Golang and VSCode

My background

In the year 2016 I switched from Emacs to PyCharm.

In 2022 I learned Go, which is now part of my daily work at Syself.

Here are my notes which I wrote down while switching from an IntellJ based IDE to vscode.

Shortcuts

F2: refactor (rename Method)

ctrl-` --> show/hide terminal.

ctrl-space --> autocomplete (for example find the struct in a package and add the package name before the name) docs

Bookmark plugin: ctrl-alt-k (set bookmarks), ctrl-alt-j (jump to bookmarks, multiple times to jump to other bookmarks). You plan a short pair-programming session because you want to discuss some parts of the code? Be prepaired! Make bookmarks of the relevant parts of the code.

You want to open a file from the terminal: > code foo.go

"Show all commands": ctrl+shift+p

ctrl-. --> "Quick fix" (for example fill struct)

ctrl-shift-p "open recent" --> Open recent Workspace. This is better than "File > Open Recent" because it provides autocomplete. By default this is mappend to ctrl-r, but I use ctrl-r for "Terminal: Run Recent Command".

Jump from a method on an interface to the implementation: ctrl-F12 (or context-menu "Go to Implementations")

Command Palette

There is no need to remember keyboard shortcuts for things you don't need often.

Things I open via ctrl-shift-p:

File: Open Recent... (opens recent Workspace)
File: Reveal Cctive File in Explorer View
Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)
Toggle Line Comment (after selecting some lines)

Search and Replace in one file

ctrl-h and then enter the old and the new term.

And now I want to interactively replace some strings and some not without using the mouse.

Then it is important which text input field has the focus.

If the old-string has the input, ENTER will skip to the next match.

If the new-string has the input, then ENTER will change the current part in the file.

If you want to undo your change, you need to press ESC first.

Not perfect. If someone has a better solution, please let me know.

Searching in a sub-directory

If you select a directory in the tree-view, I see no easy way to search only in this sub-directory. Missing up to now. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75798947/vscode-search-in-sub-directory-only

Formatting

ctrl-s --> format and clean file. For example you get .../foo_test.go:24:2: imported and not used: "github.com/somerepo/somepkg" since you removed the usage of "somepkg", then you don't need to move up to the import statements. Just hit ctrl-s.

Tests

ctrl-shift-p "Go: Generate Unit Tests for File". But I don't use the table-driven test which vscode generates. I prefer boring straightforward tests, except I would have many rows in the table of the table-driven test. Related: table-driven tests are overrated

Coverage

The docs vscode-go coverage.

If you have created a cover.out file, then you just need to use Go: Toggle Test Coverage in Current Package.

Missing up to now: A way to see which files has the most uncovered lines. Question at Reddit

Navigation

"Go to file": ctrl+p

ctrl-e --> switch between recently used files. Good if you want to swith to the previous file quickly. Otherwise I prefer ctrl-p

ctrl-g --> goto line

alt-shift-CursorLeft/Right move to previous places

f4 --> goto next search result (for example after a search with ctrl-shift-f): Related https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75161780/go-to-first-match-of-ctrl-shift-f-search

go to beginning of a function: click on last element in breadcrumb-bar, then ENTER. Or use ctrl-shift-. ENTER to open breadcrumb bar.

"Go to Symbol in Workspace": ctrl-t. Not very useful, since it shows the symbols of all imported libraries. I usually don't find my code this way. A work-around is to use ctrl-shift-f ⎵Foo(, if you want to search for all methods called "Foo". Related: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75085670/vscode-symbol-search-but-only-in-my-code and golang/go#37236 and https://www.reddit.com/r/golang/comments/119r6ec/vscode_how_to_search_for_all_methods_called_foo/

After a search the searched term is still highlighted. I use ctrl-b to hide the panel on the left side, which removes the highlighting. Maybe there is an alternative solution?

Move Primary Side Bar Right

From time to time I use ctrl-b to hide the primary side bar, so that I have the full width for the code. With the default (Primary side bar on the left side), this make the code "jump" from the middle to the left side.

This feels uncomfortable. I would like to have the code on the same place on the screen (with or without primary side bar).

Git

I no longer use the GitLens plugin. The wanted me to buy their product again and again. I uninstalled it, and do not miss it.

Plugins

Go Official Plugin, provided by the Go team at Google.

YAML YAML Language Support by Red Hat, with built-in Kubernetes syntax support (uses prettier under the hood).

Highlight Files I want to see immediately if a file is outside my workspace. This plugin changes the color of the tab of a file. You add a badge to the tab, too. I use the camping unicode symbol: 🏕. Related StackOverflow question.

Peacock Subtly change the workspace color of your workspace. Ideal when you have multiple VS Code instances and you want to quickly identify which is which.

Partial Diff Compare selected lines with the clipboard (and other features).

Shellcheck a linter for Shell scripts.

Shell-format uses shfmt

settings.json

Colors

I like to highlight the current line a bit more:

    "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
        "editor.lineHighlightBackground": "#213211",
    },

But highlighting is gone, if there is a selection: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75582447/vscode-highlight-line-even-if-there-is-a-selection

ctrl-b (hide side bar) should work in terminal, too

Add this to your settings.json:

    "terminal.integrated.commandsToSkipShell": [
        "workbench.action.toggleSidebarVisibility"
    ]

Source: microsoft/vscode#117150 (comment)

Scrollback

    "terminal.integrated.scrollback": 10000,

The default of 1000 is not enough for some cases.

Docs: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/terminal/basics#_navigating-the-buffer

Sticky Scroll

Sticky Scroll needs to be enabled in the vscode settings. Don't ask me why this is not the default.

With this feature you see the function name in the preview window of search results.

Screenshot

gofumpt

I integrate gofumpt to vscode, since we check for gofumpt syntax in CI.

"gopls": {
    ....
 "formatting.gofumpt": true,
},

After enabling this, you just need to type ctrl-s and the file is formatted with gofumpt.

Golang-ci Lint

.golangci.yaml

I enable all, then disable some.

Additionally, I enable errcheck.

Gopls

Gopls is the Go language server which gets used by vscode, vim and most other editors.

    "gopls": {
        "importShortcut": "Definition"
    }

--> if you click on an import line (for example myname "github.com/foo/bar")) you get to the code of "foo/bar" in vscode. Don't open the browser. Related: Don't Open Imports in the Browser

Exclude vendor directory

If you use vendoring (I think it is better to not use it), then it is helpful to add **/vendor to `files.exclude in the settings.

Then ctrl+p (open path) ignore files in the vendor directory.

ripgrep in vscode

I want to use rg (ripgrep) in a vscode terminal, and the matches should be hyperlinks, so that I can easily jump to the corresponding line in the file.

in .bashrc:

if [[ "$TERM_PROGRAM" == 'vscode' ]]; then
  alias 'rg'='rg --no-heading --column --hidden'
fi

Then you get output like this:

foo/bar.go:33:7: ... your term

33 is the line number, and 7 is the column.

And foo/bar.go:33:7: is a hyperlink you can click.

find ... | xargs grep -n

To get hyperlinks to the found lines I use find ... | xargs grep -n. This way grep prints the line number behind the file name.

Custom Keybindings

In general I try to use the keybindings of vscode. Here are some keybindings which I configured.

ctrl-ö --> "Go: Test function at Cursor or Test Previous"

ctrl-r --> "Terminal: Run Recent Command". This is the same keybinding like searching backwards in the shell history :-) Example: run make test.

vscode-terminal: PageUp/PageDown. I want to use PageUp/PageDown in the terminal without holding down the Shift key. Changing that is easy using the interactive short-cut settings. Unfortunately it is not that easy in the gnome-terminal (See AskUbuntu).

vscode: Wrap long lines

Imagine your team mates like long lines, and you do not. You can wrap long lines.

I like this vsode setting:

    "editor.rulers": [
        100
    ],
    "editor.wordWrap": "bounded",
    "editor.wordWrapColumn": 100,
    "editor.wrappingIndent": "indent",

This shows a vertical ruler at 100. It wraps at 100, and it indents the wrapped line.

The code looks like having short lines, although they are long.

We tried automatical tools like golines, but this did not really work.

If you want to disable that, so that the lines does not get wrapped, use alt-z.

vscode: Wrap text

If you want to wrap text in a markdown file, the extension Rewrap Revived is helpful. It re-wraps the text of a paragraph.

vscode: Select until

I found no easy way to select multiple lines until a give string.

The Select Until extension solves this.

vscode: Tasks

Sometimes I need to run a sequence of commands for testing. For example:

reset; make generate &&  make test-unit-foo && make verify && git status

I could switch to the vscode terminal and execute that line. But a more convenient way is to create a Task.

You can re-run the last task with "Tasks: Rerun last Task".

vscode: Show uncommited changes

ctrl-shift-g (like "git") or View/SourceControl.

Support for Yaml/JSON: autocomplete

I am editing a file called golangci.yaml.

The editor vscode provides autocomplete. It somehow seems to understand the format.

Some for Kubernetes YAML files: Autocomplete and documentation via hover.

That's magic und very helpful.

Vscode uses json schema for this magic.

vsode: Search and Replace in one directory

If you want to search and replace (ctrl-h) only in one sub-directory, then it is handy to just start vscode for that directory:

code my-sub-dir

Of course you can use ctrl-h and then filter with "files to include", but if you are in the terminal and have the directory name near, you then starting a second vscode might be more convenient.

Terminal

Using the terminal of vscode has the benefit, that output containing filenames are hyperlinks which you use to "jump" to the correspondig file.

You can use ctrl-f to search in the text of the terminal.

If you run a command again and again, you might be only interested in the output of the last run of the command.

You can use the Linux shell command reset to clear the terminal before starting the command.

Example: reset; go test ./mydir

You can copy the content of the terminal via right-click "Select All", then right-click "Copy".

By default there is no short-cut to show the terminal in fullscreen mode. ctrl-j shows/hides the terminal, but does not toggle to fullscreen.

You can customize your keyboard shortcuts (ctrl-p "keyb..."), and then search for "max panel" (View: Toggle Maximized Panel) and set the short-cut ctrl-shift-j.

Mnemoric: "(j)ump" to the terminal.

Changing the tab width to 4 makes sense:

    "terminal.integrated.tabStopWidth": 4,

Make some noise

Sometimes I want to know when a long running command has finished. I have a small bash script which plays music via ogg123. I use it like this:

long-running-command; music

If I forget to start it like this this, then I use ctrl-z to halt the running process. Then I start the process aga in like this fg; music

Example:

❯ sleep 100
^Z
[1]+  Stopped                 sleep 100

❯ fg; music
sleep 100

Missing

From yaml to docs of GVK in vscode

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75085670/vscode-symbol-search-but-only-in-my-code

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75071292/vscode-move-go-code-type-function-to-other-file

https://www.reddit.com/r/vscode/comments/10e7aoj/middle_button_paste_on_linux_only_works_after/

https://www.reddit.com/r/vscode/comments/15w6ici/altshift_left_go_back_places_get_recorded_too_fast/

recently changed locations: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72648730/recent-locations-in-vscode-like-in-intellij

Nice color theme. Overall vscode is a bit too colorful.

Developing Go code means working with generated files in most cases. It would be great if vscode could display files which were generated with a different background color. Rule of thumb: If the file contains DO NOT EDIT, then the background color should be different. TODO: try to find a solution.

From method signature of an interface: Show all methods which implement this signature. At the moment clicking on the signature shows all places where this method gets used. But I am often looking for the list of implementations.

Floating windows (like detach terminal into a second window) is not possible. See #10121 Now my favorite setup (one display for the code, one display for the output of the tests) is not possible: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75592496/show-output-of-test-on-second-monitor

Unused variables are underlined with red color. This is confusing, since while you write code, it looks like there is an error. But there is no error, you just have not written the next line yet. I am happy that other agree see #2285.

Copy+Paste does not work in the git-diff view of deleted lines: microsoft/vscode#8226

I would like to have a better visual differentiation between my code and code from third party packages. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75181580/higlight-files-which-are-not-from-my-repository

Navigation in packages outside the current workspace does not work. I can open the Go file, but symbols which are outside the current file are not known. This means vscode underlines them with red color and ctrl-click does not work :-(

TODO

ctrl-t to open new browser tab. I don't like to keep a state in my head. I am very used to open a new browser tab with ctrl-t. It should work in vscode, too.
alt-shift-left/right for going to the previous locations is too far away. I need to move my pointer fingers away from F and J. Something I try to avoid.

My cursor is on the name of a method which implements an interface. I want to see the docstring of this method of the interface. How to get to navigate to the method signature of the interface?

Jump from method to corresponding interface which defines the methos signature: ctrl-shift-p "Find All Implementations", then F4 (jump to first match of the search result). In Goland you have icons near the line-numbers to jump up/down. This could be improved. Related: golang/go#56695