Allow static contribution of status bar items

[mjbvz]

Problem

The LiveShare extension is currently * activated. I believe the main reason for this is so they can contribute a Live Share button in the status bar

This is currently only possible to do in code

Proposal

Add a new contribution point that lets extensions contribute a static item (potentially with a when clause) to the status bar. Clicking on this item should trigger a command, which can then activate the full extension

/cc @isidorn @bamurtaugh @jramsay @joyceerhl

[mjbvz]

Other options for the LiveShare team to consider:

• Put the LiveShare button somewhere else in the UI?

  We already support static contributions to various menus in the editor. Could LiveShare use the editor toolbar menu or maybe the settings gear menu?

• Live share already has an activity bar item, do we also need something in the status bar?

  Not sure if this view is enabled by default or not though

• Ship a minimal * activated extension that only provides the status bar item. Clicking on the item can then activate the full live share extension

  This would work but is likely too complicated

[jrieken]

Add a new contribution point that lets extensions contribute a static item

I would suggest something even simpler which is a just a menu identifier for the status bar. So, LS would contribute an ordinary command and place it into that special menu. That's similar to the statusBar/remoteIndicator-menu

[joyceerhl]

We have extension samples which are * activated for the same reason https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-extension-samples/blob/76c78944b51a35bf30a248fe45fe99684f9e26dc/basic-multi-root-sample/package.json#L20

[jramsay]

Live Share moved away from * activation in the latest release: 1.0.5788. We were able to replace * with onStartupFinished.

If it is preferable to only activate on demand then the Activity Bar icon also appears to be an issue.

I tested it out against the latest Insiders and our Live Share Icon only shows up in the activity bar after we've activated. Is this the expected behavior? I was thinking it would show up even when we aren't activated as it is a contribution point in the package.json:

Then when the user clicks on the Activity Bar icon it would trigger activation to load the views.

[sandy081]

View container in the activity bar will be visible only if there are active views in it. I suspect in this case there are no active views in this view container. When the extension got activated, views in this view containers are also enabled by some when contexts set on these views. I also assume these views are contributed the same extension and has when contexts.

[jramsay]

Revisiting this item. As per @sandy081's comment we were able to get the Live Share icon to show up in the activity bar pre- activation which is great! We're also able to add the Share & Join options to the remote indicator menu pre-activation. Those are still quite hidden though.

Looking at telemetry, approx. 42% of our collaboration sessions are initiated via the Live Share status bar button. Given the usage of this button is so high, removing it would have quite an impact on the current user experience.

Are you open to allowing static contribution of status bar items (pre-activation)? If this isn't desirable for all extensions perhaps for approved extensions only?

[jrieken]

@jramsay is LS's status bar contribution in any way dynamic or always the same label, icon, command etc? I am asking because I wonder if it's enough to have a status bar menu to which commands can be registered (analog to other menus) or if we need the full deal with a dedicated contribution point, an activation event etc pp

[jramsay]

@jrieken: it is dynamic in that the Live Share button only shows when our extension is activated and the user is not in a Live Share session. When they are the host or guest of a session it is replaced by either Shared or Joined and when pressed has different dropdown options:

Shared

Joined

I think as long as we can keep the current behavior where the Live Share button is prominent in the status bar even when our extension isn't activated that would be great, given it has such high usage:

[a-stewart]

We would also find it useful to have the ability to contribute static statusbar items without needing to have the extension active on startup

[jrieken]

@a-stewart can you share more about your use-case for this API?

[a-stewart]

Hi,

Sorry for not replying to this - I missed the comment notification.

The proposed API looks ideal - one thing I would ask though is if it would be possible to add a when clause to the status bar item to configure when it is shown.

I guess something to consider would be how this interacts with .show() and .hide() when called from the code.

[tjx666]

git graph extension also face the same issue: mhutchie/vscode-git-graph#377