Watch files outside of workspace

[janisdd]

Version?

• vs code plugin

Feature

In the current release notes of vs code https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_62#_file-watching-changes they mentioned that they are transitioning to a new file watcher... If I remember correctly we can only watch files in the workspace currently (and reload the table if the csv file changes). Maybe with the new file watchers we can also watch files outside of the current workspace (e.g. if you just drop a file in vs code outside of the currently open project)?

[janisdd]

See https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/3025

[janisdd]

Here are some insights I've gained along the way:

• vs code version: 1.86.1

• FileSystemWatcher works on all files (e.g. outside of workspace)

  • the timing at which FileSystemWatcher is fired can vary from os to os
  • may be called several times after a change
  • when FileSystemWatcher event is fired, it is not guaranteed that we will receive the up-to-date file content (via workspace.openTextDocument)
  • we wait 1s before the handler is called (usually works, but not always)

• because FileSystemWatcher does not ensure the latest file content, we use workspace.onDidChangeTextDocument

  • works for all files (even outside of workspace)
  • is called on every change event (e.g. every time a key is pressed, even in other files)
  • workspace.onDidChangeTextDocument ensures the latest file content
  • problem: when the source file is closed, no more events are fired!
  • reproduce: open source file -> open table -> close source file -> change source file outside vs code -> no onDidChangeTextDocument
  • after workspace.openTextDocument is called, onDidChangeTextDocument works normally again
  • this seems to also be true for files in workspace

• so we combine both things and trigger a change when one of the events (FileSystemWatcher or onDidChangeTextDocument) occurs

[janisdd]

Fixed in v0.9.0