LinkLoops .NET

LinkLoops .NET is a powerful VS Code extension designed specifically for .NET developers (Blazor, Razor Pages, ASP.NET Core MVC). It scans your workspace for CSS and JS assets, analyzes where and how they are referenced, and reports on Unused, Used, and Uncertain files—helping you optimize your bundle size, prune legacy stylesheets/scripts, and clean up build artifacts.

🚀 Features

1. Unified Webview Panel with Real-Time Filtering

• Access a dedicated activity bar view showing assets grouped under Unused, Uncertain, and Used folders.
• Filter files in real time using the embedded search box directly inside the panel, which styles itself dynamically to match your active VS Code theme.
• Double-click to open any asset, or expand a used asset to see and jump directly to the specific referencing line inside your pages.

2. Restructured 5-Level File Grouping

To keep large multi-project solutions neat, files are nested under a logical folder hierarchy:

1. Category Folder (Unused Assets, Uncertain, Used Assets)
2. Project Folder (grouped automatically by project subfolder containing wwwroot)
3. Asset Type Folder (CSS Files, JS Files)
4. Asset Files (with clean file icons and reference counts)
5. Reference Lines (showing target filename and line number)

3. Blazor RCL _content/ Virtual Path Resolution

• Automatically resolves Blazor Razor Class Library (RCL) virtual content URLs (e.g., ~/_content/MyComponents/css/theme.css) to the physical file residing inside the library project's wwwroot/ folder.
• Ensures library components' styles and scripts are correctly resolved and marked as Used without generating false positives.

4. bundleconfig.json Integration

• Parses your .NET Core bundleconfig.json configuration files.
• If a bundle output file is referenced in a page, the extension automatically propagates the reference back to all input source files, marking them as Used.
• Listens for file changes to bundleconfig.json to automatically trigger full workspace re-indexing.

5. Minification Linkage & Orphan Detection

• counterpart Mapping: If a page references a minified asset (e.g. site.min.js), the extension links that reference back to its source file counterpart (site.js) to mark it as Used.
• Orphan Detection: Identifies .min.css or .min.js files that lack a corresponding source file (indicating orphaned build outputs left behind during old compiles). These are tagged as [orphaned minified] in the tree.

6. Workspace Reports

• Export detailed summary reports in Markdown and CSV formats.
• Reports include summary statistics (total assets, unused counts, file sizes saved), itemized list of unused files sorted by size (descending), and flags for orphaned minified outputs.

7. Inline CodeLens Indicators

• Shows inline CodeLens overlays at the top of CSS and JS files:
  • Unused: ⚠ No references found — safe to remove
  • Used: 🔗 N references — Layout.cshtml, Page.razor
  • Uncertain: ❓ Can't verify — review manually

📈 Upcoming Features

• Support for additional tech stacks: Provide similar asset scanning for JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, and Java projects.
• Customizable asset grouping: Allow users to define their own hierarchy levels via settings.
• Enhanced report formats: Export reports as HTML and JSON for integration with CI pipelines.
• CI/CD integration: Automatic scanning and reporting as a VS Code task that can run in CI environments.
• Performance optimizations: Incremental scanning with file watchers to reduce re-index time on large workspaces.

⚙️ Configuration Settings

You can customize the scanning behavior in your VS Code settings.json:

• assetUsageFinder.ignorePatterns: An array of glob patterns to exclude from scanning. (Default: ["**/node_modules/**", "**/wwwroot/lib/**"])
• assetUsageFinder.scanMinifiedFiles: Include .min.css and .min.js files in the asset catalog. (Default: false to avoid cluttering with build assets)
• assetUsageFinder.enableCodeLens: Enable or disable inline CodeLens indicator headers at the top of stylesheet/script files. (Default: true)

📦 How to Use

1. Open your .NET workspace folder (containing .csproj or .sln files).
2. Click on the LinkLoops .NET icon in the Activity Bar.
3. Click the Scan button or title bar action to run a workspace indexing scan.
4. Type into the input box to filter results in real time, click items to view/navigate, or click the Generate Report title button to export findings.

📣 Feedback

• Please leave a review on the VS Code Marketplace.
• Suggest feature requests via the GitHub repository issues.