Allow to split an editor into an existing group

[Conchylicultor]

When I edit code, I often use the Right click -> Split right to duplicate a file side by side. However I rarely need more than 2 panes open at the same time.

When a pane already exists on the right, it would be nice if Right click -> Split right duplicate the file in the existing pane, rather than creating a new one.
So the first time, Right click -> Split right would create a new pane, then the future Right click -> Split right would reuse the new existing right pane.

In the less frequent case where users need 3 or more panes, it would still be possible to create new panes by using Right click -> Split right on the right-most pane.

I think it would simplify the most frequent use-case where user want to duplicate a file (to view it side by side), but want to reuse the existing opened pane.

This new behavior could be controlled by a new setting option.

Currently, when the editor is split in 2: Everytime we need to duplicate a file, Right click -> Split right create a third collumn (in the middle), and we need to manually drag the file into the right collumn to close the middle collumn.

[bpasero]

@Conchylicultor does https://twitter.com/BenjaminPasero/status/1437460422462947330 help?

Refs #132651

[Conchylicultor]

Thanks for the pointer. However this does not really solve my issue. I want to keep my editor split in 2-groups with each groups having tabs. #132651 only seems useful to have two views of the same file. However in many case, my 2 groups contain different files and I need to control each groups individually (through tabs).

Additionally, if I already have 2 groups open, #132651 would have the same issue as the current Right click -> Split right: 3 files would be displayed at the same times, which I want to avoid. I only want to have 2 splits, but being able to duplicate file from one group into the next one.

[bpasero]

Understood. I added the following 8 commands to split editors into other groups, reusing groups if present:

• workbench.action.splitEditorToPreviousGroup
• workbench.action.splitEditorToNextGroup
• workbench.action.splitEditorToAboveGroup
• workbench.action.splitEditorToBelowGroup
• workbench.action.splitEditorToLeftGroup
• workbench.action.splitEditorToRightGroup
• workbench.action.splitEditorToFirstGroup
• workbench.action.splitEditorToLastGroup

[Conchylicultor]

Awesome! Thank you for the fast implementation.
Is there a way to use those from the contextmenu (right click > split left) ? Or will this require creating an extention ?

[bpasero]

Currently no plans to add this to the context menu to keep it small.

[Conchylicultor]

I agree about keeping the menu minimal.

My original proposal was not to add any new context options, but to allow control the behavior of the current right click > split left option between:

• Always create a new group (current)
• Reuse group if exists