Quick Run

Purpose

Purpose: Create a way to use shortnames for functions.

Example

In settings.json we define:

"quickrun.commands": [
  {
    "shortcut": "br",
    "cmd": "editor.action.jumpToBracket",
    "description": "Go to Bracket"
  }
]

Then running "Quick Run Command" opens a text box. Entering the shortname "br" will directly execute the given command (in this case editor.action.jumpToBracket) without having to press enter.

Shortnames

For obvious reasons no shortname should be a a part (starting from the beginning) of another shortname, otherwise the longer shortname would become unreachable.

Example: Using the shortname "br" and "bra" would make "bra" unreachable since after typing "br" the command we have assigned to "br" would immediately be run. This is intended behavior and saved us from having to confirm via Enter.

In case this does not some favourable to you please fork the github repo and change the way the function quickRunCommand is implemented.

General

This extension allows you to quickly run commands by specifying a shortcut name. In my opinion VS Code really lacks an easy mechanism to define Aliases for command names, I'm amazed that such an advanced and polished product is missing such a basic feature (if I'm wrong please don't hesitate to correct my but as of my knowdlege the only way to create short names for commands is to use extensions).

Using the command palette is often sufficient and it is quite efficent but there's no guarantee it will directly jump to the correct command and you still have to press enter. For example even if you have defined a command under the name 'gg' (as a shortcut to run git-graph from the the git-graph extension) using the command palette and typing gg might jump other suggestions first (e.g. "Toggle between dark and light themes"). The mechanism is quite smart and will learn from your input and selections but for me it is desirable to be able to run certain commands via shortnames in a way that will guarantee they are run and even without having to confirm with enter.

Specifying commands in settings.json

The commands the extension can run are specified in the global settings.json file. In later versions I might add a way to add certain settings to the workkspace settings.json files and have the two lists merged, but currently there is only the global list of commands.

Each command has the fields shortcut, cmd and description. In package.json all three are declared as required, so in case you don't want a description just use an empty string.

"quickrun.commands": [
  {
    "shortcut": "br",
    "cmd": "editor.action.jumpToBracket",
    "description": "Go to Bracket"
  },
  {
    "shortcut": "kk",
    "cmd": "editor.action.jumpToBracket",
    "description": "Go to Bracket"
  },
  {
    "shortcut": "gg",
    "cmd": "git-graph.view",
    "description": "Git graph view"
  },
]

Keybinding for quickRunCommand (adjust as you like)

{
  "key": "f3",
  "command": "quickrun.quickRunCommand"
}

or (recently ctrl+; seems quicker to me)":

{
  "key": "ctrl+;",
  "command": "quickrun.quickRunCommand"
}