Vscode-powershell: Feature request: intellisense in integrated terminal (like ISE)

[ahubbard]

System Details

any/any

any/any

Issue Description

I am experiencing a problem with... syntax in the integrated terminal. ISE has intellisense not just in the editor, but also in the integrated terminal. That would be extremely useful in VS Code as well.

Attached Logs

none

[wellsluo]

+1, and colorful characters is also needed.

[daviwil]

Both IntelliSense in the terminal and colored output are coming as part of the "integrated console" feature, #10. This work is completing soon, subscribe to that issue to be notified when it's done.

[westerdaled]

Hi, I know this issue as been closed but for some reason I am really struggling to get intellisense in my terminal or indeed debug window. You can see this the img below. I won't move from the ISE until this is resolved.

[TylerLeonhardt]

@westerdaled Have you tried the PowerShell Preview extension? It has PSReadLine support in the integrated terminal.

[westerdaled]

Thanks done now. I had to disable the existing PowerShell Extension, so I am guessing I will be loosing the intellisense and code analysing in the code editor windows.

[westerdaled]

@TylerLeonhardt . I had to reinstall the PowerShell Extension to the debugger to work again. I then disabled it to allow the PowerShell Preview to work . Unfortunately, I am still not getting intellisense to work in the PowerShell integrated terminal .

[SydneyhSmith]

@westerdaled sorry to make this so complicated, but PSReadLine actually needs to be enabled with a feature flag to work:
To enable PSReadLine support in the Preview version on Windows, please add the following to your user settings:

"powershell.developer.featureFlags": [ "PSReadLine" ]

[westerdaled]

@SydneyhSmith Alas the gods are against me! Run he debugger till my break point . Var is populated but cannot get the intellisense to work. Is there a different key combination I should use?

 "window.zoomLevel": 2,
    "terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe",
    "powershell.developer.featureFlags": [ "PSReadLine" ],
    "git.autofetch": true,

[SydneyhSmith]

@westerdaled what is the output of $PSVersionTable for you?

[TylerLeonhardt]

@westerdaled intellisense in the editor or in the terminal? (screenshots are helpful 😄 )

[westerdaled]

@SydneyhSmith

Here you go

PSVersion 5.1.17134.590
PSEdition Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion 10.0.17134.590
CLRVersion 4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion 3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.3
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1

[westerdaled]

Here is a screen dump whereby I pause the debugger and see if I can inspect any of my vars - here I have written the term name to standard output so I should be able inspect any of the other property values.

[TylerLeonhardt]

@westerdaled does nothing happen when you hit TAB?

[westerdaled]

@TylerLeonhardt

Doh! Ok that works but no pop up scrollable list like the ISE just each function shown on each Tab

[TylerLeonhardt]

@westerdaled Unfortunately, we cannot have that kind of a dialog in vscode (vscode limitation - not powershell extension limitation) like the ISE... However, you can rely on PSReadLine's MenuComplete!

Set-PSReadLineKeyHandler -Chord 'Ctrl+@' -Function MenuComplete

and then do $termGroup. and hit Ctrl+SPACE. You should see the PSReadLine experience which is identical to what you get in regular pwsh.exe.

Here are a few others that a useful - which can go right into your profile:

if ($env:TERM_PROGRAM -eq "vscode") {
    Set-PSReadLineKeyHandler -Chord 'Ctrl+w' -Function BackwardKillWord
    Set-PSReadLineKeyHandler -Chord 'Alt+D' -Function KillWord
    Set-PSReadLineKeyHandler -Chord 'Ctrl+@' -Function MenuComplete    
}

[westerdaled]

@TylerLeonhardt

This looks good

D:\Dev\PS> $profile   
C:\Users\[MYNAME}\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.VSCode_profile.ps1
D:\PS> notepad $profile

I pasted your lines in , saved and hit F1 (Command Palette) and selected Reload Window. My profile is now active.

Liking Ctrl Space as you suggested . The other two PSReadLine commands I guess I will need to use more.

[TylerLeonhardt]

@westerdaled quick tip:

Open-EditorFile $profile

Opens the file in vscode :)

New-EditorFile $profile

Creates the file if it doesn't exist and opens it in vscode :)

[westerdaled]

Btw, I have started to use this more instead of ISE as the editing experience is good. The only issues I have is that the debug doesn't always start quickly and VSCode just seem to hang. Indeed you sometimes get a timeout message. I stop, then flip back to ISE if I am in a hurry.

[TylerLeonhardt]

Thanks for the info! When this happens, can you open up a new issue and also attach the logs to the new issue so we can get a better idea of what's going on?

[westerdaled]

@TylerLeonhardt yes will do.

[westerdaled]

I am really liking the preview experience which I gather has taken a lot of effort by the team. Is the intention to enable the full PSReadline experience as referenced in Scott Hanselman's blog post?

[TylerLeonhardt]

That's the intention. It's the same PSReadLine module that Scott points out so the experience should be almost identical to what you expect in the regular console.