fix layout when secondary sidebar is set to maximized - close empty editor area when hiding side bar / panel

[sandy081]

No description provided.

[vs-code-engineering]

📬 CODENOTIFY

The following users are being notified based on files changed in this PR:

@bpasero

Matched files:

• src/vs/workbench/browser/layout.ts

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Updates workbench layout behavior so that when the secondary sidebar (auxiliary bar) is configured to open maximized, the UI can collapse the otherwise-empty editor area when editors are closed and other parts are hidden.

Changes:

• Adds a restoreMaximizedAuxiliaryBar helper that re-maximizes the auxiliary bar when there are no visible editors and both sidebar and panel are hidden.
• Hooks the restore logic into editor visibility changes and general part-visibility change events.
• Introduces an auxiliaryBarOpensMaximized() helper to detect when the auxiliary bar should open maximized based on configuration.

[Copilot]

auxiliaryBarOpensMaximized() only checks for workbench.secondarySideBar.defaultVisibility === 'maximized', but the setting also supports 'maximizedInWorkspace' (and there is also workbench.secondarySideBar.restoreMaximized). As written, the new restore path won’t trigger for 'maximizedInWorkspace' in non-empty workspaces, which looks inconsistent with applyOverrides() (layout.ts:2971-2981). Consider aligning the condition with the existing override logic, including WorkbenchState handling.

Suggested change

	return this.configurationService.getValue(WorkbenchLayoutSettings.AUXILIARYBAR_DEFAULT_VISIBILITY) === 'maximized';
	const visibility = this.configurationService.getValue<string>(WorkbenchLayoutSettings.AUXILIARYBAR_DEFAULT_VISIBILITY);
	if (visibility === 'maximized') {
	return true;
	}
	if (visibility === 'maximizedInWorkspace') {
	const workbenchState = this.contextService.getWorkbenchState();
	if (workbenchState === WorkbenchState.FOLDER || workbenchState === WorkbenchState.WORKSPACE) {
	return true;
	}
	}
	return false;

[Copilot]

The comment says this listener is for “sidebar or panel visibility changes”, but onDidChangePartVisibility is a void event fired for any part visibility change (see layout.ts:159-1630). Either update the comment to match reality, or gate the restore logic so it only runs when sidebar/panel hidden state actually changed (e.g., track previous values).

Suggested change

	// Restore maximized auxiliary bar when sidebar or panel visibility changes
	// Restore maximized auxiliary bar when any part visibility changes

[bpasero]

@sandy081 thanks for jumping onto this, I wanted to look into it myself. Seeing your change makes me wonder if it uses the right condition for whether to restore the 2nd sidebar as maximised (see also the Copilot comments): rather than probing on the setting, wouldn't it make more sense to restore maximised state simply if the 2nd sidebar was maximised before? In other words:

• lets say, 2nd sidebar is maximised (e.g. the user did this, or it opened maximised after startup), we store this state in the runtime layout info
• an editor, or sidebar or panel opens, so 2nd sidebar restores, but not because the user wanted to restore
• now when editor becomes empty, or sidebar/panel hides, we should go back to maximised mode

Arguably the same applies for the panel, but I would say we can leave todays behaviour there.

[bpasero]

@sandy081 I am pushing a change to make your logic dependent on a new experimental setting workbench.secondarySideBar.forceMaximized which I will be setting for the agent sessions window. I think its a bit risky to read it otherwise from our existing setting because the behaviour might need more polish. PR: #290236