Run Extension Launch Config Does not Work

[tsmaeder]

Bug Description:

Run Extension Launch Config Does not Work

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Generate a VS Code extension with yo code
2. Open the generated folder
3. Execute the "Run Extension" launch config
4. Observe: the start of the second theia window fails. The console says:

error Couldn't find a package.json file in "C:\\Users\\thomas\\software\\blueprint\\1.20.0\\TheiaBlueprint"

Additional Information

• Operating System: Win 11
• Theia Version: Blueprint 1.39.0

[sgraband]

I can take a look!

[tsmaeder]

It's pretty obvious why this does not work:

if (environment.electron.is()) {
            command = ['yarn', 'theia', 'start'];

https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia/blob/69eaf80db46a490e784e05da084f84b73f01274d/packages/plugin-ext/src/hosted/node/hosted-instance-manager.ts#L240

[dhuebner]

@tsmaeder
You mean it should be:
if (environment.electron.isDevMode()) {

[tsmaeder]

@dhuebner no, yarn theia start only ever works if a user runs from source. That will never be the case in Theia IDE. We need to start the second instance without using any dev-time resources.

[dhuebner]

@tsmaeder

We need to start the second instance without using any dev-time resources.

Is this not what the else branch does? It seems to execute something that is runtime dir related, but I'm not sure how exactly it looks like in the bundled IDE.

How can I build Theia IDE from source to test it? I can't find corresponding documentation...

However, I think this missing functionality is really important for the Beta.

[tsmaeder]

The "else" branch covers the browser case. That might or might not be the right thing to do in the electron case.

[dhuebner]

@tsmaeder
That is not good. I'm afraid I have not enough insights into the launching process to contribute here. :(
But I would definitely like to learn more about, I will track the corresponding PR when one is submitted.

[dhuebner]

For those who interested, I found the documentation about how to build here. It is linked from the README.md in this repository, it was a bit confusing because of blueprint naming.