CODEWITHSUNDEEP
visual-studio-code
Joe Casadonte
Joe Casadonte

Reputation: 16859

Can I have VS Code skip opening previous workspaces one time only?

I use many VS Code workspaces throughout the day. Most of them are backed by directories on NFS-mounted drives, which are only mounted while I'm VPN'd in to my employer's network. Opening VS Code while not VPN'd in will cause all of my windows to close, leaving me with blank/empty workspaces, and then I have to set them all back up again in the morning. It only takes a few minutes to do, but I'm lazy and it's not neat; I like things neat. I know that I can start VS Code without any workspaces using the -n option, which is great, but then the next time I start up the editor for real (i.e. for work purposes), all of my workspaces need to be reopened again (see previous statement re: I'm lazy and I like things neat).

Is there a way to indicate that I want to start VS Code without any project just this one time, and then the next time I start I want all of my old workspaces to reopen as normal? Alternately, does anyone know where the state information is stored and how to edit it? I have no qualms about saving it off and then restoring it after I'm done.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 113

Answers (1)

Joe Casadonte
Joe Casadonte

Reputation: 16859

Absent any miracle solution, I've at least found the correct file to manipulate: the storage.json file, which on MacOS is found at:

~/Library/Application Support/Code/storage.json

I wrote a Perl script to do the manipulation. When I want to go "offline" it reads in the JSON file, loops through the opened windows, identifies the ones I don't want, and removes them using jq, then launches VS Code. When I'm ready to go back "online", I read a backup of the original file looking for the windows I previously removed, adds them back in (also using jq), and then launches VS Code.

The Perl script is a bit rough around the edges to be posted publicly, but people might find the jq helpful. To delete, you want to identify the windows to be removed as (zero-based) indexes in the array, and then delete them with the following:

jq '. | del(.windowsState.openedWindows[1,2,5])' '/Users/me/backups/online-storage.json' >'/Users/me/Library/Application Support/Code/storage.json'

If you want to add them back in at some point, you extract the full JSON bits from the backup file, and then use the following command to append them to the back of the array:

jq '.windowsState.openedWindows += [{"backupPath":"...",...,"workspaceIdentifier": {...}}, {"backupPath":"...",...,"workspaceIdentifier": {...}}, {"backupPath":"...",...,"workspaceIdentifier": {...}}]' '/Users/me/backups/offline-storage.json' >'/Users/me/Library/Application Support/Code/storage.json'

The inserted JSON is elided for clarity; you'll want to include the full JSON strings, of course. I don't know what significance the ordering has, so pulling them out of the middle of the array and appending them to the end of the array will likely have some consequence; it's not significant for my purposes, but YMMV.

Upvotes: 1

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