Wish: one VS Code editor AutoHotkey extension to rule them all

Scripting and setups with Visual Studio Code (vscode) and AutoHotkey.
neogna2
Posts: 586
Joined: 15 Sep 2016, 15:44

Wish: one VS Code editor AutoHotkey extension to rule them all

Post by neogna2 » 04 Sep 2020, 11:38

The general purpose code editor VS Code has 11 million active users and is the most popular in Stack Overflow Developer Survey

This means that anyone who is a programmer and encounters AutoHotkey for the first time is likely to have VS Code installed already.

Unfortunately there is currently no definitive AutoHotkey extension for VS Code. Searching for extensions give confusing results where the most downloaded extension hasn't been updated in several years and 8 others have fewer downloads and partly overlapping features. That makes it hard to know which if any of them are reliable now and will keep getting updates months from now.

I wish the AutoHotkey community, or those in it who use VS Code, rallied around one extension to do it all (V1 V2 syntax highlight, debugging, ...) and concentrate work there.

vscode.png
vscode.png (63.3 KiB) Viewed 6201 times
Last edited by neogna2 on 05 Sep 2020, 04:46, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
boiler
Posts: 16768
Joined: 21 Dec 2014, 02:44

Re: Wish: one VS Code editor AutoHotkey extension to rule them all

Post by boiler » 04 Sep 2020, 13:24

While I am in favor of supporting and bringing attention to the best AHK extensions for VS Code, I see having a number of extensions available as a good thing. If you search for extensions available for any popular language, you’ll find a much longer list than the AHK list. The ratings and number of downloads help guide you towards the the ones that have been found to be the most useful. You’ll also find discussions of the various extensions on this forum.

What do you suggest regarding your wish to have one extension “to rule them all”? Stating which is your favorite and generating discussion is a good thing. But isn’t having a choice and encouraging others to try to create new and potentially better and more complete extensions also a good thing? When you say “concentrate work from there,” the way further work typically happens is by someone forking one of the existing extensions to add new features (or building a new one from scratch). I suppose you could encourage the author of your favorite extension to incorporate features from others into their extension. Is that what you are advocating?

neogna2
Posts: 586
Joined: 15 Sep 2016, 15:44

Re: Wish: one VS Code editor AutoHotkey extension to rule them all

Post by neogna2 » 04 Sep 2020, 17:31

Some languages do have very clear go to extensions. For example the Python one with 25 million installs. You can be pretty certain that changes in newer versions of Python will quickly be reflected there. Not so with a lot of the smaller extensions. They may have niche uses but aren't the first thing for someone getting started coding in Python.

Which AutoHotkey extension will for the coming 12 months be consistently quick in keeping up with changes in AutoHotkey V2? Impossible to answer, they're all too small for the stats and reviews to set them apart much and the update track record varies over time.
boiler wrote:
04 Sep 2020, 13:24
I suppose you could encourage the author of your favorite extension to incorporate features from others into their extension. Is that what you are advocating?
I wish the people currently making separate extensions merged their effort into one single extension project that is reliably kept up do date with changes in VS Code and AutoHotkey V1/V2. I have zero power over them of course, I'm just expressing what I hope for.

jsong55
Posts: 222
Joined: 30 Mar 2021, 22:02

Re: Wish: one VS Code editor AutoHotkey extension to rule them all

Post by jsong55 » 29 Apr 2021, 00:13

Anyone knows of edit replacement feature like that found in AHK Studio?

User avatar
boiler
Posts: 16768
Joined: 21 Dec 2014, 02:44

Re: Wish: one VS Code editor AutoHotkey extension to rule them all

Post by boiler » 29 Apr 2021, 07:15

That appears to be basically the same as a hotstring or text expander, and I don’t think there is an equivalent in VS Code or even in an extension. Of course, you could create hotstrings in an AHK script that would work only when VS Code is the active window, but I understand if you would prefer built-in capability.

cspotcode
Posts: 1
Joined: 08 May 2021, 14:05
Contact:

Re: Wish: one VS Code editor AutoHotkey extension to rule them all

Post by cspotcode » 08 May 2021, 14:19

It looks like these are the 2x extensions we should support. I have included links to their VSCode Extensions page and their github so you can see recent updates and check if they are being actively maintained.

The first one includes a debugger, so I'm not sure you actually need the second one.

If the OP of this thread agrees that these are good extensions to recommend, then they can update their post to include these links.

AutoHotkey Plus Plus
mark-wiemer.vscode-autohotkey-plus-plus
https marketplace.visualstudio.com /items?itemName=mark-wiemer.vscode-autohotkey-plus-plus Broken Link for safety
https://github.com/mark-wiemer/vscode-autohotkey-plus-plus
Recommendation thread: https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=89879

vscode-autohotkey-debug
zero-plusplus.vscode-autohotkey-debug
https marketplace.visualstudio.com /items?itemName=zero-plusplus.vscode-autohotkey-debug Broken Link for safety
https://github.com/zero-plusplus/vscode-autohotkey-debug
Recommendation thread: https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=77464

Post Reply

Return to “Visual Studio Code”