RDS Viewer for VS Code

📊 View and explore R Data Serialization (RDS) files directly in Visual Studio Code.

Features

🚀 Main Features (v1.2.1)

• Universal RDS Support: Opens any RDS file type automatically (data frames, MI data, lists, vectors, etc.)
• Tabbed Interface: Switch between Summary and Data views
• Excel-like Data Viewer: Browse your data with familiar spreadsheet interface
• Infinite Scrolling: Smooth scrolling through datasets of any size with aggressive prefetching
• Smart Navigation: Jump to any row, navigate by 100/1000 rows, or use keyboard shortcuts
• Column Navigation: View 10 columns at a time or toggle to see all
• Search & Highlight: Find and highlight text across your dataset
• Multiple Imputation Support: Full support for MICE/Amelia imputed datasets with highlighting
• Performance Optimized: 400-row prefetching eliminates stuttering at boundaries

📋 Supported Data Types

• Data frames: Regular data frames with full variable analysis
• Multiple Imputation (MI) data: MICE and Amelia imputed datasets
  • View any imputation (m=0 for original, m=1+ for imputed)
  • Highlight imputed values for easy identification
  • Seamless navigation across large MI datasets
• Lists: Including nested structures
• Vectors: Numeric, character, logical, factor
• Matrices: 2D numeric arrays
• Time series: ts objects
• Complex objects: S3/S4 objects

🎯 Key Features

• Universal compatibility: Any RDS file opens automatically with appropriate viewer
• Smooth performance: Infinite scrolling with aggressive prefetching (400 rows ahead)
• Fast preview: Summary information loads instantly, even for large files
• Smart data loading: Only loads data in chunks as needed (250-500 rows at a time)
• WebView UI: Clean, responsive interface optimized for large datasets
• Context menus: Right-click any .rds file to view summary or preview
• Secure: Runs R in isolated subprocess with no external dependencies

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

• Home: Jump to first row
• End: Jump to last row
• PageUp/PageDown: Navigate by one page
• Ctrl/Cmd + ↑/↓: Navigate by 100 rows
• Ctrl/Cmd + G: Focus row jump input

Requirements

• R installation: R must be installed on your system

  • Download from: https://www.r-project.org/
  • The extension will auto-detect R in common locations
  • Or configure custom path in settings

• R packages: The following R package is recommended:

  install.packages("jsonlite")
  

Installation

1. Install the extension from VS Code Marketplace
2. Or install from VSIX file:

   code --install-extension rds-viewer-1.2.1.vsix
   

Usage

Opening RDS Files

1. Right-click menu: Right-click any .rds file in the Explorer

   • Select "Show RDS Summary" for quick overview
   • Select "Open RDS Preview" for full data view

2. Command Palette: Press Cmd+Shift+P (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux)

   • Type "RDS: Show Summary"
   • Type "RDS: Open Preview"

3. File association: Double-click any .rds file to open with the viewer

Understanding the Summary View

The summary view provides:

File Information

• File name and size
• Last modified date
• R version compatibility

Object Overview

• Object type (data.frame, list, vector, etc.)
• Object class (including custom S3/S4 classes)
• Memory usage

Data Frame Details

• Dimensions: Number of rows and columns
• Complete cases: Rows without any missing values
• Variables table:
  • Variable name (click to copy)
  • Data type and class
  • Number of unique values
  • Missing value count and percentage
  • Statistical summary for numeric variables
  • Factor levels for categorical variables

Configuration

Configure the extension in VS Code settings:

{
  "rdsViewer.rPath": "/usr/local/bin/R",          // Path to R executable
  "rdsViewer.maxPreviewRows": 1000,               // Max rows to display
  "rdsViewer.showSummaryOnOpen": true,            // Show summary by default
  "rdsViewer.summaryPanelPosition": "left"        // Panel position: top/left/right/popup
}

Examples

Sample Data Frame Summary

📊 Data Frame Summary
Dimensions: 10,000 rows × 25 columns
Complete Rows: 8,543 (85.43%)
Missing Cells: 2,341 (0.94%)

📋 Variables (25)
┌─────────┬──────────┬─────────┬────────┐
│ Variable│ Type     │ Missing │ Summary│
├─────────┼──────────┼─────────┼────────┤
│ id      │ integer  │ 0       │ 1~10000│
│ age     │ numeric  │ 12      │ μ=42.3 │
│ gender  │ factor   │ 0       │ 2 levels│
└─────────┴──────────┴─────────┴────────┘

Development

Building from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/hoon-snuecse/rds-viewer.git
cd rds-viewer

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile TypeScript
npm run compile

# Run in development mode
code .
# Then press F5 to launch extension development host

Testing

Test files are included in the test-data/ directory:

• sample_dataframe.rds - Basic data frame with mixed types
• sample_large_dataframe.rds - Large dataset (10,000 rows)
• sample_complex_list.rds - Nested list structure
• sample_vector.rds - Numeric vector
• sample_matrix.rds - Matrix data

Troubleshooting

R not found

• Ensure R is installed: Run R --version in terminal
• Configure R path in settings: rdsViewer.rPath
• On macOS with Homebrew: Path is usually /opt/homebrew/bin/R
• On Windows: Path is usually C:\Program Files\R\R-4.x.x\bin\R.exe

RDS file won't open

• Check file permissions
• Ensure file is not corrupted: Try readRDS("file.rds") in R console
• Check VS Code Output panel for error messages

Missing jsonlite package

Install in R console:

install.packages("jsonlite")

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Submit a pull request

Report issues at: https://github.com/hoon-snuecse/rds-viewer/issues

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by Excel Viewer extension architecture
• Uses R and jsonlite for data processing
• Built with VS Code Extension API

What's New in v1.2.0

✨ Major Improvements

• Universal RDS file support: Any RDS file now opens automatically
• Fixed data loading: Regular data frames now display correctly on initial load
• Eliminated scroll boundaries: Smooth infinite scrolling without 500/1000/1500 row limits
• Performance boost: 400-row prefetching prevents stuttering at boundaries
• Faster response: Scroll delay reduced from 150ms to 100ms (33% faster)

🗑️ Simplified UI

Removed rarely-used features to improve clarity:

• Column sorting (caused confusion)
• Export/Refresh buttons (cluttered UI)
• Alt+1/Alt+2 shortcuts (conflicted with system)

Kept all essential navigation shortcuts (Home, End, PageUp/Down, Ctrl+arrows, Ctrl+G)

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fixed: Regular RDS files not displaying data on initial load
• Fixed: Tables stuck at 500/1000/1500 row boundaries
• Fixed: Stuttering when scrolling through MI datasets
• Fixed: Data format mismatch causing empty tables

Roadmap

Phase 1 ✅

• [x] Basic RDS file reading
• [x] Summary information display
• [x] WebView UI
• [x] Data frame preview

Phase 2 ✅

• [x] Search and filter with highlighting
• [x] Performance optimization with infinite scroll
• [x] Column pagination for wide datasets
• [x] Multiple Imputation (MI) data support

Phase 3 (v1.2.0) ✅

• [x] Universal RDS file support
• [x] Smooth infinite scrolling
• [x] Aggressive prefetching
• [x] UI simplification

Phase 4 (v1.2.1) ✅

• [x] Fixed debug overlay issue in production
• [x] Cleaned up packaging configuration

Enjoy exploring your R data in VS Code! 🎉