VSCodeVim / VSCodeVim/Vim

Add support for when clause in commands

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#2,030 4 comments 48 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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kind/feature upstream/vscode
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

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FEATURE REQUEST:

Support "when" in custom binding commands. This will allow one to create toggle commands that do different things based on the state of the editor.

For example:

"vim.otherModesKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
        {
            "before": ["-"],
            "commands": [
                {
                    "command": "workbench.files.action.focusFilesExplorer",
                    "when": "editorFocus",
                    "args": []
                },
                {
                    "command": "workbench.action.toggleSidebarVisibility",
                    "when": "explorerViewletFocus",
                    "args": []
                }
            ]
        }
    ]

Pressing - while focused on an editor, shows and sets focus to the file explorer. Pressing - in the file explorer, closes the explorer sidebar and sets you back into the editor.

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

Start by tracing how VSCodeVim parses and executes custom binding commands, using the example configuration as the behavioral reference. Verify that command entries can be selected by their when conditions, then test the toggle behavior in both editor focus and file explorer focus.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript, vscode
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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