Configuring Default Browser for Shiny

[keatonwilson]

Hi there,

Loving the new IDE and decided to take a stab at a Shiny for Python project (normally an R user here) to learn try and learn two things simultaneously! I'm hoping to get some help configuring the default browser that an app opens in.

Step 1: Run shiny run in the terminal
Step 2: Helpful dialogue box pops up at the top asking how I want to open the app (see screenshot)

Step 3: I click on 'Configure default opener... which opens up by settings.json
Step 4: settings.json opens to a new property, but I can't figure out how to make it open with Chrome (I'm on a Mac). Abbreviated json below:

{
    "workbench.colorTheme": "Default Dark Modern",
    "python.defaultInterpreterPath": "a/path/that/is/blocked/out/for/anonymity",
    "git.autofetch": true,
    "workbench.externalUriOpeners": {
    
     ## Config points me to here!

    },
    "editor.cursorSmoothCaretAnimation": "on",
    "editor.fontLigatures": true,
    "editor.fontFamily": "Fira Code",
    "editor.rulers": [
        80, 100, 120
    ],
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
    "[python]": {
        "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter"
    },
}

Has anyone else had success with getting this set up? Thanks in advance!

[juliasilge]

In terms of editing the JSON, sometimes you might have better luck using the UI version of editing your settings:

The JSON that creates is like this:

    "workbench.externalUriOpeners": {
        "http": "positron.viewer"
    }

However, I don't think doing this will avoid you being prompted to choose among the options, since VS Code and Positron both already provide default openers. Take a look here:

   // This opener has default priority for this URI.
   // This will result in the user being prompted since VS Code always has
   // its own default opener.

I think the best way to think about this is that you already have several default openers (your external browser, Positron's Viewer, VS Code's Simple Browser). You could add another default opener, but then you would just have more to choose from; it doesn't become the default choice over the other defaults.

Let me know if you have further questions!