[Feature] Add parsing options for the output string

[hoon0422]

I would like to use this extension with more options about the output string, so I add them to this request.

New options: parse

User can simply add parse to launch.json like other options. I wrote how to use them and the example of them on README.md, so please refer to it.

Why these options are needed

I was doing Django project, and what I want to do was to write the below command for testing:

python manage.py test app.tests.unit.test_first_module app.tests.unit.test_second_module app.tests.unit.test_third_module

So what I tried is (1) to write a shell script to get all the test files and (2) to create launch.json that allows a user to select test modules to run from VSCode prompt. I created launch.json that works for (1) and (2). However, since the only format of the output string was JSON, I could not make a string like test app.tests.unit.test_first_module app.tests.unit.test_second_module app.tests.unit.test_third_module, whose delimiter is a space character.

With my parser option, I can create any string format I want to.

[igrek8]

@hoon0422 thank you for your pitch! I've added an option to change serialization. You can use serializer option with value plain. Your multiple options will be passed to your executable with a space delimeter.

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "type": "pwa-node",
      "request": "launch",
      "name": "Launch Program",
      "skipFiles": ["<node_internals>/**"],
      "args": ["${input:myDynamicParameter}"],
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}/main.js",
      "preLaunchTask": "myPreBuildTask"
    }
  ],
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "myDynamicParameter",
      "type": "command",
      "command": "dynamic-inputs.write",
      "args": {
        "command": "bash",
        "args": ["${workspaceFolder}/populate.sh"],
        "var": "myDynamicParameter",
        "unwrap": "$[*].value",
        "serializer": "plain", // this is an option to control
        "quickPickOptions": {
          "canPickMany": true,
          "ignoreFocusOut": true,
          "placeHolder": "Please select an option",
          "title": "Parameter"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

[igrek8]

It's available in v0.0.13

[hoon0422]

Thanks for the reply! I checked and tried the newest version, but there are some issues. There are double quotes encompassing each selected value on the output with a space delimiter. I think the reason is JSON.stringify on this line. Due to this, for example, if I selected A and B from ["A", "B"] (and those selection appears without double quotes), the output shows "\"A\"" and "\"B\"" on bash command. The result that I want is just a plain A and B.

By the way, I think that your solution is nice, but I also think that it is good to give customization options, like my way or the way passing the selected options to the user-specified script as a system argument for parsing. For example, there might be a project that uses CSV severely, which might need a comma delimiter.

[igrek8]

I'm afraid we can't achieve the desired behaviour due to how vscode handles args. I can confirm that the changes in the PR will not make vscode capture multiple selections as multiple arguments.

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      // ...
      "args": ["${input:myDynamicParameter}"] // <-- vscode always separates arguments with quotes
      // ...
    }
  ]
}

The resolved config will look like the following:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      // ...
      "args": ["A B"] // <-- vscode always separates arguments with quotes
      // ...
    }
  ]
}

And the executable will receive it like

echo 'A B' # <-- a single argument

# desired but not possible
echo 'A' 'B'

[hoon0422]

Actually, if launch.json looks like:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      // ...
      "args": ["A B"] // <-- vscode always separates arguments with quotes
      // ...
    }
  ]
}

then the executable receives it like:

echo A B

not

echo 'A B'

So I guess, because of JSON.stringify on plain serializer, the args in launch.json seems to be like "args": ["\"A B\""], which is not desired.

[igrek8]

@hoon0422 removed JSON.stringify. All values will be passed as is. Released v0.0.14