README

• README
  • Super Insert for Visual Studio Code
  • Why another insert numbers extension?
  • Installation
  • Usage
    • Command: Super insert
    • Command: Super insert: Shortcut
    • Command: Super insert: History
  • Input
  • Format
    • Some of the Number format
    • Conditional format
    • Some of the Date format
    • Pre-defined sequences
  • Settings
    • customSequences example
    • shortcuts example
  • Trouble Shooting
    • Nothing output with some formats
  • Development
    • Build
    • Debug tests
  • Thanks
  • For more information or bug reports

Super Insert for Visual Studio Code

An extension to insert sequences, numbers, uuids or dates.

Why another insert numbers extension?

There are already quite a few extensions with similar features, but I prefer Excel’s formatting approach — it’s more intuitive, especially for non-programmers.

Furthermore, those extensions is not easy to extend, especially If I only want to insert same simple fixed sequences, e.g. Monday/Thuesday etc.

So I created my own tool. It supports:

• Excel-like format
• Add custom sequences by only configuring with vscode settings
• Random numbers
• Dates

Installation

Search "Super Insert" in vscode Extensions pane or access and download from Visual Studio Marketplace

Usage

Command: Super insert

Insert sequences, numbers or dates

• Keybindings: (ctrl|cmd)+alt+n

• Basic numbers

  

• Decimals/Fraction numbers

  

• Random numbers

  

• Dates

  

• Sequences

  

Command: Super insert: Shortcut

Do the insertion with predefined shortcuts

• Keybindings: (ctrl|cmd)+alt+y

  

Command: Super insert: History

Do the insertion from input history, allows editing before run

Input

Format

The format is controlled by a Excel cell format string, i.e. excel's TEXT function.

More please consult examples given in the Excel text function documentation.

Some of the Number format

Exampes:

Counting time examples: e.g. how may hours or minutes for n dates, n is the input number:

Note: Some versions of Excel will output "#####..." for negative numbers with format "[h] m" and "[h] m s"

Conditional format

Conditions can be specified in square brackets, like this: [<comparator> <numberic constant>]<format>, e.g. [>3]# (means value greater than 3 will be output as integer, that is 3.1 will be converted to "3", but 1.1 will remains "1.1"), which is called conditional format.

A format can contain multiple conditional formats, seperated by semi-colon. e.g. [>3]#;[<2]#.#;0.00 means value greater than 3 will use # format, less than 2 will use #.#, and others 0.00.

comparator listed below:

Example:

Some of the Date format

Examples:

Note: colon (:) must be escaped with backslash (\), because colon is the default seperator in format.

Pre-defined sequences

Note: Consult BuiltInSequences.ts for more.

Settings

All settings are under superinsert property.

customSequences example

"superinsert": {
    "customSequences": [
        {
            "sequence": [
                "风",
                "雷",
                "雨"
            ],
            "caseSensitive": false,
        }
    ],
}

shortcuts example

"superinsert": {
    "shortcuts": [
        {
            "input": "yyyy-MM-dd hh\\:MM\\:ss",
            "label": "date and time"
        },
        {
            "input": "yyyyMMdd",
            "label": "date simple"
        },
        {
            "input": "dddd, dd of mmmm of yyyy",
            "label": "date complex",
            "locale": "zh-CN"
        },
        {
            "input": "rand:1:100:#",
            "label": "random number between 1 and 100"
        },
        {
            "input": "1234:##\\,##",
            "label": "4 digits with comma in the middle"
        }
    ],
}

Trouble Shooting

Nothing output with some formats

Sometimes there is nothing output, you can open OUTPUT panel, and select "Extension Host", there should be some error information, follow it to fix your format.

Examples:

NOTE:

• \n is not support in prompt input, but supported in shortcut mode.

Development

Build

This project depends on a fork repo of datadocs/rose-formatter, for customizations.

So I added the fork repo as submodule, to correctly build it, you need to clone and build the submodule as well.

Below is the example steps:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/QueenKunkun/super-insert.git
cd super-insert

# build the submodule first
cd rose-formatter
npm i
npm run build

# build this extension
cd ..
npm i
npm run package # or debug directly, more information please see vscode's development guide

Debug tests

There are rare cases you want to debug tests, e.g. changing test infrastructures causes no tests to run etc.

To debug tests, it needs some configurations.

launch.json example, note: VSCODE_TEST_OPTIONS is a must env (found after debugging from package.json, maybe there are better ways, e.g. create a custom runner, I will leave with it for now)

{
    "name": "Extension Tests",
    "type": "extensionHost",
    "request": "launch",
    "runtimeExecutable": "${execPath}",
    "args": [
        "--extensionDevelopmentPath=${workspaceFolder}",
        "--extensionTestsPath=/Users/apple/code/kk/github/super-insert/node_modules/@vscode/test-cli/out/runner.cjs"
    ],
    "outFiles": [
        "${workspaceFolder}/out/src/test/**/*.js"
    ],
    "env": {
        "VSCODE_TEST_OPTIONS": "{\"mochaOpts\":{\"_\":[\"/Users/apple/.nvm/versions/node/v22.14.0/bin/node\",\"/Users/apple/code/kk/github/super-insert/node_modules/.bin/vscode-test\"],\"config\":\"nearest .vscode-test.js\",\"skip-extension-dependencies\":false,\"skipExtensionDependencies\":false,\"jobs\":19,\"j\":19,\"slow\":75,\"s\":75,\"timeout\":2000,\"t\":2000,\"diff\":true,\"reporter\":\"spec\",\"R\":\"spec\",\"$0\":\"/Users/apple/code/kk/github/super-insert/node_modules/.bin/vscode-test\"},\"colorDefault\":{\"level\":3,\"hasBasic\":true,\"has256\":true,\"has16m\":true},\"preload\":[],\"files\":[\"/Users/apple/code/kk/github/super-insert/out/src/test/parser.test.js\"]}"
    }
}

Note: Before debug, run npm run compile-tests or automatically compile tests by npm run watch-tests, to make test code updated.

Thanks

Inspired from or made use of these projects:

• Inori/vscode-InsertNumbers: Insert Numbers extension for vscode
• datadocs/rose-formatter: A port of Excel's numerical formatting...

For more information or bug reports

• GitHub