add copy as text, export, and keybinds by Roger-Gu · Pull Request #17717 · eclipse-theia/theia

Roger-Gu · 2026-06-25T14:29:40Z

What it does

Implements #17706.

Add an "export" menu, which will open up a file dialog and write the json object to a user-specified file. Note: Unlike "copy", when only a header is selected, we export all of its children. Also, unlike "copy", the exported json is always a list, even when there is only one problem selected. This would be easier for automated process with the exported file.
Add a "copy as text" menu. It is to copy message, but will also output the file names, severity level, and other info that are visible and selected. Unlike "copy", this menu works for headers as well (it will just copy the file name as displayed in the selected item).
Wire up Ctrl+C and Ctrl+A key bindings for copy and select all, respectively.

How to test

Open the Problems view.
Create at least two problems.
Press Ctrl+a.
Observe all nodes are now selected.
Press Ctrl+c.
Paste the content somewhere, confirm it is the correct list of json object.
Select a problem.
Right click on any node, see there is a "export" in the context menu.
Click "export".
Observe a file dialog pops up.
Input a file destination, and click OK.
Observe the correct list of json objects is exported.
Repeat 9~13 on multiple problems.
Select a problem header.
Repeat 9~12.
Observe all of the children of the header are exported. Note that if both header and the problem itself are selected, there should still be only one copy of the corresponding object in the list.
Select any number of nodes.
. Right click on any node, see there is a "copy as text" in the context menu.
Click "copy as text".
Paste the content somewhere, confirm it is the correct text as displayed.

Follow-ups

Now that "copy as text" and "export" works for headers, I'm not sure if it would be better if we make "copy" to work on headesr as well. However, I personally find it does not make too much sense if "copy message" copies all the children for a selected header.
If we don't want to make "copy" to work on headers, I think Ctrl+c is better wire up with "copy as text" instead, and rename "copy as text" to "copy", while the existing "copy" to "copy as json" or "copy details", since it would be weird if "copy" and "Ctrl+c" is not the more general version.
Behavior of "export" is not the same with "copy", since I think it would make more sense this way. I feel that a user should be able to export all of its children problem if they click on a header. We may certainly change this to match "copy" exactly if that is better.
Also, currently the copy and copy message returns the result in whatever order the nodes are selected. Maybe we want to do the same as what copy as text is doing now, and return in the order displayed in the view?
In future, it might be good to refactor "copy as text" to allow the users to decide the format themselves, as in VScode: Problems view select/copy all. microsoft/vscode#133408 (comment). I don't think it's a priority now, though.

Breaking changes

This PR introduces breaking changes and requires careful review. If yes, the breaking changes section in the changelog has been updated.

Attribution

Review checklist

As an author, I have thoroughly tested my changes and carefully followed the review guidelines
User-facing text is internationalized using the nls service (for details, please see the Internationalization/Localization section in the Coding Guidelines)

Reminder for reviewers

As a reviewer, I agree to behave in accordance with the review guidelines

Signed-off-by: Roger Gu <r-gu@ti.com>

ndoschek

Thanks a lot for the PR and for tackling this follow up, @Roger-Gu!
The added features work great, I just left a few comments inline, could you take a look at those? TIA!

ndoschek · 2026-07-02T14:37:22Z

+        id: 'problems.export',
+        category: 'Problems',
+        label: 'Export',
+        iconClass: codicon('arrow-circle-up', true)


Suggested change

iconClass: codicon('arrow-circle-up', true)

iconClass: codicon('arrow-circle-up')

Does not need to be declared as action item, since i breaks if it s rendered in a (context) menu, e.g.

ndoschek · 2026-07-02T14:50:07Z

+            title: 'Export Problems',
+            filters: { 'JSON Files': ['json'] },
+            saveLabel: 'Export'


These string are user-facing but not localized. Please make sure to use nls.localizeByDefault/nls.localize for those.

ndoschek · 2026-07-03T12:29:03Z

+        const output = selectionsArray.length === 1
+            ? JSON.stringify(serializedProblems[0], undefined, '\t')


This changes the existing Copy output: a single selection now serializes a bare object instead of a one-element array. I think we changed that previously to array right? So I'd be in favour of keeping it this way now.

ndoschek · 2026-07-03T12:29:40Z

        });
+        commands.registerCommand(ProblemsCommands.COPY_AS_TEXT, {
+            isEnabled: () => this.withWidget(undefined, () => true),
+            isVisible: () => this.withWidget(undefined, () => true),


isVisible is always true here (and for EXPORT at line 219), so both entries always show in the context menu even with an empty selection, where execute then no-ops. COPY/COPY_MESSAGE instead hide when nothing is selected (getSelectedMarkerNodes(widget).length > 0). Please align for consistency.

ndoschek · 2026-07-03T12:30:05Z

+        return description ? `${name} ${description}` : name;
+    }
+
+    protected formatMarkerNode(node: MarkerNode): string {


This re-implements the message/source/code/location formatting already done in ProblemWidget.decorateMarkerNode, and the two have already drifted (severity info here vs information there). Consider extracting a shared helper so the copied text and the rendered row can't diverge.

ndoschek · 2026-07-03T12:31:52Z

+            case 1: return 'error';
+            case 2: return 'warning';
+            case 3: return 'info';
+            default: return 'hint';


These severity labels are hardcoded numbers plus untranslated strings. marker.data.severity is a DiagnosticSeverity (already imported in problem-widget.tsx), so please switch on DiagnosticSeverity.Error/.Warning/.Information/.Hint instead of the magic 1/2/3, and localize the returned labels (e.g. nls.localizeByDefault('Error')).

ndoschek · 2026-07-03T12:32:58Z

        this.addToClipboard(messages.join('\n'));
    }

+    protected serializeMarker(marker: ProblemMarker): object {


serializeMarker returns object, which discards all type information for callers (copy, exportProblems). Please define a proper interface for the serialized shape and return that instead — it documents the export/copy format and, combined with the severity fix above, keeps severity typed as DiagnosticSeverity end-to-end:
Something like:

export interface SerializedProblemMarker { resource: string; ... } ... protected serializeMarker(marker: ProblemMarker): SerializedProblemMarker

ndoschek · 2026-07-03T12:39:34Z

+    override toNodeName(node: TreeNode): string {
+        return super.toNodeName(node);
+    }
+
+    override toNodeDescription(node: TreeNode): string {
+        return super.toNodeDescription(node);
+    }


These overrides only call super to make toNodeName/toNodeDescription public so the contribution can reach them. Widening a widget's protected methods just to call them from outside is not good practice.

You can avoid this though. Both base methods just delegate to the LabelProvider (getName / getLongName), which ProblemContribution already injects. So compute the text directly in the contribution and drop both overrides:

protected formatMarkerInfoNode(node: MarkerInfoNode): string { const name = this.labelProvider.getName(node); const description = this.labelProvider.getLongName(node); return description ? `${name} ${description}` : name; }

ndoschek · 2026-07-03T12:44:38Z

+        }
+    }
+
+    protected collectMarkerNodes(nodes: readonly TreeNode[]): MarkerNode[] {


collectMarkerNodes and collectMarkerNodesRecursive are split into two methods for what is really one recursive walk. You can fold them into a single recursive function (seed the Set and recurse in one place), since a MarkerNode never has MarkerNode children anyway.

More generally, this PR now has three separate walks over the same tree: getSelectedMarkerNodes (flat), collectSelectedLinesInOrder, and this pair. It would be worth consolidating the "collect selected marker nodes" logic into one helper that the copy, copy-as-text, and export paths all reuse.

add copy as text, export, and keybinds

88ef86b

Signed-off-by: Roger Gu <r-gu@ti.com>

github-project-automation Bot added this to PR Backlog Jun 25, 2026

github-project-automation Bot moved this to Waiting on reviewers in PR Backlog Jun 25, 2026

Roger-Gu mentioned this pull request Jun 25, 2026

Support export, copy as text, and wire up Ctrl+C and Ctrl+A in Problems view #17706

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ndoschek self-requested a review June 26, 2026 08:05

ndoschek requested changes Jul 3, 2026

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github-project-automation Bot moved this from Waiting on reviewers to Waiting on author in PR Backlog Jul 3, 2026

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add copy as text, export, and keybinds#17717

add copy as text, export, and keybinds#17717
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	iconClass: codicon('arrow-circle-up', true)
	iconClass: codicon('arrow-circle-up')

		const output = selectionsArray.length === 1
		? JSON.stringify(serializedProblems[0], undefined, '\t')

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What it does

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Roger-Gu commented Jun 25, 2026 •

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