Audio bell does not work in integrated terminal

[jhpratt]

• VSCode Version: 1.22.1 (commit 950b8b0d37a9b7061b6f0d291837ccc4015f5ecd)
• OS Version: Ubuntu 17.10

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Open an integrated terminal
2. Type echo "\a"

Assuming your OS is configured to allow TTY, you should hear a bell. In a normal terminal, this works fine. In code's, it does not.

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

[Tyriar]

Looks like there's an issue with the bell in the packages version of VS Code (not in the dev build):

Uncaught (in promise) DOMException: Unable to decode audio data

[Tyriar]

This may be related to Electron https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=409402, should verify after we upgrade to Electron 2.

[Tyriar]

Not fixed in Electron 2?

[DrSensor]

I have the same problem with this in my machine:

Version: 1.31.1
Commit: 1b8e8302e405050205e69b59abb3559592bb9e60
Date: 2019-02-12T02:19:29.629Z
Electron: 3.1.2
Chrome: 66.0.3359.181
Node.js: 10.2.0
V8: 6.6.346.32
OS: Linux x64 4.19.13-1-MANJARO

(Plan to use this ASCII to ring some task when the compilation is finish 😹)
Maybe make the beep sound can be configured (like in KDE Konsole in my case) would fix it.

[kvharish]

Hi, any idea when this will be fixed?

I am trying to add a bell sound at the end of my grunt task. It works fine in default terminal but not in the vscode integrated terminal.

Version: 1.33.1 (1.33.1)
Commit: 51b0b28134d51361cf996d2f0a1c698247aeabd8
Date: 2019-04-11T08:14:39.158Z
OS - macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)

[jsejcksn]

I can also reproduce this issue in macOS with

echo -ne '\007'

VS Code: 1.34.0
macOS: 10.14.5

[matchu]

I'm seeing this too.

Even with terminal.integrated.enableBell enabled, running printf "\a" in the VS Code Integrated Terminal triggers no sound, despite the same command triggering a sound in my OS terminal.

MacOS 10.14.5

[Tyriar]

This appears to work in the demo so I suspect it's actually a bug in vscode rather than an upstream issue.

[Tyriar]

Works fine out of sources, in the product build I see this:

ERR Unable to decode audio data

Probably related to CSP

[Tyriar]

This is not related to CSP but because we strip out ffmpeg.

[Tyriar]

xtermjs/xterm.js#2506

[Tyriar]

@tjx666 it was never lacking shell integration, it's an issue with Electron sound. We seem to have worked around those since audio cues are now supported, this just needs someone to investigate and create a sound (which I've requested internally).

[FreTimmerman]

FYI: it's not just the sound
in a normal terminal on macOS, the command printf "\a" or echo "\a" will (besides beeping) make the terminal icon jump up in the dock, and add a notification bubble to it.

the built-in vscode terminal does none of those.

another "fun" workaround would be to use say beep on macOs 😅

[Bauxitedev]

On Windows you can use this as a workaround:

powershell.exe '[console]::beep(261.6,700)'

This will play a short beep sound, even when you're remoting into WSL.

E.g. for my Rust webserver, I use this command to auto-compile the project whenever any file changes. If the compilation succeeds, the webserver starts and I hear a short beep. If the compilation fails, I hear a longer, lower beep.

cargo watch -d 0.1 -s "cargo build --release && powershell.exe '[console]::beep(1000,100)' && cargo run --release || powershell.exe '[console]::beep(400,700)'" 

[tjx666]

I see last release of vscode fix some accessbility issues, the audio bell should also be a accessbility issue. I think this is a welcome feature but not hard to implement. Any plan to implement it?

@Tyriar

[Tyriar]

@tjx666 I agree, this was mislabeled. I was waiting on sounds from another MS team before continuing which seems to have stalled so I pinged them again.

[bobmagicii]

it's been a long road. getting from there to here.
-rest of the enterprise theme song-

[nnWhisperer]

Thank you. How long would it take to have it in the main Vscode version(not insiders) ?

[meganrogge]

we will release this version in a few weeks @nnWhisperer

[jivanpal]

Is this supposed to be resolved as of 1.72.2 (commit d045a5e)? If so, it is not working for me on macOS 10.15.7; running printf '\a' in the VSCode terminal does nothing.

[meganrogge]

You need to opt in w the setting for it to work (it's off by default)

[0xDECAFC0FFEE]

The audio bell works on my computer!
Thanks for your work - this has been a huge pain point for my workflow for years.

[matthewpoer]

Found myself on Version: 1.72.2 and can confirm that enabling the setting does in fact give you a bell sound :D

Enable with Cmd + Shift + P, search/select Preferences: Open Settings (UI), search for "bell" and check on the "Terminal > Integrated: Enable Bell" toggle.

Can also use

"terminal.integrated.enableBell": true

Moving forward printf '\a' will give you a chime.

[jivanpal]

Thanks all, it's working now. However, it doesn't use the alert sound I have configured on my Mac ("Glass" ding in System Sounds), and the "bloop" sound that VSCode uses is much too quiet; I have to turn my volume up to 100% for it to be at the same level as the Glass sound at 25%. Is there a way to adjust the volume level and/or the audio file that is played?

[denishowew]

My old work-around on mac was: osascript -e "beep beep beep".

[FreTimmerman]

i can confirm printf '\a' or echo '\a' will give a chime. BUT:

it is NOT the system chime, NOR does it bump the VSCode icon in the dock, NOR does it add a notification icon to VSCode in the dock. (terminal does all this, see icon attached)

to reproduce in terminal, you might have to test it using a sleep, so you have time to unfocus the terminal before it rings the bell:

sleep 5 && printf '\a' and then quickly focus another app within 5 seconds

[jivanpal]

@denishowew For getting notified when a command/script finishes, I've been using say for some time, as suggested by others here. However, the chime/alert sound plays in many other situations, too, such as when a tab-autocomplete or history reverse-search (^R) fails.