VSCode Extension API - listen for built-in context menu events

user_11806633 0
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I am building my first VSCode Extension and struggling a little bit.

Is it possible to listen to context menu events, like copy for example?

For example: When user clicked on "Copy" in the context menu (screenshot of context menu) I want to get the copied text.

There is an option to add commands to the context menu. But I don't want that, I want to listen to the existing built-in copy command.

I know, I can listen to the keybinding, but that doesn´t trigger the context menu event.

vscode-extensions visual-studio-code
1 Answers

Here is a better version of my previous answer - it just gets the clipboard text in an easier method:

let typeDisposable = vscode.commands.registerCommand('editor.action.clipboardCopyAction', async (arg) => myCopy(typeDisposable) );

async function myCopy(typeDisposable)  {

    typeDisposable.dispose();      // must dispose to avoid endless loops

    // run the built-in copy command
    await vscode.commands.executeCommand('editor.action.clipboardCopyAction');

    // get the copied text
    const clipboardText = await vscode.env.clipboard.readText();
    // use your clipboard text here
    console.log(clipboardText);

    // re-register to continue intercepting copy commands
    typeDisposable = vscode.commands.registerCommand('editor.action.clipboardCopyAction', async (arg) => myCopy(typeDisposable) );
    context.subscriptions.push(typeDisposable);
}

context.subscriptions.push(typeDisposable);
  • [Previous version of answer]

This seems to work - but should be thoroughly tested (it is sort of a thought experiment at this point):

let typeDisposable = vscode.commands.registerCommand('editor.action.clipboardCopyAction', async (arg) => myCopy(typeDisposable) );

async function myCopy(typeDisposable)  {

    typeDisposable.dispose();

    // get the selectedText from the editor here
    const selectedRange = new vscode.Range(vscode.window.activeTextEditor.selection.start, vscode.window.activeTextEditor.selection.end);
    const copiedText = vscode.window.activeTextEditor.document.getText(selectedRange);
    // use your copiedText here

    await vscode.commands.executeCommand('editor.action.clipboardCopyAction');
    typeDisposable = vscode.commands.registerCommand('editor.action.clipboardCopyAction', async (arg) => myCopy(typeDisposable) );
    context.subscriptions.push(typeDisposable);
}

context.subscriptions.push(typeDisposable);

You would have to modify this for multiple selections which should be pretty easy.

This will intercept ALL calls to copy, including Ctrl+C. Maybe you are able to limit registering the command to a more limited set of circumstances?

user_8363300
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