VsCode : How to generate custom task input options from a command? - visual-studio-code

Question

Let's say we have the following custom task :
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"label": "do smthg",
"type": "shell",
"command": "echo \"selected option: ${input:option_name}\"",
"problemMatcher": [],
"presentation": {
"panel": "dedicated",
"focus": true
}
}
],
"inputs": [
{
"type": "pickString",
"id": "option_name",
"description": "select an option :",
"options": [
// want possible options to be the output of a command
],
"default": ""
}
]
}
But I want the available options to be the result of a command,
like ls, or a cat smthg.txt | grep -oP '\"value\:\"\K\w*',
how can I do that ? Is it only possible ?

Answer 1

You can use the extension Command Variable v1.34.0
Use the replacement for pickString named extension.commandvariable.pickStringRemember.
This command can read options from a file, you determine the format with a regexp like the problem matcher of tasks.
An example:
"inputs": [
{
"type": "command",
"id": "option_name",
"command": "extension.commandvariable.pickStringRemember",
"args": {
"description": "select an option :",
"options": [
["always 1", "5000"],
["always 2", "5100"]
],
"default": "",
"fileName": "${workspaceFolder}/foo-bar.txt",
"pattern": {
"regexp": "^\\s*(?!#)([^=]+?)\\s*=\\s*(?:(\\{.+\\})|(.+))$",
"label": "$1",
"json": "$2",
"value": "$3"
}
}
}
]
If you don't have label - value lines you can simplify the pattern to
"pattern": {
"regexp": "^\\s*(?!#)(.+)$"
}
If you don't have static options (always 1/2 in example) you can remove the options property from args.
With an additional task you create the file with a command or a shell script if grep-ping and file redirection might be a problem (pass the output file name, using variables, as argument to the script).
You can construct a sequence of tasks, a compound task, see VSC doc.