PowerShell / PowerShell/vscode-powershell

Adding an attribute to a variable prevents its appearance in the Outline

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Area-UI Issue-Bug
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Description

Prerequisites
  • I have written a descriptive issue title.
  • I have searched all issues to ensure it has not already been reported.
  • I have read the troubleshooting guide.
  • I am sure this issue is with the extension itself and does not reproduce in a standalone PowerShell instance.
  • I have verified that I am using the latest version of Visual Studio Code and the PowerShell extension.
  • If this is a security issue, I have read the security issue reporting guidance.
Summary

When adding an attribute to a variable (in this case System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessageAttribute, but the outcome is the same for other attributes such as ValidateSetAttribute), the variable will no longer appear the the 'Outline' panel.

Take this script for example:

$MyVariable = 'foobar'

The variable MyVariable appears in the 'Outline' panel. Now, add an attribute to it. In this case, I added the System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessageAttribute attribute to disable the PSUserDeclaredVarsMoreThanAssignments warning from not using the variable in the current script.

[Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessageAttribute('PSUserDeclaredVarsMoreThanAssignments', '')]
$MyVariable = 'foobar'

The script works correctly, and the attribute correctly disables the warning, but the variable no longer appears in the 'Outline' panel.

PowerShell Version
Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.2.2
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.2.2
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.19043
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0
Visual Studio Code Version
1.66.1
8dfae7a5cd50421d10cd99cb873990460525a898
x64
Extension Version
ms-vscode.powershell@2021.12.0
Steps to Reproduce
  1. Create a variable in the top-level scope. (It appears in the Outline.)
  2. Add an attribute to it. (It no longer appears in the Outline)
Visuals

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Logs

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Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Reproduce the issue with the two PowerShell examples and trace how the extension produces Outline symbols for top-level variables, comparing the unannotated and attributed forms. Done when an attributed variable appears in the Outline panel without changing the script's behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
powershell, typescript, vscode
Domain
developer-experience, tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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