VS Code extension development

The extension under editors/vscode-modeller provides RML and SAF syntax highlighting and starts Modeller.LanguageServer for language features. Its npm dependencies and build output are independent from the documentation site.

Restore and build

From the repository root:

dotnet build src/Modeller.LanguageServer/Modeller.LanguageServer.csproj
npm --prefix editors/vscode-modeller install
npm --prefix editors/vscode-modeller run bundle

bundle writes editors/vscode-modeller/out/extension.js, the extension entry point declared in its manifest. Use compile instead when you only need a TypeScript type check.

Run an Extension Development Host

Launch a second VS Code instance with the repository root as its workspace:

code --extensionDevelopmentPath="$((Resolve-Path editors/vscode-modeller).Path)" .

Opening the repository root matters: in development, the extension discovers src/Modeller.LanguageServer/Modeller.LanguageServer.csproj relative to an open workspace folder. Open a .modeller or .saf file in the new window to activate the extension and start the server.

After changing extension TypeScript, rebuild the bundle and run Developer: Reload Window in the Extension Development Host. Changes to the language server are picked up by dotnet run when the client restarts; reload the window to restart it cleanly.

Useful places to inspect failures are the Output panel's Modeller language client channel and Developer: Toggle Developer Tools in the development host.

Test

npm --prefix editors/vscode-modeller test

This command builds Modeller.LanguageServer in Release mode, starts it with dotnet run --no-build, and verifies a real Language Server Protocol exchange.

Package a VSIX

npm --prefix editors/vscode-modeller run package

Packaging publishes the language server into the extension's server/ directory, then creates a .vsix under editors/vscode-modeller. Packaged installations use that bundled server. Developers can instead set modeller.languageServer.path to a specific Modeller.LanguageServer.dll.

Install the resulting artifact for a final smoke test:

code --install-extension editors/vscode-modeller/modeller-rml-0.1.0.vsix

The filename contains the version from the extension's package.json; adjust the command after a version change.