What's New submodule

This submodule is used to display a What's New page on VS Code extensions. It has a simple (but yet effective) UI, optimized to display all the information in a single page.

Usage

Adding

You just need to add a submodule reference to your Git repo

    git submodule add https://github.com/alefragnani/vscode-whats-new.git

Coding

This submodule is based on a Provider pattern (similar to some pieces of VS Code), and you need to implement at least the ContentProvider in order to display the main content of the page, like the Header (logo and message) and Changelog.

There are other two providers available, for specific contents:

• SocialMediaProvider": Add links to your social medias
• SponsorProvider: Add references (logos and messages) to your sponsors.

// provide the data
import { ChangeLogItem, 
         ChangeLogKind, 
         ContentProvider, 
         SocialMediaProvider, 
         SponsorProvider, 
         Header, 
         Image
} from "../../vscode-whats-new/src/ContentProvider";

export class BookmarksContentProvider implements ContentProvider {

    provideHeader(logoUrl: string): Header {
        return <Header>{logo: <Image> {src: logoUrl, height: 50, width: 50}, 
            message: `<b>Bookmarks</b> helps you to navigate in your code, <b>moving</b> 
            between important positions easily and quickly. No more need 
            to <i>search for code</i>. It also supports a set of <b>selection</b>
            commands, which allows you to select bookmarked lines and regions between
            lines.`};
    }

    provideChangeLog(): ChangeLogItem[] {
        let changeLog: ChangeLogItem[] = [];
        changeLog.push({ kind: ChangeLogKind.VERSION, detail: { releaseNumber: "12.1.0", releaseDate: "December 2020" } });
        changeLog.push({
            kind: ChangeLogKind.NEW,
            detail: {
                message: "Support submenu for editor commands",
                id: 351,
                kind: IssueKind.Issue
            }
        });
        changeLog.push({
            kind: ChangeLogKind.CHANGED,
            detail: {
                message: "Setting <b>bookmarks.navigateThroughAllFiles</b> is now <b>true</b> by default",
                id: 102,
                kind: IssueKind.Issue
            }
        });
        changeLog.push({
            kind: ChangeLogKind.INTERNAL,
            detail: {
                message: "Remove unnecessary files from extension package",
                id: 355,
                kind: IssueKind.Issue
            }
        });
    }
}

export class BookmarksSocialMediaProvider implements SocialMediaProvider {
    public provideSocialMedias() {
        return [{
            title: "Follow me on Twitter",
            link: "https://www.twitter.com/alefragnani"
        }];
    }
}

export class BookmarksSponsorProvider implements SponsorProvider {
    public provideSponsors(): Sponsor[] {
        const sponsors: Sponsor[] = [];
        const sponsorCodeStream: Sponsor = <Sponsor>{
            title: "Learn more about Codestream",
            link: "https://sponsorlink.codestream.com/?utm_source=vscmarket&utm_campaign=bookmarks&utm_medium=banner",
            image: {
                light: "https://alt-images.codestream.com/codestream_logo_bookmarks.png",
                dark: "https://alt-images.codestream.com/codestream_logo_bookmarks.png"
            },
            width: 52,
            message: `<p>Eliminate context switching and costly distractions. 
                Create and merge PRs and perform code reviews from inside your 
                IDE while using jump-to-definition, your keybindings, and other IDE favorites.</p>`,
            extra:
                `<a title="Learn more about CodeStream" href="https://sponsorlink.codestream.com/?utm_source=vscmarket&utm_campaign=bookmarks&utm_medium=banner">
                Learn more</a>`
        };
        sponsors.push(sponsorCodeStream);
        return sponsors;
    }
}

// register the providers
const provider = new BookmarksContentProvider();
const viewer = new WhatsNewManager(context)
    .registerContentProvider("alefragnani", "bookmarks", provider)
    .registerSocialMediaProvider(new BookmarksSocialMediaProvider())
    .registerSponsorProvider(new BookmarksSponsorProvider());

// show the page (if necessary)
await viewer.showPageInActivation();

// register the additional command (not really necessary, unless you want a command registered in your extension)
context.subscriptions.push(vscode.commands.registerCommand("bookmarks.whatsNew", () => viewer.showPage()));

Features

Detects version updates

It follows SEMVER - Semantic Versioning to detect Major, Minor and Patch versions. The What's New page will only be displayed when a Major or Minor update occurs. Patches are updated silently.

Template Based

I don't have to deal with HTML or CSS on my extensions anymore. I just have to provide the relevant information and the HTML page is automatically generated/updated.

Inspiration

The idea came from the GitLens extension by @eamodio (big thanks to Eric Amodio :claps:). Based on pieces of its welcome page, I created this template based engine, to be able to use in any of my extensions, with minimum effort.

License

MIT © Alessandro Fragnani