Ops

Command Enablement / When Clause Gotchas

Boolean expressions don't support parentheses

  • when clause boolean expressions currently do not support parentheses.
  • You will need to simplify the expression so that it is equivalent and has no parentheses.

editorFocus clause is mostly redundant for command palette enablement

  • The context editorFocus is set when the focus is set to the editor.
  • When the command palette is brought up, naturally the focus is set to the command palette and editorFocus will be unset
    • You can check this by using Developer: Toggle Developer Tools, and Developer: Inspect Context Keys and inspecting the command palette.
  • As a result, checking for !editorFocus is redundant, and checking for editorFocus is wrong since it will always be false.
  • editorFocus is mostly useful when:
    • setting enablement clauses for keybindings, or
    • in rare cases like the lookup tab auto-complete command where you are specifically guarding against enabling this feature in certain parts of VSCode.

Backlinks