CSV Colorizer

A Visual Studio Code extension that colors different parts of CSV files based on column position and content types, making it easier to read and analyze CSV data.

Features

• Automatically colorizes CSV files based on column position
• Intelligently detects and colors:
  • ID columns (usually numbers in the first column)
  • Name columns
  • Email columns (detects @ symbol)
  • Department/category columns
• Customizable colors for each column type
• Works with any CSV file format

Example

When viewing a CSV file like:

1,edwin,edwin@example.com,Engineering
2,maria,maria@example.com,Marketing
3,john,john@example.com,Sales

Each column will be colored differently, making it easier to visually scan and understand the data.

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.60.0 or higher
• Go 1.16 or higher (needed to build the language server)

Extension Settings

This extension provides the following settings:

• csvColorizer.idColor: Color for ID columns (default: #FF5555)
• csvColorizer.nameColor: Color for name columns (default: #50FA7B)
• csvColorizer.emailColor: Color for email columns (default: #8BE9FD)
• csvColorizer.departmentColor: Color for department columns (default: #BD93F9)

Installation

1. Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace
2. Open any CSV file
3. The extension will automatically colorize the columns

How It Works

This extension uses a combination of:

1. Semantic token providers in VS Code to apply colors
2. A Go-based language server that analyzes CSV structure
3. TextMate grammar for basic syntax highlighting
4. Content-based heuristics to identify column types

Building the Extension

Prerequisites

• Node.js and npm
• Go programming language
• Visual Studio Code Extension CLI (vsce)

Build Steps

1. Clone the repository
2. Run npm install to install dependencies
3. The Go binary will be automatically built during installation
4. Run npm run compile to compile the TypeScript code
5. Run npm run package to create a VSIX package

Development

The extension consists of two main parts:

1. TypeScript Extension: Handles the VS Code integration
2. Go Language Server: Analyzes CSV structure and determines column types

The Go server can be run in two modes:

• As a directly called binary (default implementation)
• As an HTTP server (more robust for long-running analysis)

License

MIT