microsoft / microsoft/vscode-java-debug

Provide a pseudoterminal for the running/debugging console

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ai-triaged enhancement feature request terminal
Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
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Forks
429
Avg merge
1d 9h
Merged PRs (30d)
19

Description

The current default when running or debugging Java programs is to launch it in the integrated terminal, using a generated command that usually gets quite verbose. By setting java.debug.settings.console to internalConsole, users can get more clean output of their program, but the problem is that VS Code doesn't support user input from the debug console.

Therefore, it would be nice if the extension provided the option to launch a pseudoterminal for the program when running or debugging, which only shows the output of the program, and accepts user input. I think this is a much better user experience for most people, since the output of the program is what's important, not the full command used to launch it. Of course, that information may still be useful to some, and for debugging purposes, which is why I think the pseudoterminal should be just another option in java.debug.settings.console. Perhaps the pseudoterminal could be the default option, like in the Eclipse IDE:
eclipse-console

I believe implementing this should be possible using the Pseudoterminal interface by passing ExtensionTerminalOptions to vscode.window.createTerminal. Then it should just be a matter of launching the java program in the background, and redirecting it's stdin/stdout to the pseudoterminal. I would have a go at implementing it myself if I had time, but unfortunately I'm quite busy with other projects right now. If anyone has time to work on this, it would be a really nice feature to have - I've heard multiple people who want a less verbose console but who also need support for stdin.

Come to think of it, you may also be able to use createTerminal with TerminalOptions instead, but without experimenting I can't quite tell whether or not it will be able to achieve the same result as a pseudoterminal. The advantage would be that it's a little easier to implement. I'm thinking it might be possible to use the JRE path for shellPath, put the JVM and program arguments in shellArgs, and then use cwd instead of generating a cd command.

Current Result

"java.debug.settings.console": "integratedTerminal"
current-console

"java.debug.settings.console": "internalConsole"
debug-console

Expected Result

"java.debug.settings.console": "pseudoTerminal"
expected-console

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 locating the handling for java.debug.settings.console and the run/debug console launch path. Read the VS Code Pseudoterminal, ExtensionTerminalOptions, and TerminalOptions APIs referenced in the issue. Done means a pseudoTerminal option launches the Java program with clean output while accepting stdin for both running and debugging.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java, typescript, vscode
Domain
developer-experience, devtools
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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