Tiko for VS Code

Language support for tiko, the FreeBASIC-compatible language: diagnostics, completion, hover, go to definition, find references, rename, signature help, semantic colouring, inlay hints, formatting and quick fixes.

All of it comes from tiko-lsp, a language server written in tiko. The server is included: install the extension, open a .tiko file, and it starts. There is nothing else to download and no setting to change.

Platforms: Windows x64, Linux x64 and macOS on Apple silicon (macOS 13 or later). VS Code installs the build for your platform automatically.
Files: .tiko, .tko, .ti.

Getting started

Install Tiko from the Extensions view (search for tiko).
Open a folder containing tiko sources, then open a .tiko file.
To see the server's own messages, run Tiko: Show Language Server Output.

Win32, runtime and `std` names

For #import "std/strings", windows.bi and the runtime's names to complete, hover and show signatures, the server needs the tiko toolchain (download it if you don't have it yet).

Usually there is nothing to do. The server finds the tiko-lang folder in your home folder, in Downloads (also one level down, where Windows' Extract All puts it), at C:\tiko-lang, /opt/tiko-lang or ~/.local/tiko-lang, or through a tiko on your PATH.

If it finds none, the extension says so once per window and offers Locate Toolchain…. Choose your tiko-lang folder; the extension saves it and restarts the server. You can run Tiko: Locate Toolchain… from the Command Palette at any time, or set the folder yourself:

{
  "tiko.toolchainPath": "D:/tools/tiko-lang"
}

Tiko: Show Language Server Output shows the toolchain the server used.

Build and run

Run: the ▶ button at the top right of a tiko editor, Ctrl+F5 (Cmd+F5 on a Mac), Run ▸ Run Without Debugging, or Tiko: Run.
Build: Ctrl+Shift+B, then tiko: build …, or Tiko: Build.
Check (every error, nothing written): Tiko: Check (no build).

When a tiko.toml is at or above the file, the project is built (tiko build, tiko run). Otherwise the file itself is built, and the program is written next to it. Both run in the terminal, so the program can read input. Compiler errors, including the ones only the compiler finds, go to the Problems view.

tiko run runs one target. When the tiko.toml has more than one exe target, the one whose main or sources hold the open file runs; if that does not decide it, you are asked once per project, and Tiko: Select Run Target... changes the answer.

tiko.build.arguments adds compiler options (-g, -exx), and tiko.run.arguments passes arguments to the program. Tasks of type tiko in .vscode/tasks.json take command (build, run or check), file, target, args and runArgs; a tiko entry in .vscode/launch.json takes file, target, args and runArgs.

Legacy FreeBASIC files

Older tiko projects use FreeBASIC's .bas, .bi and .inc extensions. Other languages use those too, so this extension does not claim them by default. To treat them as tiko, add:

{
  "files.associations": {
    "*.bas": "tiko",
    "*.bi": "tiko",
    "*.inc": "tiko"
  }
}

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
`tiko.toolchainPath`	`""`	The `tiko-lang` folder you unpacked. Leave it empty to have it found automatically. Tiko: Locate Toolchain… sets it.
`tiko.includePaths`	`[]`	Override: the toolchain's `inc` folders, for an unusual layout.
`tiko.packagePaths`	`[]`	Where `#import` packages are found, if not in the `pkg` folder beside an include path.
`tiko.compilerPath`	`""`	A `tiko` compiler the server may ask about each folder's `tiko.toml` (`tiko metadata`), so imports resolve exactly as the compiler resolves them. Never run for diagnostics. Empty: the compiler in the toolchain folder, else a `tiko` on the `PATH`.
`tiko.build.arguments`	`[]`	Compiler options for Build and Run, such as `-g` or `-exx`.
`tiko.run.arguments`	`[]`	Arguments Tiko: Run passes to the program.
`tiko.server.path`	`""`	Use a different `tiko-lsp` executable instead of the included one.
`tiko.server.arguments`	`["--stdio"]`	Server arguments. Add `"--log-level", "debug", "--log-file", "C:/temp/tiko-lsp.log"` to see what the server is doing.
`tiko.trace.server`	`"off"`	Log the LSP traffic in the Tiko Language Server output channel.

Tiko: Locate Toolchain… chooses the toolchain folder. Tiko: Restart Language Server restarts the server by hand.

Which server runs

In order:

tiko.server.path, if set;
the server included with the extension;
tiko-lsp on your PATH;
bin/tiko-lsp(.exe) inside a workspace folder.

The output channel's first line names the binary and where it was found. If none is found (on a platform the extension has no build for), the extension says so and offers to open the setting.

Workspace trust

The extension does not run in Restricted Mode, because starting the server means running an executable.

Colour

Before the server is up, colour comes from a TextMate grammar. Once it is running, the server's semantic tokens refine it.

Building from source

The extension is plain JavaScript (extension.js), so there is no compile step. From editors/vscode in the tiko-lsp repository:

npm install
npm run package
code --install-extension tiko.vsix

That development package includes no server. It finds one through tiko.server.path, the PATH, or bin/ in the workspace. The platform packages that are published are built by release/vscode/package.sh.

Licence

MIT. The included server's third-party notices are in server/THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt inside the installed extension.

Tiko

Paul Squires