proposed API to save an editor #180666 but without enabling or configuring proposed API