[FileSystemProvider] Provide API for accessing from other extensions via URIs

[mkloubert]

Currently an extension author is "only" able to register an own FileSystemProvider by using vscode.workspace.registerFileSystemProvider() function.

But currently there seems to be no way to access them from "outside" / from other extensions.

I currently have requests to support linters and formatters in my extension vscode-remote-workspace, but I am not sure if this should not be the work of authors, who have created these linters and formatters.

My idea is to create a new namespace like vscode.fs, similar to Node.js:

import * as vscode from 'vscode';

const PROVIDER: vscode.FileSystemProvider = vscode.fs.getFileSystemProviderByScheme('sftp');
if (PROVIDER) {
    // found
} else {
    // not found
}

Maybe there should (also or only) be some public functions to access these providers, without needing the objects, which might be better.

Files and directories (also local ones) could be accessed by Uris.

export namespace vscode {
    export namespace fs {
        export declare function copy(source: vscode.Uri, destination: vscode.Uri, options: { overwrite: boolean }): vscode.Thenable<void>;

        export declare function createDirectory(uri: vscode.Uri): vscode.Thenable<void>;

        export declare function delete(uri: vscode.Uri): vscode.Thenable<void>;

        // returns the full ID of the extension, that supports the scheme
        // 
        // return (null) or (undefined) if no extension was found
        export declare function getExtensionOfFileSystemScheme(scheme: string): string;

        export declare function isFileSystemSchemeSupported(scheme: string): boolean;

        export declare function readDirectory(uri: vscode.Uri): vscode.Thenable<[string, vscode.FileType][]>;

        export declare function readFile(uri: vscode.Uri): vscode.Thenable<Uint8Array>;

        export declare function rename(oldUri: vscode.Uri, newUri: vscode.Uri, options: { overwrite: boolean }): vscode.Thenable<void>;

        export declare function stat(uri: vscode.Uri): vscode.Thenable<vscode.FileStat>;

        export declare function writeFile(uri: vscode.Uri, content: Uint8Array, options: { create: boolean, overwrite: boolean }): vscode.Thenable<void>;
    }
}

As you can see, the functions are mappers of the methods of FileSystemProvider interface, which would (re-)throw their exceptions, if occurred.

If a scheme is not supported, and those are tried to be used, a new kind of FileSystemError, like 'SchemeNotSupported' exception should be thrown,

Authors could use external FileSystemProviders using the common way, by uusing the extensionDependencies property in their package.json:

{
  "name": "vscode-my-awesome-extension",
  "displayName": "My Awesome Extension",

  // ...

  "extensionDependencies": [
    "mkloubert.vscode-remote-workspace"
  ]
}

Ok, some functions name are a little bit "strange", but this is only an idea.

[jrieken]

/duplicate of #48034

[vscodebot]

Thanks for creating this issue! We figured it's covering the same as another one we already have. Thus, we closed this one as a duplicate. You can search for existing issues here. See also our issue reporting guidelines.

Happy Coding!