Add a command for checkbox content selection

[medopaw]

Proposal

Add a command to select the content of a checkbox line

e.g. "Just do it." is the content of the following checkbox line:

- [ ] Just do it.

It's useful because often I want to mark the whole checkbox content as highlighted or bold or struck-through, like this:

- [ ] ==Just do it.==
- [ ] **Just do it.**
- [ ] ~~Just do it.~~

A command to select the content of a checkbox line can significantly reduce the operation required for this purpose. Please consider.

References

[Lemmingh]

A list item is a container block. If the task list is a loose list, how many lines should we select? Does such selection have any practical use?

[Lemmingh]

Well, if you're not aware of complex loose list, please take look at the "Tasks" section in #1054

[medopaw]

Does such selection have any practical use?

Strikethrough is a common way to mark a checkbox line as done. And I personally use the other two to mark a check line as the current task or of high priority.

The thing is, if we apply styles to the whole line the checkbox will be rendered as normal text:

- [ ] Just do it.
-[ ] Just do it.

instead of:

• Just do it.
• Just do it.

A list item is a container block. If the task list is a loose list, how many lines should we select?

Well, if you're not aware of complex loose list, please take look at the "Tasks" section in #1054

I'm aware of the complex loose list now that you mentioned it. Though we can simply select only one line or all the lines, I suggest an alternative approach: how about adding a setting option to allow users to decide which special patterns are treated like strikethrough (~~).

vscode-markdown/src/formatting.ts

Lines 346 to 350 in 6b922fb

	// One special case: toggle strikethrough in task list
	const currentTextLine = editor.document.lineAt(cursorPos.line);
	if (startPattern === '~~' && /^\s*[\*\+\-] (\[[ x]\] )? */g.test(currentTextLine.text)) {
	wordRange = currentTextLine.range.with(new Position(cursorPos.line, currentTextLine.text.match(/^\s*[\*\+\-] (\[[ x]\] )? */g)[0].length));
	}

In this way setting ** and == as special patterns would serve my needs, and it requires less key strokes for me. Please consider. Thx.

[yzhang-gh]

I see this can be (somehow) useful for certain users (that's why we have it for ~~ in the task list).

Although it is a valid feature request, I don't think it is worth doing so far. We need to wait for more feedback from other users.

[medopaw]

I see this can be (somehow) useful for certain users (that's why we have it for ~~ in the task list).

Although it is a valid feature request, I don't think it is worth doing so far. We need to wait for more feedback from other users.

Is it okay that I do it and create a pr? I use a TODO.md as my major task management tool every day and really need it.

This feature simply provides more options. It's very useful for certain users and doesn't interfere with other users.

[Lemmingh]

Is it okay that I do it and create a pr?

I recommend that you create a customized private fork.

PR implies a transfer of responsibility. If you open a PR here, we would have to go a lengthy review to ensure reliability, which doesn't make much sense for an uncertain experiment.

[medopaw]

Is it okay that I do it and create a pr?

I recommend that you create a customized private fork.

PR implies a transfer of responsibility. If you open a PR here, we would have to go a lengthy review to ensure reliability, which doesn't make much sense for an uncertain experiment.

Yes I could do a private fork. It's my last resort though: To enjoy new features I'll have to merge with the latest code manually from time to time. Thx for your response anyway.