CONTRIBUTING.md

Table of Contents

• Setting Up Local Development Environment
  • Prerequisites for Development
  • Building, Running, and Testing the Repository
  • Setting Up Local Language Servers
    • Roslyn
    • Razor
  • Debugging Local Language Servers
  • Configuring Local Language Servers
    • Finding the settings.json file for your workspace
    • Configuring Roslyn Language Server
    • Configuring Razor Language Server
• Creating VSIX Packages for the Extension
• Updating the Roslyn Language Server Version

Setting Up Local Development Environment

Setting up your local development environment for the vscode-csharp repository involves several steps. This guide will walk you through the process.

Prerequisites for Development

Before you start, make sure you have the following software installed on your machine:

• Node.js v20 (v20.17.0 LTS).
  • Note - Building with higher major versions of Node.js is not advised - it may work but we do not test it.
• Npm (The version shipped with node is fine)
• .NET 8.0 SDK (dotnet should be on your path)

Once you have these installed, you can navigate to the cloned vscode-csharp repository to proceed with building, running, and testing the repository.

Building, Running, and Testing the Repository

Follow these steps to build, run, and test the repository:

Building

1. Run npm i - This command installs the project dependencies.
2. Run vsts-npm-auth -config .npmrc - This command will configure your credentials for the next command.
3. Run npm i -g gulp - This command installs Gulp globally.
4. Run gulp installDependencies - This command downloads the various dependencies as specified by the version in the package.json file.
5. Run code . - This command opens the project in Visual Studio Code.

Running

After completing the build steps:

1. Run npm run watch (Optional) - This command watches for code changes.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+D to open the Run view in VS Code and ensure Launch Extension is selected.
3. Start debugging by pressing F5.

Testing

To run all tests, execute npm run test.

To debug unit tests locally, press F5 in VS Code with the "Launch Tests" debug configuration selected.

To debug integration tests

1. Import the csharp-test-profile.code-profile in VSCode to setup a clean profile in which to run integration tests. This must be imported at least once to use the launch configurations (ensure the extensions are updated in the profile).
2. Open any integration test file and F5 launch with the correct launch configuration selected.
   • For integration tests inside test/lsptoolshost, use either Launch Current File slnWithCsproj Integration Tests or [DevKit] Launch Current File slnWithCsproj Integration Tests (to run tests using C# + C# Dev Kit)
   • For integration tests inside test/razor, use Launch Current File BasicRazorApp2_1 Integration Tests
   • For integration tests inside test/omnisharp, use one of the Omnisharp: current file profiles

These will allow you to actually debug the test, but the 'Razor integration tests' configuration does not.

Setting Up Local Language Servers

This section shows how to set up local Razor or Roslyn language servers for debugging with the VSCode C# extension.

Roslyn

1. Clone the Roslyn repository. This repository contains the Roslyn server implementation.
2. Follow the build instructions provided in the repository.

The server DLL is typically at $roslynRepoRoot/artifacts/bin/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.LanguageServer/Debug/net8.0/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.LanguageServer.dll, but this may vary based on the built configuration.

Razor

1. Clone the Razor repository. This repository contains the Razor server implementation.
2. Follow the build instructions provided in the repository.

The server DLL is typically at $razorRepoRoot/artifacts/bin/rzls/Debug/net8.0.

Debugging Local Language Servers

Before running the language servers, familiarize yourself with the steps in the Configuring Local Language Servers section to configure either the Roslyn or Razor language servers for debugging .

Note: You would only need to configure this for the workspace you wish to debug, NOT for the repo root of vscode-csharp repo.

Follow these steps to enable debugging:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+D and then F5 to launch the extension. This will open a new VS Code instance for vscode-csharp repo.
2. In the new VS Code instance, open the project or solution you want to debug.
3. Follow instructions in Configuring Local Language Servers to find and configure the workspace settings for the language server you want to debug.
4. Ensure the language server is fully built in Debug mode.
5. Meanwhile in a Visual Studio instance open the .sln solution file for the language server you want to debug. Keep this instance open for use in a later step.
6. Back on VS Code, press Ctrl+Shift+P and select Reload Window. This ensures the changes made in step 3 are applied.
7. After reloading, a window will pop up prompting you to select or open a Visual Studio instance. Now, select the instance you opened in step 5.
8. The language server will now trigger a breakpoint on Debugger.Launch() when it starts.

Configuring Local Language Servers

This section provides instructions on how to debug locally built Roslyn and Razor language servers. You can do this by either directly editing the settings.json file of your workspace or through the VSCode settings interface.

Finding the settings.json file for your workspace

• Open the Command Palette with Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P on macOS)
• Type "Preferences: Open Workspace Settings"
• Select the option that appears.
• In the Workspace Settings tab, in the upper right corner, you'll see an icon that looks like a document with an arrow, which is the "Open Settings (JSON)" button.
• Click on this button to open the settings.json file.

Configuring Roslyn Language Server

In your workspace settings.json file, add the following lines:

"dotnet.server.waitForDebugger": true,
"dotnet.server.path": "<roslynRepoRoot>/artifacts/bin/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.LanguageServer/Debug/net8.0/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.LanguageServer.dll"

Replace with the actual path to your Roslyn repository.

Or, in VSCode settings (Ctrl+,):

1. Search for dotnet server.
2. Set dotnet.server.path to the path of your Roslyn DLL.
3. Enable dotnet.server.waitForDebugger.

Configuring Razor Language Server

In your workspace settings.json file, add the following lines:

"razor.languageServer.debug": true,
"razor.languageServer.directory": "<razorRepoRoot>/artifacts/bin/rzls/Debug/net8.0",
"razor.server.trace": "Debug"

Replace $razorRepoRoot with your actual values.

Or, in VSCode settings (Ctrl+,):

1. Search for Razor.
2. Set razor.languageServer.directory to the path of your Razor DLL.
3. Enable razor.languageServer.debug.
4. Set razor.server.trace to Debug. This gives you more detailed log messages in the output window.

Updating NPM packages

We use the .NET eng AzDo artifacts feed https://dnceng.pkgs.visualstudio.com/public/_packaging/dotnet-public-npm/npm/registry/ with upstreams to the public npm registry. Auth is required in order to pull new packages from the upstream. This can be done by running vsts-npm-auth -config .npmrc. If you need to renew authorization, you can force it via vsts-npm-auth -config .npmrc -F

Creating VSIX Packages for the Extension

To package this extension, we need to create VSIX Packages. The VSIX packages can be created using the gulp command gulp vsix:release:package. This will create all the platform specific VSIXs that you can then install manually in VSCode.

Updating the Roslyn Language Server Version

In order to pull in new packages from upstreams into the msft_consumption feed we use for restoring, you will need to be a member of the 'CSharp VS Code Extension contributors' group in the Azure Devops instance.

To update the version of the roslyn server used by the extension do the following:

1. Find the the Roslyn signed build you want from here. Typically the latest successful build of main is fine.
2. In the official build stage, look for the Publish Assets step. In there you will see it publishing the Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.LanguageServer.neutral package with some version, e.g. 4.6.0-3.23158.4. Take note of that version number.
3. In the package.json inside the defaults section update the roslyn key to point to the version number you found above in step 2.
4. Ensure that version of the package is in the proper feeds by running gulp updateRoslynVersion. Note: you may need to install the Azure Artifacts NuGet Credential Provider to run interactive authentication.
5. Build and test the change. If everything looks good, submit a PR.