r.runCommandWithSelectionOrWord availability

[MikeLydeamore]

I have used the r.runCommandWithSelectionOrWord pretty extensively in VSCode, mainly for working with targets. Is there an equivalent in positron?

I know I can use workbench.action.executeCode.console but I don't seem to be able to pass in a highlighted word into the command.

[nstrayer]

We dont currently have this functionality, but you inspired me and I made a (draft) PR for this.
#5784
It's pretty similar to the functionality that we have with running the selection with the keyboard shortcut. You want it as a command so you can script it?

[nstrayer]

Actually I was incorrect. We do have this already, no need for my PR! The command is
workbench.action.positronConsole.executeCode. This is the command that gets run with the command + enter keyboard shortcut!

[MikeLydeamore]

Is there a way for me to include the highlighted text in the command? For example, I'd like to do

targets::tar_load(selected_symbol)

My understanding of workbench.action.positronConsole.executeCode is that I can't use it as an argument to a function.

With the vscode-R extension I can use

"command": "r.runCommandWithSelectionOrWord",
"when": "editorTextFocus",
"args": "targets::tar_load($$)"

[jennybc]

We don't currently expose workbench.action.executeCode.console in way that "just works" for interpolating text, like the current selection or whatnot.

As an experiment, I put this in my keybindings.json file:

[ ...
{
    "key": "Cmd+Shift+S",
    "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.console",
    "when": "editorTextFocus",
    "args": {
        "langId": "r",
        "code": "str(${selectedText})",
        "focus": true
    }
},
...]

But $selectedText does not get substituted into a custom command like this. If I selected the name of an object and execute the above, I see:

> str(${selectedText})
Error:
! unexpected '$' in "str($"

But I think this is along the lines of what you want, yeah? You want to be able to use something like this variable substitution mechanism with executeCode.console:

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/variables-reference

[MikeLydeamore]

Yes, that's right.

My understanding of the variable substitution page is that it only works in tasks, not keybindings though, which is why the substitution isn't working.

[jennybc]

I know. I just wanted to get very concrete about the ask.

[juliasilge]

I opened #5797 to track and prioritize this feature request. Thanks @MikeLydeamore! 🙌

[mskyttner]

Just wanted to say that it would be great to be able to select text in a .sql file and use a keyboard shortcut (like Shift+Enter or something that doesn't clash with Ctrl+Enter) to send it to the Terminal (not Console) where for example the duckdb prompt would execute whatever is sent there.

I tried to set it up hoping to get some hints for the sql dialect but the vscode instructions (files.associations) I was looking at didn't seem to work in Positron

"files.associations": {
    "*.sql": "sql"
}

I think I succeeded with making a setting like this but it appears the "workbench.action.terminal" isn't really the Terminal but the Console:

{
  "key": "shift+enter",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.sendSequence",
  "args": { "text": "${selectedText}\\n" },
  "when": "editorTextFocus && terminalFocus"
}

[juliasilge]

@mskyttner can you add some of these details of what you'd like to do to #5251? It's a bit different than the original request here in this discussion (terminal vs. console).