Visual Code Web Extension

[omdathetkan]

Maintaining a fully featured web code editor is quite a daunting task. Although pybricks code is impressive and hides away a lot of the typical clutter -which is probably good for the target user- it is also a bit limited. For example support for github repositories would be nice.

I know there is a package for offline IDE's, but this can be problematic for school environments, especially with locked down environments which seems pretty typical.

Has anyone considered making a pybricks extension for vscode.dev?
https://code.visualstudio.com/api/extension-guides/web-extensions

This could unlock some other cool features like liveshare:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/liveshare/quickstart/browser-join

[MrGibbage]

So, there are some important differences between VS Code desktop app and vscode.dev web browser experience. The number one difference I see is the lack of a terminal. I don't see any way to get the code onto the hub if you can't use pybricksdev.exe, so that right there is a deal-breaker. Maybe someone else has an idea. My recommendation is to use the desktop app for VS Code, or just stick with the pybricks web editors.

[afarago]

Not yet on web extension, but would be more than possible to do so.
Can you describe in more detail how kids are using currently Pybricks?

until then, you might want to check out:
https://github.com/orgs/pybricks/discussions/2389

[omdathetkan]

Hi @afarago , your vscode extension looks really amazing! I might give it a try.
I think many schools use chromebooks, and even if the laptops are not locked down, not having to deal with dependencies would really lower the barrier to entry.

I can't think of anything that could not be achieved with vs code web.

• Python can be used, with terminal: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/python-web
• All the BLE stuff from pybricks should be portable to an extension.

[dlech]

• All the BLE stuff from pybricks should be portable to an extension.

Assuming you mean from Pybricks Code to a web extension, unfortunately no, due to WebBluetoothCG/web-bluetooth#571

[omdathetkan]

• All the BLE stuff from pybricks should be portable to an extension.

Assuming you mean from Pybricks Code to a web extension, unfortunately no, due to WebBluetoothCG/web-bluetooth#571

I meant as a VSCode for web extension (not a browser extension). I assume the VSCode extensions are just javascript in the end?

[dlech]

Right. The way VS Code web extensions work, the code is running in a web worker, so the Web Bluetooth API to request access to a device doesn't work. There is support for Web USB/HID/Serial in VS Code to allow it to work with web extensions, but Bluetooth support is lacking.

[omdathetkan]

oh... thats a bummer... thanks for explaining. Hopefully it will be fixed one day.

[afarago]

oh... thats a bummer... thanks for explaining. Hopefully it will be fixed one day.

Yes, unfortunately that is the case. Even from a webview from within the web extension this seems to be blocker for now.

Once we have USB released for the Pybricks firmware I will be able to add that to the extension, whenever that happens.