RStudio addin support

The VSCode-R extension is compatible with a subset of RStudio Addins via an {rstudioapi} emulation layer. Nearly all of the document inspection and manipulation API is supported, although with some notable concessions:

• VSCode always directs addin text output destined for the "active document" to the active or last active text editor, and never the active terminal/console.

There are two main ways to launch an addin:

1. via the addin picker, launched from the command palette as "R: Launch RStudio Addin", or via a keybinding to r.launchAddinPicker.
2. via a direct keybinding to the addin R functions. These can be found by looking in the inst/rstudion/addins.dcf file of the addin-providing-package's source. For example to bind a key to Reprex the current selection, you would configure a keybinding like:

{
  "description": "reprex selection",
  "key": "ctrl+;",
  "command": "r.runCommand",
  "when": "editorTextFocus",
  "args": "reprex::reprex_selection()"
}

Enabling RStudio Addin Support

To enable RStudio addin support set the following options in your ~/.Rprofile:

options(vsc.rstudioapi = TRUE)

Place the option above any call to source() that refers to init.R in the .Rprofile. Unless using self-managed R sessions, init.R should be called automatically by the extension.

Installing addins

Unlike RStudio the VSCode addin registry is regenrated every time a new R session is attached, not when a new package is installed. You can use the .vsc.attach() to re-attach an active R session, or rstudioapi::restartSession() to restart the R session and repopulate installed addins.

Shiny Gadgets

Addins that launch Shiny gadgets and call supported functions can work, although for best results, consider setting: options(vsc.viewer = "Beside") to have the gadget open up alongside the active text editor.

Known compatible packages

Packages listed here have been verified working in VSCode.

• {AlignAssign}
• {blogdown}
  • Live preview in VSCode works but viewer colour theme interacts with site colour theme. Choose a light theme for light site preview or explicitly set the website background color, e.g., body {background-color: white;}, in CSS files.
• {citr}
• {codegrip}
  • currently only addin_reshape()
• {datapasta} dev version
• {docthis}
• {equisse}
• {fnmate}
• {gistfo}
• {prefixer}
• {remedy}
• {reprex}
• {sinew}
  • The interactive oxygen generator polls the active document_context, which is glitchy but can work.
• {styler}

Implemented functions

{rstudioapi} Functions in this section have been reimplemented to work with VSCode:

• getActiveDocumentContext
• getSourceEditorContext
• isAvailable
• verifyAvailable
• insertText
• modifyRange
• readPreference
• readRStudioPreference
• hasFun
• findFun
• showDialog
• navigateToFile
• setSelectionRanges
• setCursorPosition
• setDocumentContents
• documentSave
• documentId
• documentPath
• documentSaveAll
• documentNew
• getActiveProject
• restartSession
• viewer

Unimplemented functions

Functions not above that need to interact with the IDE to work have been reassigned to stop with an error:

This {rstudioapi} function is not currently implemented for VSCode.

Developer notes

The best way to check if an IDE API function is supported in a way that is supported by both RStudio and VSCode is to call hasFun or findFun. This will work as expected for all implemented functions above.

rstudioapi offers the ability to assert certain version numbers of the IDE whilst using these functions with a version_needed argument. This is not supported by VSCode at present.