Code Completion & Snippets

The extension provides you with suggestions on variables, keywords, and code snippets of language constructs (such as functions, type definitions, services, iterable constructs, etc.)

Help via Hover

When hovering over a symbol name, you will be provided with quick information about the particular symbol. For example, when hovering over a function name, you will be prompted with the associated documentation.

Signature Help

When typing a function/method call expression, the signature help will show information such as the function/method call’s description and parameter information. Signature help will be triggered when typing the open parenthesis and comma.

• Formatting a document

• Formatting a selected range in the document

The diagnostics show you the syntax and semantic errors in the source code. Varieties of diagnostics such as errors and warnings will be shown. For a selected set of diagnostics, you can see the quick fixes. For example, the variable assignment is required diagnostic will have two associated quick fixes to create a new variable and ignore the return value.

The Ballerina VS Code extension comes with built-in debugging capabilities so that you can seamlessly troubleshoot your applications at runtime.

It allows you to debug Ballerina programs, services, tests and also provides remote debugging capabilities out of the box.

Below are some of the key debugging features provided by the Ballerina language extension.

• Launch/Attach
• Breakpoints
  • Conditional Breakpoints
  • Log Points (plain texts and string templates)
• Pause/Continue Instructions
• Step In/Out/Over Instructions
• Strand View
• Call Stack View
• Local and Global Variable View
• Expression Evaluation

For detailed documentation on initializing debug sessions, and using the debugging features and advanced configuration options, see Ballerina Debugging.

Go to Definition

For a symbol, this feature will navigate you to the definition of the particular symbol. For example, when invoking the Go To Definition option from a function call expression, you will be navigated to the definition of the function. Apart from jumping to the definition, the peek definition will also be supported. The behavior will be the same not only for the constructs within the sources in the current project but also for external modules and standard libraries as well.

Find all References

Invoking the references on a symbol will prompt you with all the symbol references in the current project.

Rename Symbols

This feature allows you to rename symbols by renaming all the references of the particular symbol.

There are two types of code actions suggested based on the node at a given cursor position and based on the diagnostics at a given cursor position.

Create Variable Code Actions

The code action types below are available for creating a variable.

• Create variable: Create a variable for an expression where the Variable Assignment Required diagnostic is present.
• Create variable and type guard: Create a type guard to handle the error gracefully when the Variable assignment Required diagnostic is present.
• Create variable and check error: Add a check expression when the Variable assignment Required diagnostic is present.
• Ignore return value: Ignore the return value with the _ where the Variable Assignment Required diagnostic is present.

Code Actions for Union Types

The code actions below are available for union-type variables.

• Type guard variable: Type guard a variable if the variable is of the union type.
• Add check error: Add a check statement when there is an error union.

Code Actions for Imports

The code actions below are available for imports.

• Import a module: Add the import statement for a module, which has a reference without an import statement. This supports only the language library and the standard library.
• Optimize imports: Optimize the import statements to remove unused imports and arrange the imports in alphabetical order.
• Pull module: Pull locally unavailable Ballerina packages from the Ballerina Central repository.

Code Actions for Documentation

The code actions below are available for documentation.

• Document this: Add the documentation to the top-level constructs, resources, and methods.
• Document all: Document all the top-level constructs.
• Update documentation: Update the existing documentation when parameters are missing or not documented. This depends on the warning diagnostics sent by the compiler.

Code Actions for Incompatible Types

The code actions below are available for incompatible types.

• Change variable type: Change the type of a variable.
• Add type cast: Add a type cast for the incompatible types.
• Fix return type: Change the incompatible return type.
• Change parameter type: Change the type of a function/ method parameter.

Code Actions for Create Functions

The code actions below are available for creating functions.

• Create a function: Create a function using the selected variables/parameters.
• Implement a method: Implement the selected method.

Documentation Code Lens

The Document This code lens is shown for the public functions without documentation.

Run and Debug Code Lenses

Run and debug code lenses are shown for the entry points of the Ballerina project and its test cases. The entry points include the main function and the services within the default module of the project.

• Show Examples: It lists the available examples of the Ballerina language. By clicking on each example, you can explore each source code.
• Build: It provides quick access to build your Ballerina project. Once executed, the current Ballerina project relative to the currently-opened text editor is built using the bal build CLI command.
• Pack: It is a quick access to pack your Ballerina library packages. Once executed, the current Ballerina project relative to the currently-opened text editor is packed using the bal pack CLI command.
• Run: It runs your Ballerina project. Once executed, the opened Ballerina project is built using the bal run CLI command.
• Test: It runs all the tests in your Ballerina project using the bal test CLI command.
• Build Documentation: It is a quick guide to generate documentation for your Ballerina project. Once executed, the documentation is generated using the bal doc CLI command. The generated documentation can be found inside the apidocs directory in the target project.
• Show Diagram: It is a palette reference to access the Diagrams. On execution, the diagram editor of the first diagram component listed under the Diagrams view is rendered.
• Add Module: It adds a Ballerina module for the given module name using the bal add CLI command.
• Create 'Cloud.toml': It generates a Cloud.toml file for your Ballerina project according to the default cloud specifications.
• Paste JSON as Record: This command converts a JSON string (that is copied to the clipboard) to a Ballerina record(s) and pastes it in your code.