Add a setting for changing the default path for "Open Folder" to be current open folder, not parent dir

[babakfp]

Hi 👋

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes/No

• VS Code Version: 1.88.1 (user setup)
• OS Version: Windows 11 Pro 23H2 - Windows_NT x64 10.0.22631

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Use this config:

   "files.simpleDialog.enable": true,
   "files.dialog.defaultPath": "C:\\Users\\Babak\\Documents",

   You need to change Babak to your OS username.

2. Open an instance of vsCode with no working directory selected.

3. Open the dialog and the Default Path will be selected and its content will be shown.

4. Press the OK button.

5. Now open the dialog again, and you will find yourself in "C:\\Users\\Babak instead of "C:\\Users\\Babak\\Documents"! (this is the problematic part).

The above steps and the steps taken in the below video are different. It may be confusing.

2024-04-23.06-56-11.mp4

How important is this to fix?

Very important because it pisses me off! This damn feature does a simple and single thing, and it does it poorly, lol.

Don't tell me that it's designed this way or it's not fixable!

Fix it ASAP, PLEASE!

[alexr00]

Now open the dialog again, and you will find yourself in "C:\Users\Babak instead of "C:\Users\Babak\Documents"! (this is the problematic part).

Your video, and my testing, show that you end up in "C:\Users\Babak\Documents", which seems correct as "open folder" uses the parent folder of the most recently opened file or folder, which in your case was "C:\Users\Babak\Documents\OhMyPoshThemes". Where were you expecting to end up?

[babakfp]

Where were you expecting to end up?

The CWD, meaning C:\Users\Babak\Documents\OhMyPoshThemes.

---

With the current behavior, If I want to go into a sub-directory in the CWD, I would need to first get back to the CWD (I would need to know the name, how it's spelled, etc), and then type the name of the sub-directory.

With the proposed behavior, if I wanted to do what is currently the default (opening parent directory), I could easily do (ctrl + shift + left arrow) + ((ctrl + x) or backspace).

[alexr00]

We're not going to change this behavior any time soon. As soon as you have a folder open the setting files.dialog.defaultPath doesn't do anything. Instead, the parent folder of the most recent folder is used. For fun, I went back to see when this was first added and it's at least since fa40b32.

It sounds like you just don't like how the default path for "Open Folder" works.

[alexr00]

Renaming to make a feature request for a setting that changes the path for Open Folder.

[vscodenpa]

This feature request is now a candidate for our backlog. The community has 60 days to upvote the issue. If it receives 20 upvotes we will move it to our backlog. If not, we will close it. To learn more about how we handle feature requests, please see our documentation.

Happy Coding!

[babakfp]

The point of files.dialog.defaultPath is to set a default path. And it does what it is supposed to do. The suggested behavior has nothing to do with this option.

I hate it! It's one of the stupid, annoying things with vsCode. I would even say this behavior shouldn't even exist!

I want this to be a FIX, not a feature request that is going to take years to be added, and it's not even going to be the default, which means a lot of other users are going to suffer too, and some of them are going to find the option to fix it and some others are going to create duplicate issues.

I don't see a single reason to keep the current behavior.

Finding people to upvote these sorts of things is very difficult, and the amount of upvotes depends on whether the person is an influencer with lots of viewers or not and how good they are at marketing it. Even if it reaches 20 votes, that doesn't mean it's going to be added.

I expect vsCode to at least take the small steps to improve DX ASAP!

[alexr00]

The current behavior makes sense as a default. It is atypical to open a folder that is within the folder you currently have open. If your workflow involves frequently opening a folder that's within the current folder, then that's what a setting is for 🤷‍♀️.

If it's an important feature for you then PRs are welcome! I expect this would be a small change somewhere around here:

vscode/src/vs/workbench/services/dialogs/browser/abstractFileDialogService.ts

Lines 79 to 94 in 2f58425

	async defaultFolderPath(schemeFilter = this.getSchemeFilterForWindow(), authorityFilter = this.getAuthorityFilterForWindow()): Promise<URI> {
	// Check for last active file root first...
	let candidate = this.historyService.getLastActiveWorkspaceRoot(schemeFilter, authorityFilter);
	// ...then for last active file
	if (!candidate) {
	candidate = this.historyService.getLastActiveFile(schemeFilter, authorityFilter);
	}
	if (!candidate) {
	return this.preferredHome(schemeFilter);
	}
	return resources.dirname(candidate);
	}

[babakfp]

Alright. Thank you 🌸. I'll try to get the votes, then try to contribute.