Clear-Host command scrolls instead of clearing history

[daleecc]

System Details

• Operating system name and version: Windows 7 (64-bit)
• VS Code version: 1.10.2
• PowerShell extension version: 0.10.0
• Output from $PSVersionTable:

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      5.0.10586.117
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion                   10.0.10586.117
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion              3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

Issue Description

When executing the clear command, the action is to scroll to the top of the terminal rather than clearing the previous output.

After the next command executed, it can be difficult to find the beginning of the output as Ctrl+Home goes to the beginning of the session, not the last clear.

[daviwil]

This issue on the VS Code repo discusses the limitation in the integrated terminal: xtermjs/xterm.js#106

[daviwil]

Ok, I have come up with a way to fix this. VS Code provides a command called workbench.action.terminal.clear which clears the terminal output correctly. I just need to wire up Clear-Host command so that it ultimately invokes that command in VS Code. Will get this fixed for the next release!

[KristofStroobants]

Is the fix implemented in the latest Insiders update? I'm still having this issue. Currently working on a scraping project and this makes me rotate back to ISE :'(

[KristofStroobants]

Every update of the Insiders version i hope to see this fixed, no joy so far :'-(

[D3MaxT]

I would love to see this fix implemented in the next release as well! With this fixed and the #region support coming in the next VSCode release, I can finally switch to VSCode full time for PowerShell!

Thank you for the hard work!

[daviwil]

This is a bug in VS Code unfortunately. To verify, start a new VS Code Integrated Terminal with powershell.exe, run Get-Process and then Clear-Host, observe that the screen clearing behavior is exactly the same as in the PowerShell extension's Integrated Console.

I'll have to discuss this with the VS Code team to get it resolved since there's nothing that can be done from within the PowerShell extension to fix it.

[D3MaxT]

Ah, I thought I read earlier that you had a fix for this. No worries. Hopefully there is an open issue for this in their repo.

Thank you for all your hard work!

[KristofStroobants]

So i suppose this means that there is no ETA on this issue? Is there any other issue i can track ?

[KristofStroobants]

Hi, is there any way to track if this is being handled? This is the last deal-breaking bug for me.
I'd like to move over to VSCode but can't because of this bug :-|

[KristofStroobants]

@daviwil Hi David, i'm sorry to keep going on about this. But i just had a hard time again with big chunks of data because of the host not clearing. Is there any ETA on this? Is this being look at at this moment?
I really wish they fixed it, then i could leave behind the ISE once and for all.

[dragonwolf83]

@Cookiecrumbles please go upvote on xtermjs/xterm.js#106. This is an upstream issue that has to be fixed in VS Code's terminal.

As a workaround, there is a key shortcut ctrl+k that will clear the terminal completely when it has focus.

[stigjoergensen]

Cant it be implemented as a Ctrl+k type of work-around until its fixed?

[rkeithhill]

This is an issue with VSCode as it is the same with the vanilla PowerShell terminal as well as CMD. Please vote up this issue - microsoft/vscode#30638