Processing Language Server - VSCode Extension
Description
This project is an LSP extension that enables writing and running Processing sketches on Windows. It involves running Processing in headless mode along with a client-server JSON-RPC connection for LSP features. Both running sketches and LSP features have been tested on Windows, while LSP features have also been tested on Linux.
[!NOTE]
The full feature set of this LSP extension is currently compatible only with Windows. For more information, go to the Limitations section.
Run the extension in Windows
- Download and install the dependencies:
- Ensure
python >=3 is installed on your machine,
here.
- Download openJDK, and make sure it is added to your system's environment variables.
- Download the Extension from processing-language-server-extension
- Create a sketch file within a sketch directory that shares the same name as the directory. You can create a sketchbook containing multiple sketch directories to run multiple sketches simultaneously.
- Click the run button in the top-right corner to execute a sketch.
Tutorial
Features
- On-Hover descriptions
- Syntax Highlighting
- Go-To-Definition
- Go-To-References
- Code Completion
- Running sketches
- Sketch error detection
Installation
Build Instructions
git clone --branch Development https://github.com/diyaayay/processing-language-server-extension.git
cd processing-language-server-extension/
Run the script dependency.bat through any terminal (e.g., in Windows Powershell, run .\dependency.bat)
npm install
npm run watch
This project is currently under development. The default development branch is Development. To test, create a sketch directory. The sketch must exist in a directory with the same name as the sketch file itself (e.g., Sketch101/Sketch101.pde).
[!NOTE]
- If you run into any errors while installing, make sure you have
python >=3 installed on your machine,
Download Python.
- If you run into any errors while installing, make sure you have
openJdk 7 installed for the node modules dependency
npm i java. Refer to the following link to download it: Download openJDK, and it should be added to your system's environment variables.
Limitations
- The LSP features work cross-platform, but sketch execution is currently limited to Windows due to the specific symlink setup for the Windows distribution.
- The large size of the extension is due to custom dependencies downloaded via the
dependency.bat script. The dependency.zip contains the Processing distribution for Windows, which is extracted into jre/deps.
- This limitation is due to the extension's JSON-RPC architecture, which enables client-server communication for IntelliSense features. A layered structure was established to connect the protocol, server, client, extension, and Processing distribution, using symlinks to package Processing and execute sketches from the sketch runner.
- Future development could use similar setups for other platforms to expand compatibility.
Contributors
This Project was developed as a part of the 2024 New Beginnings (pr05) Grant from the Processing Foundation, aimed at creating a Language Server Protocol (LSP) extension for Processing sketches (.pde) and enabling sketch execution within VSCode. The project was mentored by Sam Lavigne and advised by Justin Gitlin.
It is based and inspired by a number of prior work:
I would like to express my gratitude to the developers of the prior work, my mentors, and my fellow open-source contributor friends who have continuously supported and helped me along the way.
