Custom dictionaries defined in cspell.json do not show up in drop-down to add words.

[adam-grant-hendry]

I'm not sure if this is by design or an accident, but I cannot add customDictionaries to a cspell.json. It is only available within a settings.json when using VSCode.

Per the docs:

The spell checker configuration can be controlled via VS Code preferences or cspell.json configuration file.

Order of precedence:

Workspace Folder cspell.json
Workspace Folder .vscode/cspell.json
VS Code Preferences cSpell section.

Hence, the cspell.json overrides the VSCode settings.json settings. Thus, I can't see my right-click drop-down of custom dictionaries. In addition to taking it out, I have tried simply leaving the customDictionaries property in regardless of the error. In both cases, the right-click context menu dropdown does not show the custom dictionaries.

This makes things a little cumbersome when trying to sync settings with other developers who don't use VSCode.

System Info

OS: Windows 10, x64-bit
cSpell: v2.2.5
VSCode: 1.68.1

Project Directory Layout

myproj/
├─.cspell/
│ ├─acronyms.txt
│ ├─authors.txt
│ └─python-packages.txt
├─.gitignore
├─.vscode/
│ └─settings.json
├─cspell.json
├─.pre-commit-config.yaml
└─myproj/
  ├─__init__.py
  └─main.py

settings.json

{
    "cSpell.useGitignore": true,
    "cSpell.allowCompoundWords": true,
    "cSpell.diagnosticLevel": "Error",
    "cSpell.dictionaries": [
        "python",
        "wordsEn",
        "companies",
        "softwareTerms",
        "medical terms",
        "scientific-terms-us",
        "acronyms",
        "authors",
        "python-packages"
    ],
    "cSpell.ignorePaths": [
        "*.dll",
        "*.html",
        "*.css",
        "*.json",
        "*.git/**",
        "**/build/**",
        ".venv/",
        "*.bat"
    ],
    "cSpell.ignoreRegExpList": [
        "Email"
    ],
    "cSpell.includeRegExpList": [
        "comments",
        "docstring",
        "string",
        "imports"
    ],
    "cSpell.patterns": [
        {
            "name": "comment-single-line",
            "pattern": "/#.*/"
        },
        {
            "name": "comment-multi-line",
            "pattern": "/(?:\\/\\*[\\s\\S]*?\\*\\/)/g"
        },
        {
            "name": "comments",
            "pattern": ["comments-single-line", "comments-multiline"]
        },
        {
            "name": "docstring",
            "pattern": "/([\"]{3}|[']{3})[^\\1]*?\\1/g"
        },
        {
            "name": "single-line-imports",
            "pattern": "import\\s*.*\".*?\""
        },
        {
            "name": "multi-line-imports",
            "pattern": "import\\s*\\((.|[\r\n])*?\\)"
        },
        {
            "name": "imports",
            "pattern": ["single-line-imports", "multi-line-imports"]
        }
    ],
    "cSpell.customDictionaries": {
        "acronyms": {
            "name": "acronyms",
            "path": "${workspaceFolder}/.cspell/acronyms.txt",
            "description": "Acronyms used in this project",
            "addWords": true
        },
        "python-packages": {
            "name": "python-packages",
            "path": "${workspaceFolder}/.cspell/python-packages.txt",
            "description": "Names of python packages used in this project",
            "addWords": true
        },
        "authors": {
            "name": "authors",
            "path": "${workspaceFolder}/.cspell/authors.txt",
            "description": "Names of authors contributing to this project",
            "addWords": true
        }
    }
}

cspell.json

{
    "allowCompoundWords": true,
    "customDictionaries": {
        "acronyms": {
            "name": "acronyms",
            "path": "${workspaceFolder}/.cspell/acronyms.txt",
            "description": "Acronyms used in this project",
            "addWords": true
        },
        "python-packages": {
            "name": "python-packages",
            "path": "${workspaceFolder}/.cspell/python-packages.txt",
            "description": "Names of python packages used in this project",
            "addWords": true
        },
        "authors": {
            "name": "authors",
            "path": "${workspaceFolder}/.cspell/authors.txt",
            "description": "Names of authors contributing to this project",
            "addWords": true
        }
    },
    "dictionaries": [
        "python",
        "python-common",
        "wordsEn",
        "companies",
        "softwareTerms",
        "medical terms",
        "scientific-terms-us",
        "acronyms",
        "authors",
        "python-packages"
    ],
    "dictionaryDefinitions": [
        {
            "name": "acronyms",
            "path": "./.cspell/acronyms.txt"
        },
        {
            "name": "python-packages",
            "path": "./.cspell/python-packages.txt"
        },
        {
            "name": "authors",
            "path": "./.cspell/authors.txt"
        }
    ],
    "flagWords": [
        "hte"
    ],
    "ignorePaths": [
        "*.dll",
        "*.html",
        "*.css",
        "*.json",
        "*.git/**",
        "**/build/**",
        ".venv/",
        "*.bat"
    ],
    "ignoreRegExpList": [
        "Email"
    ],
    "includeRegExpList": [
        "comments",
        "docstring",
        "string",
        "imports"
    ],
    "patterns": [
        {
            "name": "comment-single-line",
            "pattern": "/#.*/"
        },
        {
            "name": "comment-multi-line",
            "pattern": "/(?:\\/\\*[\\s\\S]*?\\*\\/)/g"
        },
        {
            "name": "comments",
            "pattern": [
                "comments-single-line",
                "comments-multiline"
            ]
        },
        {
            "name": "docstring",
            "pattern": "/([\"]{3}|[']{3})[^\\1]*?\\1/g"
        },
        {
            "name": "single-line-imports",
            "pattern": "import\\s*.*\".*?\""
        },
        {
            "name": "multi-line-imports",
            "pattern": "import\\s*\\((.|[\r\n])*?\\)"
        },
        {
            "name": "imports",
            "pattern": [
                "single-line-imports",
                "multi-line-imports"
            ]
        }
    ],
    "useGitignore": true,
    "version": "0.2"
}

cspell.json Removed (settings.json Alone)

Both cspell.json and settings.json

[adam-grant-hendry]

@Jason3S It appears from looking at your cSpell.json that one can use the properties addWords and scope within dictionaryDefinitions.

Would you mind updating the documentation to reflect this?

[adam-grant-hendry]

@Jason3S I also wanted to say thank you for this extension!

As a recommendation, it would be very helpful to users if your examples showed how to use ALL configuration settings in each file format that is supported in a single example section at the end of the documentation.

e.g., the cspell.json section is rather sparse

cspell.json

// cSpell Settings
{
    // Version of the setting file.  Always 0.2
    "version": "0.2",
    // language - current active spelling language
    "language": "en",
    // words - list of words to be always considered correct
    "words": [
        "mkdirp",
        "tsmerge",
        "githubusercontent",
        "streetsidesoftware",
        "vsmarketplacebadge",
        "visualstudio"
    ],
    // flagWords - list of words to be always considered incorrect
    // This is useful for offensive words and common spelling errors.
    // For example "hte" should be "the"
    "flagWords": [
        "hte"
    ]
}

the VSCode settings.json section has a bit more

settings.json

    //-------- Code Spell Checker Configuration --------
    // The Language local to use when spell checking. "en", "en-US" and "en-GB" are currently supported by default.
    "cSpell.language": "en",

    // Controls the maximum number of spelling errors per document.
    "cSpell.maxNumberOfProblems": 100,

    // Controls the number of suggestions shown.
    "cSpell.numSuggestions": 8,

    // The minimum length of a word before checking it against a dictionary.
    "cSpell.minWordLength": 4,

    // Specify file types to spell check.
    "cSpell.enabledLanguageIds": [
        "csharp",
        "go",
        "javascript",
        "javascriptreact",
        "markdown",
        "php",
        "plaintext",
        "typescript",
        "typescriptreact",
        "yml"
    ],

    // Enable / Disable the spell checker.
    "cSpell.enabled": true,

    // Display the spell checker status on the status bar.
    "cSpell.showStatus": true,

    // Words to add to dictionary for a workspace.
    "cSpell.words": [],

    // Enable / Disable compound words like 'errormessage'
    "cSpell.allowCompoundWords": false,

    // Words to be ignored and not suggested.
    "cSpell.ignoreWords": ["behaviour"],

    // User words to add to dictionary.  Should only be in the user settings.
    "cSpell.userWords": [],

    // Specify paths/files to ignore.
    "cSpell.ignorePaths": [
        "node_modules",        // this will ignore anything the node_modules directory
        "**/node_modules",     // the same for this one
        "**/node_modules/**",  // the same for this one
        "node_modules/**",     // Doesn't currently work due to how the current working directory is determined.
        "vscode-extension",    //
        ".git",                // Ignore the .git directory
        "*.dll",               // Ignore all .dll files.
        "**/*.dll"             // Ignore all .dll files
    ],

    // flagWords - list of words to be always considered incorrect
    // This is useful for offensive words and common spelling errors.
    // For example "hte" should be "the"`
    "cSpell.flagWords": ["hte"],

    // Set the delay before spell checking the document. Default is 50.
    "cSpell.spellCheckDelayMs": 50,

but neither demonstrates how to use all the available options.

[Jason3S]

@adam-grant-hendry,

As you figured out, adding addWords to your cspell.json file will tell the extension to show the dictionaries.

I'll take a look at making addWords optional, since sharing configuration is common.

customDictionaries is really only a VS Code settings value. It doesn't hurt anything to have it in a cspell.json file, but it isn't used by the cspell library. On the other hand, it is used by the VS Code Spell Checker Extension.

customDictionaries was added because VS Code does not support merging settings if they are an array, making defining a User level dictionary and a Workspace level dictionary impossible.

[adam-grant-hendry]

@Jason3S What about “scope”. Will that also be optional?

Regardless, can you please add both of these to your documentation because they are not there.

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