Why does Copilot preview of suggested tests uses two different UIs?

[delphinemlcarlson]

Steps to Reproduce:

First UI

1. In a file code.ts, open the inline chat and call /tests.

2. After the test is generated, a preview of the new file is shown under the inline chat.

3. When I hit the "Create" button, it will create a new test file code.test.ts for my file with the suggested test.

Second UI

1. In a file code.ts, open the inline chat and call /tests. Note that a code.test.ts exists already.

2. After the test is generated, a preview of the suggested test is shown in a Refactor Preview panel and I can Accept or Discard (buttons hard to see in screenshot, they are at the bottom left)

   

Questions

It looks like the inline chat UI is used for creating a new file with suggested tests and the refactor preview UI is used for adding suggested tests to an existing test file.

• What is the rationale for using the inline chat preview in the case of adding a suggested tests in previewing the test?
• Why not using the inline chat editor for the case of adding suggested tests to an existing file?
• What are the rules around using the refactor preview UI over the inline chat editor UI?

Some thoughts about why using one over the other:

• Inline chat may be more useful when the changes are small and located in one file
• Using refactor preview may be better for suggestions in multiple files

[delphinemlcarlson]

@hbons this is the Github issue related to our questions. Could you please also forward this issue to relevant team mates who may have the answers?

[hbons]

@jrieken do you know more about this?

[jrieken]

There is two cases

1. AI wants to create new file -> we show a preview of that with peek view
2. AI wants to edit a file that isn't the current file -> we use the workspace/refactor preview UI for that

the 2nd case isn't very nice and need some polish