Multi File Diff Editor

[lszomoru]

Explore creating a custom editor that would show a list of diff editor widget.

[7rulnik]

@lszomoru do I understand it correctly that basically, it's a one-long list of diffs like in GitHub PRs?

[jacekkopecky]

@lszomoru do you mean something similar to my extension Whole Diff ?

[hediet]

I think this feature consists of two different problems:

• Have a custom editor that has IMultiDocumentDiffEditorModel as model (might need @bpasero's help):

  interface IMultiDocumentDiffEditorModel {
    diffs: LazyPromise<IDiffEntry>[];
    onDidChange: Event;
  }
  // The lazy promise allows lazy-loading (only load a the original/modified files when they are in view) and streaming (show the diff of the first file already while the other files are loading).
  // This might be very useful for reviewing github PRs on github.dev.
  interface LazyPromise<T> {
     request(): Promise<T>;
     value: T | undefined;
     onDidChange: Event;
  }
  // invariant: assert(original || modified);
  interface IDiffEntry {
     original: ITextModel | undefined; // undefined if the file was created.
     modified: ITextModel | undefined; // undefined if the file was deleted.
  }

  • There should be a command to open a multi diff editor with a model that represents all changed files. This model should fire an event when the list of changed files changes.
  • There could be an implementation of IMultiDocumentDiffEditorModel that is mapped to a folder, then extensions could easily invoke this editor
• Make the diff editors virtual (@hediet)
  • Both the contents of each diff editor as well as the diff editors itself should be virtual
  • See here for how virtualization could be achieved.

[Igorgro]

@hediet what do you think about extension mentioned above?

[hediet]

@Igorgro I didn't try it, but it looks like a decent alternative. It seems to create a patch file that you can then view using a different extension. The feature request described in this issue goes much further, as we want to use our diff algorithm and the monaco editor to render the changes. We also want to allow users to modify/revert changes, which is not possible with the patch file approach.

[jacekkopecky]

Agreed with @hediet – my extension is useful but similar-but-richer native functionality would be preferred.

[eamodio]

@hediet Loving where this is going so far, but I've noticed some issue, but also would love to see additions/changes to the new vscode.changes command. How should I best report those? I didn't see a specific issue for the vscode.changes command.

[hediet]

The vscode.changes command is experimental and subject to change. Feel free to create individual issues! But we cannot commit on stable API yet.