Salesforce Apex Language Server for VSCode

This extension provides Apex language support in Visual Studio Code through the Apex Language Server.

Features

• Syntax Highlighting: Full Apex and SOQL syntax highlighting.
• Language Server Integration: Real-time diagnostics and language features powered by the Apex Language Server.
• Configurable Comment Collection: Fine-tune how comments are parsed and processed.
• Performance Optimization: Adjust settings to optimize for speed and resource usage.
• Document Symbols: Easily navigate your code's structure.

Installation

1. Install the extension from the VSCode Marketplace.
2. Open a workspace containing Apex files (.cls, .trigger, .apex).
3. The language server will start automatically.

Configuration

The extension supports extensive configuration through VSCode settings. All settings are prefixed with apex-ls-ts..

Comment Collection Settings

Control how comments are collected and processed during document parsing:

{
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.enableCommentCollection": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.includeSingleLineComments": false,
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.associateCommentsWithSymbols": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.enableForDocumentChanges": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.enableForDocumentOpen": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.enableForDocumentSymbols": false,
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.enableForFoldingRanges": true
}

Comment Collection Options

• enableCommentCollection (boolean, default: true)

  • Master switch for comment collection. When disabled, no comments are collected.

• includeSingleLineComments (boolean, default: false)

  • Include single-line (//) comments in addition to block comments (/* */).

• associateCommentsWithSymbols (boolean, default: true)

  • Associate comments with nearby symbols for enhanced language features.
  • ⚠️ May impact performance, especially in large files.

• enableForDocumentChanges (boolean, default: true)

  • Enable comment collection when documents are modified.

• enableForDocumentOpen (boolean, default: true)

  • Enable comment collection when documents are opened.

• enableForDocumentSymbols (boolean, default: false)

  • Enable comment collection for document symbols.
  • ⚠️ May impact performance.

• enableForFoldingRanges (boolean, default: true)

  • Enable comment collection for folding ranges.
  • ⚠️ May impact performance.

Performance Settings

Optimize language server performance:

{
  "apex-ls-ts.performance.commentCollectionMaxFileSize": 102400,
  "apex-ls-ts.performance.useAsyncCommentProcessing": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.performance.documentChangeDebounceMs": 300
}

Performance Options

• commentCollectionMaxFileSize (number, default: 102400)

  • Maximum file size (in bytes) for comment collection. Files larger than this will skip comment collection.

• useAsyncCommentProcessing (boolean, default: true)

  • Use asynchronous comment processing to improve responsiveness.

• documentChangeDebounceMs (number, default: 300)

  • Debounce delay (in milliseconds) for document change processing.

Environment Settings

Control logging and debugging:

{
  "apex-ls-ts.environment.enablePerformanceLogging": false
}

Environment Options

• enablePerformanceLogging (boolean, default: false)
  • Enable performance logging for the language server.

Debug Settings

Configure debugging for the language server:

{
  "apex-ls-ts.debug": "off",
  "apex-ls-ts.debugPort": 6009
}

Debug Options

• debug (string, enum: "off", "inspect", "inspect-brk", default: "off")

  • "off": No debugging enabled
  • "inspect": Enable debugging without breaking on startup
  • "inspect-brk": Enable debugging with break on startup

• debugPort (number, default: 6009)

  • Port to use for debugging. Set to 6009 to use the default port.

Legacy Settings

These settings are for low-level control and compatibility with other tooling:

{
  "apex-ls-ts.enable": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.trace.server": "off"
}

Server Mode Configuration

The Apex Language Server supports different operational modes that affect performance and feature availability:

Server Modes

• Production Mode: Optimized for performance and stability

  • Disabled features: hover provider, completion resolve provider, will-save notifications
  • Full text document sync for reliability
  • Minimal diagnostic processing

• Development Mode: Full feature set for development workflows

  • Enabled features: hover provider, completion resolve provider, will-save notifications
  • Incremental text document sync for better performance
  • Enhanced diagnostic processing

Mode Determination

The server mode is determined by the following priority order:

1. Environment Variable: APEX_LS_MODE=production or APEX_LS_MODE=development
2. Extension Mode: Automatically based on VS Code extension mode
   • Development/Test extension mode → Development server mode
   • Production extension mode → Production server mode
3. NODE_ENV: Falls back to NODE_ENV environment variable

Environment Variable Override

You can force the server to run in a specific mode regardless of the extension mode:

# Force production mode
export APEX_LS_MODE=production

# Force development mode
export APEX_LS_MODE=development

This is useful for:

• Testing production behavior during development
• Debugging with enhanced logging in production environments
• CI/CD environments requiring specific modes

For detailed information, see Server Mode Override Documentation.

Commands

The extension provides the following commands, which can be accessed from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P):

• Restart Apex Language Server (apex.restart.server)
  • Restarts the language server if it becomes unresponsive.
  • Also available by clicking the status bar item.

Workspace Settings Example

Create a .vscode/settings.json file in your workspace for project-specific settings:

{
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.enableCommentCollection": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.includeSingleLineComments": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.associateCommentsWithSymbols": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.performance.commentCollectionMaxFileSize": 204800
}

User Settings Example

Configure global settings in VSCode user settings:

{
  "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.enableCommentCollection": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.performance.useAsyncCommentProcessing": true,
  "apex-ls-ts.performance.documentChangeDebounceMs": 500,
  "apex-ls-ts.environment.enablePerformanceLogging": false
}

Performance Recommendations

For optimal performance, especially with large codebases:

1. Disable expensive features for large files or if not needed:

   {
     "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.associateCommentsWithSymbols": false,
     "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.enableForDocumentSymbols": false,
     "apex-ls-ts.commentCollection.enableForFoldingRanges": false
   }
   

2. Adjust file size limit for comment collection:

   {
     "apex-ls-ts.performance.commentCollectionMaxFileSize": 51200
   }
   

3. Increase debounce for frequently changing files:

   {
     "apex-ls-ts.performance.documentChangeDebounceMs": 500
   }
   

4. Enable performance logging to identify bottlenecks:

   {
     "apex-ls-ts.environment.enablePerformanceLogging": true
   }
   

Troubleshooting

Language Server Not Starting

1. Check the Output panel (View → Output) and select Apex Language Server from the dropdown.
2. Use the Restart Apex Language Server command from the Command Palette.
3. Verify your workspace contains Apex files (.cls, .trigger, .apex).
4. Check for conflicting extensions.

Performance Issues

1. Reduce commentCollectionMaxFileSize for large files.
2. Disable associateCommentsWithSymbols if not needed.
3. Increase documentChangeDebounceMs for busy editing environments.
4. Enable performance logging to identify bottlenecks.

Configuration Not Applying

1. Settings changes are applied immediately. If not, use the Restart Apex Language Server command.
2. Check for typos in setting keys in your settings.json file.
3. Verify the JSON syntax in your settings files is correct.

Development

For extension development and debugging:

1. Enable performance logging: "apex-ls-ts.environment.enablePerformanceLogging": true
2. Set the trace level: "apex-ls-ts.trace.server": "verbose"
3. Enable debugging: `