VSCode Settings Switcher
Define groups of settings to be easily switched and managed. These may be
defined in either global User Settings or your current Workspace settings.
Command
Provides a Switch Settings command that can be used to switch between groups
of settings.
You can also invoke the command with arguments from a keybinding that controls
its behavior (✨ new in v0.8.0).
Configuration Example
The following example shows 2 groups of settings to switch:
"settingsSwitcher.lists": {
"Vertical rulers": {
"Ruler 80": {
"description": "Cyan ruler line at column 80",
"editor.rulers": [{"column": 80, "color": "#4f717a" }]
},
"Ruler 85": {
"description": "Yellow ruler line at column 85",
"editor.rulers": [ { "column": 85, "color": "#615f44" }]
},
"Ruler 95": {
"description": "Blue ruler line at column 95",
"editor.rulers": [ { "column": 95, "color": "#00028a" }]
},
},
"Fonts and theme": {
"Big font dark":{
"editor.fontSize": 18,
"workbench.colorTheme": "Default Dark+"
},
"Small font light":{
"editor.fontSize": 10,
"workbench.colorTheme": "Default Light+"
},
"Big font light":{
"editor.fontSize": 18,
"workbench.colorTheme": "Default Light+"
},
"Medium font dark":{
"editor.fontSize": 12,
"workbench.colorTheme": "Default Dark+"
},
}
},
By running the command Switch Settings, the two groups of settings
"Vertical rulers" and "Fonts and theme" will appear as a list in your
command palette. So, first you select which group of settings you want to
switch.
If already set, the current configuration will appear with small font,
indicating the current state. The "Ruler 85" and "Big font dark" that you
see in the screenshot above indicates the current state of the setting. Before
ever choosing a setting, the current state will be empty.
Next, a second list will appear indicating the available settings to switch in
the chosen group. A small "description" property may be provided in each
configured setting and, if so, the description will appear with small font in
this second list.
You can specify any amount of settings inside each group definitions. These
settings will simply be written to your top-level settings object. For instance:
the showed example has a group of settings "Fonts and theme" and each
definition inside it changes the fontSize and the colorTheme together at the
same time.
Descriptions
You may include the "description" key property in each setting definition to
provide more clarity around what switching the setting will do. The following
example uses a setting from the
Python extension for Visual Studio Code
"settingsSwitcher.lists": {
"Arguments to run python in terminal": {
"Normal mode": {
"description": "No args, just run `python script.py`",
"python.terminal.launchArgs": [""]
},
"Interactive mode": {
"description": "Keep the opened terminal, run `python -i script.py`",
"python.terminal.launchArgs": [ "-i" ]
},
"IPython interactive mode": {
"description": "Use IPython module and keeps open, run `python -m IPython -i script.py`",
"python.terminal.launchArgs": [ "-m", "IPython", "-i" ]
},
},
},
If no "description" is provided, it will appear as empty, like in the first
example in the group of settings "Fonts and theme".
User Settings vs Workspace settings
You can switch between groups of settings in either global User Settings or
your local Workspace settings. To do so, the setting
"settingsSwitcher.lists" with the groups of settings to switch must be defined
in the corresponding settings.json file (either global or local). The local
file (i.e., workspace settings) takes precedence.
Scope property
✨ new in v0.6.0
Alternatively, you can also change which file (global or workspace) is modified
by including a "_scope" key in the defined group of settings. This key accepts
the values "global" (or "user"), "local" (or "workspace") and
"select". If the value is "select", an additional third list will appear
letting you choose between "global" and "local" on the fly (✨ new in
v0.11.0).
Cycler property
✨ new in v0.9.0
You can include a "_cycler" key with a Boolean true in the defined group of
settings to give that group a "cycling behavior". It makes the setting to
cycle through the definitions list of the group (in a similar way as the
Settings Cycler extension).
In this case, the second list of the command will not appear showing the
available settings to switch in the chosen group: it simply chooses the next
setting in the sequence.
This may be useful when the group of settings has only 2 definitions, and you
just want to change between them: it saves one additional list to select (that
would contain only 2 values).
Merging vs Overwriting Settings
Settings that are objects will be merged into existing settings, while any other
type of value will simply overwrite the previous setting. For example, the
Tests settings below will merge the values in files.exclude with whatever
the current setting is for that key.
"settingsSwitcher.lists": {
"Tests": {
"Include tests": {
"files.exclude": {
"**/__tests__": false,
"**/__mocks__": false,
"**/__fixtures__": false,
"**/*.spec.js": false,
}
},
"Exclude tests": {
"files.exclude": {
"**/__tests__": true,
"**/__mocks__": true,
"**/__fixtures__": true,
"**/*.spec.js": true,
}
}
}
}
Force overwriting
✨ new in v0.12.0
If you want to completely overwrite the previous setting even in settings that
are objects, you can include a "_forceOverwrite" key with a Boolean true in
the defined group of settings.
Example from
Project Manager extension
working with
remote projects
being toggled "on" and "off":
"settingsSwitcher.lists": {
"Project manager wsl remote": {
"_cycler": true,
"_forceOverwrite": true,
"on": {
"remote.extensionKind": {
"alefragnani.project-manager": [
"workspace"
]
},
},
"off": {
"remote.extensionKind": {}
}
},
Extension Settings
This extension adds VS Code setting "settingsSwitcher.lists", which may have
any amount of groups of settings, each group may have: a scope property; a
cycler property; a forceOverwrite property; and any amount of definitions.
Each definition may have a description and any amount of settings. So, there
are 3 levels of keys:
"settingsSwitcher.lists": {
"First group of settings": {
"_scope": "workspace", // optional: "workspace","local" ; "user","global" or "select"
"_cycler": true, // optional: `true` or `false`
"_forceOverwrite": true, // optional: `true` or `false`
"First definition": {
"description": "...", // optional
[vscode settings ...] // Any amount of VSCode settings
},
"Second definition": {
"description": "...", // optional
[vscode settings ...] // Any amount of VSCode settings
},
"Third definition": {
"description": "...", // optional
[vscode settings ...] // Any amount of VSCode settings
},
"Second group of settings": {
"_scope": "workspace",// optional: "workspace","local" ; "user","global" or "select"
"_cycler": true, // optional: `true` or `false`
"_forceOverwrite": true, // optional: `true` or `false`
"First definition": {
"description": "...", // optional
[vscode settings ...] // Any amount of VSCode settings
},
"Second definition": {
"description": "...", // optional
[vscode settings ...] // Any amount of VSCode settings
},
...
},
...
},
✨ new in v0.10.0
To help manage the settings groups and identify where they are defined and/or
applied, now this extension also contributes the following boolean settings.
These settings let you know information about the groups of settings in the
first list to select.
"settingsSwitcher.showFileInfo":
if true, shows information about which setting.json file the group of
settings is defined ("workspace" or "user")"settingsSwitcher.showScopeInfo":
if true, shows the scope property of the group,
("local" or "global") if it is set."settingsSwitcher.showCyclerInfo":
if true, indicates if the group has a cycler property
set to true.
These information appear in the first command palette list, along with the
current state of the setting.
Keybindings
✨ new in v0.8.0
You can invoke the command Switch Settings with
arguments, by adding a custom keyboard shortcut
(with "args" key) to take exactly the setting you want, to cycle through the
setting list or to jump some steps.
The "args" key value must be an object with 3 possible properties: "group",
"definition" (both are Strings) and "cycler" (a Boolean value: true or
false).
The following is an example that creates a keybinding which applies directly the
setting definition "Small font light" from the group of settings
"Fonts and theme" of the previous configuration example:
{
"key": "ctrl+shift+alt+o",
"command": "vscode-settings-switcher.switchSettings",
"args": {
"group": "Fonts and theme",
"definition": "Small font light"
}
}
If you pass the "cycler" property with a Boolean true (and don't pass a
"definition"), the keybinding makes the setting to cycle through the
definitions list of the group (in a similar way as the
Settings Cycler extension),
doing the same as if the group of settings had a
"_cycler" property itself.
The following is an example of keybinding configuring a command to cycle through
setting "editor.rulers" in the list of definitions of the group
"Vertical rulers" in the previous example.
{
"key": "ctrl+shift+alt+u",
"command": "vscode-settings-switcher.switchSettings",
"args": {
"group": "Vertical rulers",
"cycler": true
}
}
⚠️ Note: If you pass a "definition" AND the "cycler" property together
with a "group", then the "cycler" property (as well as the cycling
behavior) is ignored. This also happens when you pass a "definition" with a
"group" that has a "_cycler" property itself.
Some combinations of the "args" properties are also possible, and they may
save some time when doing actions to change settings:
- If you pass the args with only the
"group" property, the keybinding will
make the command to jump forward to open the list of definitions of that
group in your command palette.
- If you pass only the
"definition" property, a first list will appear in
your command palette showing the groups of settings to choose. Then, if you
choose a group that has the passed definition in its list, the definition
will be applied directly. So, the second list of the default command call
will not appear for that group.
- If you pass only the
"cycler" property with Boolean true, the first list
will appear in your command palette, showing the groups of settings to
choose, but the settings will cycle through the definitions of any chosen
group, applying the cycling behavior. So, the the second list of the default
command call will not appear.
- If you pass the
"definition" and the "cycler" properties, a first list
will appear in your command palette showing the groups of settings to choose.
Then, if you choose a group that has the passed definition in its list, the
definition will be applied directly. If not, the settings will cycle through
the definitions of any other chosen group. So, the second list of the default
command call will not appear.
Credits
The code of this extension was largely based on the
ericbiewener's extension
VScode Settings on Fire.
