Read the terminal text

[dhananjayharel]

Description

Need to read the text in the terminal

Requirement

I am firing some command using terminal's send text api, then I need to read the output of that
command after complete but I havent found any method or API yet.

[akosyakov]

I don't think it is possible. One has to use tasks or processes to get an output. Terminal are just character streams, there are not such high-level concepts like a command or a task.

cc @theia-ide/task-extension correct me if i'm wrong, also suggest an alternative how to use a task or process extension for it

[dhananjayharel]

Thanks .. I think process extension will be the best option for my requirement but need some details on it, ie how to use it . very basic example would also work.

[akosyakov]

@marechal-p maybe you can give a hint

[dhananjayharel]

@marechal-p
For example: I want to add a menu option in the editor, on click of it should execute the command and read the output of that command.
I have seen the theia@process code files but I couldn't able to find any front end API/ method to call the backend process.

[akosyakov]

You can also define your own backend service and use nodejs directly. It is not clear to me still when process extension should be used and when not. I know one case for cloud scenarios, that some processes should be run by a user operating system and some by other container for example. In this case I would say that process extension should be used for user processes and nodejs directly to run in another container.

[paul-marechal]

TBF I would really like to refactor the process extension a bit, and remove the spawning from inside the constructors, into factory functions. In a nutshell, the process extension normalizes how nodejs and node-pty processes behave and how to consume their output from different clients (using multi-reader ring-buffers for instance). Could not find the exact place where to look for, but either make your own backend service, or reuse the TerminalServer one, if that fits.

I'm on vacation for the time being, I'll get back to you if you still have issues around end of next week.

edit: I had other priorities.