VS Code Plugins v2.13: Emulators, folding, conditional breakpoints, attach-to-process...

[Danny Tuppeny]

Hi all,

v2.13.0 of Dart / Flutter plugins for VS Code are available. Release notes below (and online).

Emulator Launching

Emulators can now be launched directly from within Code. If you start debugging without a connected device you’ll be presented with a list of emulators on your system to launch.

After selecting a device a notification will appear while the device boots and connects.

You can also trigger the emulator selection by clicking on No devices in the status bar or by running the Flutter: Launch Emulator command from the command palette.

This feature relies on support from the Flutter tools which means it will only show emulators when using a very recent Flutter SDK. Flutter’s master channel already has this change, but it may take a little longer to filter through to the dev and beta channels.

Improved Folding

Code folding is now handled by Dart Code rather than being done by VS Code based on indenting. This should result in more accurate folding regions and also allows collapsing file headers and directives.

This feature relies on support from the Dart analysis server which means it will only activate when using a very recent SDK. Flutter’s master channel already has this change, but it may take a little longer to filter through to the dev and beta channels.

Flutter: New Project Improvements

New settings have been added to customize the Flutter: New Project command:

• dart.flutterCreateOrganization: Used in Java package names and as prefix in the iOS bundle identifier
• dart.flutterCreateIOSLanguage: The programming language to use for IOS apps (objc or swift)
• dart.flutterCreateAndroidLanguage: The programming language to use for Android apps (java or kotlin)

Debugger: Conditional Breakpoints and Log Points

You can now set Conditional breakpoints that will only break if the provided condition is true.

Log Points are like Breakpoints but rather than pausing execution they simply print() the message and then continue. This allows you to add debug information without having to insert print()s and reload the application or revert them when committing code. Like breakpoints, they also persist across sessions.

Debugger: Start from Explorer

You can now run specific scripts directly from the Explorer pane using the Start Debugging and Start Without Debugging options on the context menu. This bypasses what’s in launch.json and uses default behaviour for the given file (this includes selecting the correct debugger based on whether the script looks like Dart or Flutter and is in a test folder).

Debugger: Attach to Process

@stuartmorgan contributed Dart: Attach to Process which allows attaching the debugger to an existing process that you have an Observatory URL or port number for. You can configure this in your launch.json by setting request to attach or by simply running the Debug: Attach to Dart Process command.

You can also provide the observatoryUri in launch.json to skip this prompt when launching with F5.

Note: In this version the standard Dart debugger is attached, which means Flutter-specific functionality like hot reload will not be available.

Other Debugger Changes

• Setting vmAdditionalArgs in launch.json allows you to pass custom arguments to the VM when launching Dart applications
• Lists and Maps will now render consistently between the Variables Watch debugger panes
• Adding List and Map entries to the watch window is now more reliable and Add to Watch will be disabled for items where it is not supported
• @tfriem contributed including indexes in the display of Map entries in the debugger Variables and Watch panes to avoid items with identical display text being de-duped by VS Code
• @tfriem contributed displaying complext Map keys in the debugger Variables and Watch panes
• Debugger tooltips will now show more descriptive type names (eg. String in addition to _OneByteString)
• Stepping into SDK sources while debugging will no longer cause analysis server exceptions
• Full Restart has been renamed Hot Restart
• A race condition that could cause unwanted Continues during debugger startup has been fixed
• A race condition that could cause debugExternalLibraries/debugSdkLibraries settings to not apply correctly has been fixed
• Resolving variables like ${workspaceFolder} inside program and cwd in launch.json has been improved and now better supports launching programs from sub folders
• launch.json now supports relative paths and does not require ${workspaceFolder} prefixes for programor cwd
• On Windows, Dart VM processes for CLI apps should be cleaned up better when clicking the Stop button on the debug toolbar
• The Observatory Log File will now include launch information for the process, including arguments

Editor Changes

• Organize Directives has been renamed to Organize Imports as this is now a shared action across languages in VS Code
• A Refactor option is now avaiable on the context menu for improved visibility (the items shown are a filtered list of the existing lightbulb menu)
• The Organize Imports action now appears in the Source Action context menu
• The Sort Members action now appears in the Source Action context menu
• The dart.organizeDirectivesOnSave setting has been removed in favor of Code’s new codeActionsOnSave functionality. To achieve the same functionality you can set the following in your settings:

    "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {
        "source.organizeImports": true
    }
  

• Rename is now supported in more places (for example if you press F2 on the class keyword it will rename the class or on an import it will add or edit the prefix)
• Tooltips for types from external packages will now show the package name at the top of the documentation
• The completion list will now refresh when typing a / or \ inside an import path to provide completion for nested folders/files
• Keywords will no longer highlight incorrectly if followed by an opening paren (eg. if(1))
• Opening Git diff views will no longer incorrectly use the original file for analysis

Other Changes

• A prompt to open release notes will now show when Dart Code is updated
• A warning will be shown if the casing of the folder you have opened differs from that on the underlying disk as this may cause unexpected analysis errors from consolidating package: and relative paths
• Changes to most log file settings will no longer require an extension reload
• Using --preview-dart-2 for the Dart VM will no longer give errors about not being compatible with checked mode
• Running Flutter: Get Packages in the Flutter repository will now run flutter update-packages
• Prompts to upgrade folders in your workspace will no longer appear after a “silent” extension restart
• The Dart SDK version number has been removed from the status bar from Flutter projects (it was incorrect but may return in future)
• A workaround has been implemented to resolve an issue where Flutter commands like Hot Reload would not work if the Visual Studio Live Sharing extension was installed due to the way it proxies debug sessions
• The dart.previewDart2 setting (and associated launch configuration property) is no longer supported by Flutter and has been removed (if you were using this for CLI apps you can add --preview-dart-2 to vmAdditionalArgs and/or analyzerAdditionalArgs)
• Running scripts from nested folders will now more accurately detect the type of project/script being run and as a result the prompt to upgrade folders to “Workspace Folders” has been removed (you can still manually add folders as Workspace Folders if desired)