vsc-extension-quickstart.md

Welcome to your first VS Code Extension

What's in the folder

• This folder contains all of the files necessary for your extension
• package.json - this is the manifest file in which you declare your extension and command. This plugin registers a command and defines its title and command name. With this information VS Code can show the command in the command palette. It doesn’t yet need to load the plugin.
• src/extension.ts - this is the main file where you will provide the implementation of your command. The file exports one function, activate, which is called the very first time your extension is activated (in this case by detecting a markdown file). Inside the activate function we call registerCommand. We pass the function containing the implementation of the command as the second parameter to registerCommand.
• src/interface.ts - typescript interface definition
• src/word-counter.ts and src/word-counter-controller.ts are responsible for counting words in markdown file.
• src/markdown.ts - render markdown to html
• src/smtp-config.ts - store smtp config retrieved from the internet. If you want to support a new email service provider, you have to find their smtp config and store it into this file.
• src/email.ts - send email

Get up and running straight away

• run npm install to install dependencies
• press F5 to open a new window with your extension loaded
• open a markdown file
• config your email account and email setting according to Extension Settings
• run your command from the command palette by pressing (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P on Mac) and typing Send My Email
• set breakpoints in your code inside src/extension.ts to debug your extension
• find output from your extension in the debug console

Make changes

• you can relaunch the extension from the debug toolbar after changing code in src/extension.ts
• you can also reload (Ctrl+R or Cmd+R on Mac) the VS Code window with your extension to load your changes

Explore the API

• you can open the full set of our API when you open the file node_modules/vscode/vscode.d.ts

Packaging Extensions

You may want to simply package extensions without getting them from the store. Extensions will always be packaged into a .vsix file. Here's how:

• Install vsce:

  Make sure you have Node.js installed. Then simply run:

  npm install -g vsce
  

• Package

  If you haven't run npm install, you should run it first to install dependencies.

  Then, you are ready to package this extension.

  vsce package
  

  This will package this extension into a .vsix file and place it in the current directory. It's possible to install .vsix files into Visual Studio Code. See Installing Extensions for more details.