- Today we’re going to build an amazing HTML editor using Visual Studio Code (VS Code), a powerful, versatile cross-platform code editor that provides a lot of capabilities. Let’s get this out of the way up front: I’m a raving VS Code fan! In a previous post, I showed you how to Build an Amazing Markdown Editor, and now we’re going to learn how to create a fabulous HTML editor as well.
- Visual Studio Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, macOS, and Windows. Download Visual Studio Code to experience a redefined code editor, optimized for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications.
- HTML The Best Visual Studio Code Extensions. If you are developing Web applications, then you have to deal with REST or GraphQL. I usually used tools like Postman, SOAP UI as a REST client until I found this VS Code extension. With this simple yet powerful extension, it is very easy to REST request or GraphQL query.
- Visual Studio Code and other text editors are able to interpret file extensions and provide language-specific syntax highlighting. Syntax highlighting is a tool for making code easier to read. Take a look at your index.html file. The text and tags are different colors. This is how Visual Studio Code highlights.html.
I think the issue is that Visual Studio Code is not detecting the file type correctly. If you notice in these pictures, vscode has correctly detected that I am writing a html file by the icon beside the file name and the language indicator in the bottom right of the screen. The language indicator most likely says plain text in your case. Click on it and a menu should appear at the top.
Support for Emmet snippets and expansion is built right into Visual Studio Code, no extension required. Emmet 2.0 has support for the majority of the Emmet Actions including expanding Emmet abbreviations and snippets.
How to expand Emmet abbreviations and snippets
Emmet abbreviation and snippet expansions are enabled by default in html
, haml
, pug
, slim
, jsx
, xml
, xsl
, css
, scss
, sass
, less
and stylus
files, as well as any language that inherits from any of the above like handlebars
and php
.
When you start typing an Emmet abbreviation, you will see the abbreviation displayed in the suggestion list. If you have the suggestion documentation fly-out open, you will see a preview of the expansion as you type. If you are in a stylesheet file, the expanded abbreviation shows up in the suggestion list sorted among the other CSS suggestions.
Using Tab for Emmet expansions
If you want to use the Tab key for expanding the Emmet abbreviations, add the following setting:
This setting allows using the Tab key for indentation when text is not an Emmet abbreviation.
Emmet when quickSuggestions are disabled
If you have disabled the editor.quickSuggestions
setting, you won't see suggestions as you type. You can still trigger suggestions manually by pressing ⌃Space (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Space) and see the preview.
Disable Emmet in suggestions
If you don't want to see Emmet abbreviations in suggestions at all, then use the following setting:
You can still use the command Emmet: Expand Abbreviation to expand your abbreviations. You can also bind any keyboard shortcut to the command id editor.emmet.action.expandAbbreviation
as well.
Emmet suggestion ordering
To ensure Emmet suggestions are always on top in the suggestion list, add the following settings:
Emmet abbreviations in other file types
To enable the Emmet abbreviation expansion in file types where it is not available by default, use the emmet.includeLanguages
setting. Make sure to use language identifiers for both sides of the mapping, with the right side being the language identifier of an Emmet supported language (see the list above).
For example:
Emmet has no knowledge of these new languages, and so there might be Emmet suggestions showing up in non HTML/CSS contexts. To avoid this, you can use the following setting.
Note: If you used emmet.syntaxProfiles
previously to map new file types, from VS Code 1.15 onwards you should use the setting emmet.includeLanguages
instead. emmet.syntaxProfiles
is meant for customizing the final output only.
Emmet with multi-cursors
You can use most of the Emmet actions with multi-cursors as well:
Using filters
Filters are special post-processors that modify the expanded abbreviation before it is output to the editor. There are 2 ways to use filters; either globally through the emmet.syntaxProfiles
setting or directly in the current abbreviation.
Below is an example of the first approach using the emmet.syntaxProfiles
setting to apply the bem
filter for all the abbreviations in HTML files:
To provide a filter for just the current abbreviation, append the filter to your abbreviation. For example, div#page|c
will apply the comment
filter to the div#page
abbreviation.
BEM filter (bem)
If you use the Block Element Modifier (BEM) way of writing HTML, then bem
filters are very handy for you to use. To learn more about how to use bem
filters, read BEM filter in Emmet.
You can customize this filter by using the bem.elementSeparator
and bem.modifierSeparator
preferences as documented in Emmet Preferences.
Comment filter (c)
This filter adds comments around important tags. By default, 'important tags' are those tags with id and/or class attribute.
For example div>div#page>p.title+p|c
will be expanded to:
You can customize this filter by using the filter.commentTrigger
, filter.commentAfter
and filter.commentBefore
preferences as documented in Emmet Preferences.
The format for the filter.commentAfter
preference is different in VS Code Emmet 2.0.
For example, instead of:
in VS Code, you would use a simpler:
Trim filter (t)
This filter is applicable only when providing abbreviations for the Emmet: Wrap Individual Lines with Abbreviation command. It removes line markers from wrapped lines.
Using custom Emmet snippets
Custom Emmet snippets need to be defined in a json file named snippets.json
. The emmet.extensionsPath
setting should have the path to the directory containing this file.
Below is an example for the contents of this snippets.json
file.
Authoring of Custom Snippets in Emmet 2.0 via the snippets.json
file differs from the old way of doing the same in a few ways:
Topic | Old Emmet | Emmet 2.0 |
---|---|---|
Snippets vs Abbreviations | Supports both in 2 separate properties called snippets and abbreviations | The 2 have been combined into a single property called snippets. See default HTML snippets and CSS snippets |
CSS snippet names | Can contain : | Do not use : when defining snippet names. It is used to separate property name and value when Emmet tries to fuzzy match the given abbreviation to one of the snippets. |
CSS snippet values | Can end with ; | Do not add ; at end of snippet value. Emmet will add the trailing ; based on the file type (css/less/scss vs sass/stylus) or the emmet preference set for css.propertyEnd , sass.propertyEnd , stylus.propertyEnd |
Cursor location | ${cursor} or | can be used | Use only textmate syntax like ${1} for tab stops and cursor locations |
HTML Emmet snippets
HTML custom snippets are applicable to all other markup flavors like haml
or pug
. When snippet value is an abbreviation and not actual HTML, the appropriate transformations can be applied to get the right output as per the language type.
For example, for an unordered list with a list item, if your snippet value is ul>li
, you can use the same snippet in html
, haml
, pug
or slim
, but if your snippet value is <ul><li></li></ul>
, then it will work only in html
files.
If you want a snippet for plain text, then surround the text with {}
.
CSS Emmet snippets
Values for CSS Emmet snippets should be a complete property name and value pair.
CSS custom snippets are applicable to all other stylesheet flavors like scss
, less
or sass
. Therefore, don't include a trailing ;
at the end of the snippet value. Emmet will add it as needed based on whether the language requires it.
Do not use :
in the snippet name. :
is used to separate property name and value when Emmet tries to fuzzy match the abbreviation to one of the snippets.
Tab stops and cursors in custom snippets
The syntax for tab stops in custom Emmet snippets follows the Textmate snippets syntax.
- Use
${1}
,${2}
for tab stops and${1:placeholder}
for tab stops with placeholders. - Previously,
|
or${cursor}
was used to denote the cursor location in the custom Emmet snippet. This is no longer supported. Use${1}
instead.
Emmet configuration
Below are Emmet settings that you can use to customize your Emmet experience in VS Code.
emmet.includeLanguages
Use this setting to add mapping between the language of your choice and one of the Emmet supported languages to enable Emmet in the former using the syntax of the latter. Make sure to use language ids for both sides of the mapping.
For example:
emmet.excludeLanguages
If there is a language where you do not want to see Emmet expansions, add it in this setting which takes an array of language id strings.
emmet.syntaxProfiles
See Emmet Customization of output profile to learn how you can customize the output of your HTML abbreviations.
For example:
emmet.variables
Customize variables used by Emmet snippets.
For example:
emmet.showExpandedAbbreviation
Controls the Emmet suggestions that show up in the suggestion/completion list.
Setting Value Description never
Never show Emmet abbreviations in the suggestion list for any language. inMarkupAndStylesheetFilesOnly
Show Emmet suggestions only for languages that are purely markup and stylesheet based ('html', 'pug', 'slim', 'haml', 'xml', 'xsl', 'css', 'scss', 'sass', 'less', 'stylus'). always
Show Emmet suggestions in all Emmet supported modes as well as the languages that have a mapping in the emmet.includeLanguages
setting.Note: In the
always
mode, the new Emmet implementation is not context aware. For example, if you are editing a JavaScript React file, you will get Emmet suggestions not only when writing markup but also while writing JavaScript.emmet.showAbbreviationSuggestions
Shows possible emmet abbreviations as suggestions. It is
true
by default.For example, when you type
li
, you get suggestions for all emmet snippets starting withli
likelink
,link:css
,link:favicon
etc. This is helpful in learning Emmet snippets that you never knew existed unless you knew the Emmet cheatsheet by heart.Not applicable in stylesheets or when
emmet.showExpandedAbbreviation
is set tonever
.emmet.extensionsPath
Provide the location of the directory that houses the
snippets.json
file which in turn has your custom snippets.emmet.triggerExpansionOnTab
Set this to true to enable expanding Emmet abbreviations with Tab key. We use this setting to provide the appropriate fallback to provide indentation when there is no abbreviation to expand.
emmet.showSuggestionsAsSnippets
If set to
true
, then Emmet suggestions will be grouped along with other snippets allowing you to order them as pereditor.snippetSuggestions
setting. Set this totrue
andeditor.snippetSuggestions
totop
, to ensure that Emmet suggestions always show up on top among other suggestions.emmet.preferences
You can use this setting to customize Emmet as documented in Emmet Preferences. The below customizations are currently supported:
css.propertyEnd
css.valueSeparator
sass.propertyEnd
sass.valueSeparator
stylus.propertyEnd
stylus.valueSeparator
css.unitAliases
css.intUnit
css.floatUnit
bem.elementSeparator
bem.modifierSeparator
filter.commentBefore
filter.commentTrigger
filter.commentAfter
format.noIndentTags
format.forceIndentationForTags
profile.allowCompactBoolean
css.fuzzySearchMinScore
The format for the
filter.commentAfter
preference is different and simpler in Emmet 2.0.For example, instead of the older format
you would use
If you want support for any of the other preferences as documented in Emmet Preferences, please log a feature request.
Next steps
Emmet is just one of the great web developer features in VS Code. Read on to find out about:
- HTML - VS Code supports HTML with IntelliSense, closing tags, and formatting.
- CSS - We offer rich support for CSS, SCSS and Less.
Common questions
Custom tags do not get expanded in the suggestion list
Custom tags when used in an expression like MyTag>YourTag
or MyTag.someclass
do show up in the suggestion list. But when these are used on their own like MyTag
, they do not appear in the suggestion list. This is designed so to avoid noise in the suggestion list as every word is a potential custom tag.
Add the following setting to enable expanding of Emmet abbreviations using tab which will expand custom tags in all cases.
My HTML snippets ending with +
do not work?
HTML snippets ending with +
like select+
and ul+
from the Emmet cheatsheet are not supported. This is a known issue in Emmet 2.0 Issue: emmetio/html-matcher#1. Workaround is to create your own custom Emmet snippets for such scenarios.
Where can I set all the preferences as documented in Emmet preferences
You can set the preferences using the setting emmet.preferences
. Only a subset of the preferences that are documented in Emmet preferences can be customized. Please read the preferences section under Emmet configuration.
Any tips and tricks?
Visual Studio Code Html5 Preview
Of course!
- In CSS abbreviations, when you use
:
, the left part is used to fuzzy match with the CSS property name and the right part is used to match with CSS property value. Take full advantage of this by using abbreviations likepos:f
,trf:rx
,fw:b
, etc. - Use the new command Emmet: Wrap Individual Lines with Abbreviation instead of Emmet: Wrap with Abbreviation when you want each selected line to be wrapped by a repeater in the given abbreviation. For example, use
ul>li*
to wrap selected lines in an unordered list with each line as a list item. - Explore all other Emmet features as documented in Emmet Actions.
- Don't hesitate to create your own custom Emmet snippets.
Visual Studio Code includes built-in JavaScript IntelliSense, debugging, formatting, code navigation, refactorings, and many other advanced language features.
Most of these features just work out of the box, while some may require basic configuration to get the best experience. This page summarizes the JavaScript features that VS Code ships with. Extensions from the VS Code Marketplace can augment or change most of these built-in features. For a more in-depth guide on how these features work and can be configured, see Working with JavaScript.
IntelliSense
IntelliSense shows you intelligent code completion, hover info, and signature information so that you can write code more quickly and correctly.
VS Code provides IntelliSense within your JavaScript projects; for many npm libraries such as React
, lodash
, and express
; and for other platforms such as node
, serverless, or IoT.
See Working with JavaScript for information about VS Code's JavaScript IntelliSense, how to configure it, and help troubleshooting common IntelliSense problems.
JavaScript projects (jsconfig.json)
A jsconfig.json file defines a JavaScript project in VS Code. While jsconfig.json
files are not required, you will want to create one in cases such as:
- If not all JavaScript files in your workspace should be considered part of a single JavaScript project.
jsconfig.json
files let you exclude some files from showing up in IntelliSense. - To ensure that a subset of JavaScript files in your workspace is treated as a single project. This is useful if you are working with legacy code that uses implicit globals dependencies instead of
imports
for dependencies. - If your workspace contains more than one project context, such as front-end and back-end JavaScript code. For multi-project workspaces, create a
jsconfig.json
at the root folder of each project. - You are using the TypeScript compiler to down-level compile JavaScript source code.
To define a basic JavaScript project, add a jsconfig.json
at the root of your workspace:
See Working with JavaScript for more advanced jsconfig.json
configuration.
Tip: To check if a JavaScript file is part of JavaScript project, just open the file in VS Code and run the JavaScript: Go to Project Configuration command. This command opens the jsconfig.json
that references the JavaScript file. A notification is shown if the file is not part of any jsconfig.json
project.
Snippets
VS Code includes basic JavaScript snippets that are suggested as you type;
There are many extensions that provide additional snippets, including snippets for popular frameworks such as Redux or Angular. You can even define your own snippets.
Tip: To disable snippets suggestions, set editor.snippetSuggestions
to 'none'
in your settings file. The editor.snippetSuggestions
setting also lets you change where snippets appear in the suggestions: at the top ('top'
), at the bottom ('bottom'
), or inlined ordered alphabetically ('inline'
). The default is 'inline'
.
JSDoc support
VS Code understands many standard JSDoc annotations, and uses these annotations to provide rich IntelliSense. You can optionally even use the type information from JSDoc comments to type check your JavaScript.
Quickly create JSDoc comments for functions by typing /**
before the function declaration, and select the JSDoc comment snippet suggestion:
To disable JSDoc comment suggestions, set 'javascript.suggest.completeJSDocs': false
.
Hover Information
Hover over a JavaScript symbol to quickly see its type information and relevant documentation.
The ⌘K ⌘I (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+I) keyboard shortcut shows this hover info at the current cursor position.
Signature Help
As you write JavaScript function calls, VS Code shows information about the function signature and highlights the parameter that you are currently completing:
Signature help is shown automatically when you type a (
or ,
within a function call. Press ⇧⌘Space (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+Space) to manually trigger signature help.
Auto imports
Automatic imports speed up coding by suggesting available variables throughout your project and its dependencies. When you select one of these suggestions, VS Code automatically adds an import for it to the top of the file.
Just start typing to see suggestions for all available JavaScript symbols in your current project. Auto import suggestions show where they will be imported from:
If you choose one of these auto import suggestions, VS Code adds an import for it.
In this example, VS Code adds an import for Button
from material-ui to the top of the file:
To disable auto imports, set 'javascript.suggest.autoImports'
to false
.
Tip: VS Code tries to infer the best import style to use. You can explicitly configure the preferred quote style and path style for imports added to your code with the javascript.preferences.quoteStyle
and javascript.preferences.importModuleSpecifier
settings.
Formatting
VS Code's built-in JavaScript formatter providers basic code formatting with reasonable defaults.
The javascript.format.*
settings configure the built-in formatter. Or, if the built-in formatter is getting in the way, set 'javascript.format.enable'
to false
to disable it.
For more specialized code formatting styles, try installing one of the JavaScript formatting extensions from the Marketplace.
JSX and auto closing tags
All of VS Code's JavaScript features also work with JSX:
You can use JSX syntax in both normal *.js
files and in *.jsx
files.
VS Code also includes JSX-specific features such as autoclosing of JSX tags:
Set 'javascript.autoClosingTags'
to false
to disable JSX tag closing.
Code navigation
Code navigation lets you quickly navigate JavaScript projects.
- Go To DefinitionF12 - Go to the source code of a symbol definition.
- Peek Definition⌥F12 (Windows Alt+F12, Linux Ctrl+Shift+F10) - Bring up a Peek window that shows the definition of a symbol.
- Go to References⇧F12 (Windows, Linux Shift+F12) - Show all references to a symbol.
- Go to Type Definition - Go to the type that defines a symbol. For an instance of a class, this will reveal the class itself instead of where the instance is defined.
You can navigate via symbol search using the Go to Symbol commands from the Command Palette (⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P)).
- Go to Symbol in File⇧⌘O (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+O)
- Go to Symbol in Workspace⌘T (Windows, Linux Ctrl+T)
Rename
Press F2 to rename the symbol under the cursor across your JavaScript project:
Refactoring
VS Code includes some handy refactorings for JavaScript such as Extract function and Extract constant. Just select the source code you'd like to extract and then click on the lightbulb in the gutter or press (⌘. (Windows, Linux Ctrl+.)) to see available refactorings.
Available refactorings include:
- Extract to method or function.
- Extract to constant.
- Convert between named imports and namespace imports.
- Move to new file.
See Refactorings for more information about refactorings and how you can configure keyboard shortcuts for individual refactorings.
Unused variables and unreachable code
Unused JavaScript code, such the else block of an if
statement that is always true or an unreferenced import, is faded out in the editor:
You can quickly remove this unused code by placing the cursor on it and triggering the Quick Fix command (⌘. (Windows, Linux Ctrl+.)) or clicking on the lightbulb.
To disable fading out of unused code, set 'editor.showUnused'
to false
. You can also disable fading of unused code only in JavaScript by setting:
Organize Imports
The Organize Imports Source Action sorts the imports in a JavaScript file and removes any unused imports:
You can run Organize Imports from the Source Action context menu or with the ⇧⌥O (Windows, Linux Shift+Alt+O) keyboard shortcut.
Organize imports can also be done automatically when you save a JavaScript file by setting:
Code Actions on Save
The editor.codeActionsOnSave
setting lets you configure a set of Code Actions that are run when a file is saved. For example, you can enable organize imports on save by setting:
You can also set editor.codeActionsOnSave
to an array of Code Actions to execute in order.
Here are some source actions:
'organizeImports'
- Enables organize imports on save.'fixAll'
- Auto Fix on Save computes all possible fixes in one round (for all providers including ESLint).'fixAll.eslint'
- Auto Fix only for ESLint.'addMissingImports'
- Adds all missing imports on save.
See Node.js/JavaScript for more information.
Code suggestions
VS Code automatically suggests some common code simplifications such as converting a chain of .then
calls on a promise to use async
and await
Set 'javascript.suggestionActions.enabled'
to false
to disable suggestions.
References CodeLens
The JavaScript references CodeLens displays an inline count of reference for classes, methods, properties, and exported objects:
To enable the references CodeLens, set 'javascript.referencesCodeLens.enabled'
to true
.
Click on the reference count to quickly browse a list of references:
Update imports on file move
When you move or rename a file that is imported by other files in your JavaScript project, VS Code can automatically update all import paths that reference the moved file:
The javascript.updateImportsOnFileMove.enabled
setting controls this behavior. Valid settings values are:
'prompt'
- The default. Asks if paths should be updated for each file move.'always'
- Always automatically update paths.'never'
- Do not update paths automatically and do not prompt.
Linters
Linters provides warnings for suspicious looking code. While VS Code does not include a built-in JavaScript linter, many JavaScript linter extensions available in the marketplace.
Tip: This list is dynamically queried from the VS Code Marketplace. Read the description and reviews to decide if the extension is right for you.
Type checking
You can leverage some of TypeScript's advanced type checking and error reporting functionality in regular JavaScript files too. This is a great way to catch common programming mistakes. These type checks also enable some exciting Quick Fixes for JavaScript, including Add missing import and Add missing property.
TypeScript tried to infer types in .js
files the same way it does in .ts
files. When types cannot be inferred, they can be specified explicitly with JSDoc comments. You can read more about how TypeScript uses JSDoc for JavaScript type checking in Working with JavaScript.
Type checking of JavaScript is optional and opt-in. Existing JavaScript validation tools such as ESLint can be used alongside built-in type checking functionality.
Debugging
VS Code comes with great debugging support for JavaScript. Set breakpoints, inspect objects, navigate the call stack, and execute code in the Debug Console. See the Debugging topic to learn more.
Debug client side
You can debug your client-side code using a browser debugger such as Debugger for Chrome, Debugger for Edge or Debugger for Firefox.
Debug server side
Debug Node.js in VS Code using the built-in debugger. Setup is easy and there is a Node.js debugging tutorial to help you.
Html Boilerplate Visual Studio Code
Popular extensions
VS Code ships with excellent support for JavaScript but you can additionally install debuggers, snippets, linters, and other JavaScript tools through extensions.
Tip: The extensions shown above are dynamically queried. Click on an extension tile above to read the description and reviews to decide which extension is best for you. See more in the Marketplace.
Next steps
Read on to find out about:
- Working with JavaScript - More detailed information about VS Code's JavaScript support and how to troubleshoot common issues.
- jsconfig.json - Detailed description of the
jsconfig.json
project file. - IntelliSense - Learn more about IntelliSense and how to use it effectively for your language.
- Debugging - Learn how to set up debugging for your application.
- Node.js - A walkthrough to create an Express Node.js application.
- TypeScript - VS Code has great support for TypeScript, which brings structure and strong typing to your JavaScript code.
Watch these introductory videos:
- IntelliSense - Tutorial on IntelliSense with JavaScript.
- Debugging - Learn how to debug a Node.js application.
Common questions
Does VS Code support JSX and React Native?
VS Code supports JSX and React Native. You will get IntelliSense for React/JSX and React Native from automatically downloaded type declaration (typings) files from the npmjs type declaration file repository. Additionally, you can install the popular React Native extension from the Marketplace.
To enable ES6 import statements for React Native, you need to set the allowSyntheticDefaultImports
compiler option to true
. This tells the compiler to create synthetic default members and you get IntelliSense. React Native uses Babel behind the scenes to create the proper run-time code with default members. If you also want to do debugging of React Native code, you can install the React Native Extension.
Does VS Code support the Dart programming language and the Flutter framework?
Yes, there are VS Code extensions for both Dart and Flutter development. You can learn more at the Flutter.dev documentation.
IntelliSense is not working for external libraries
Automatic Type Acquisition
works for dependencies downloaded by npm (specified in package.json
), Bower (specified in bower.json
), and for many of the most common libraries listed in your folder structure (for example jquery-3.1.1.min.js
).
ES6 Style imports are not working.
Html Visual Code
When you want to use ES6 style imports but some type declaration (typings) files do not yet use ES6 style exports, then set the TypeScript compiler optionallowSyntheticDefaultImports
to true.
Can I debug minified/uglified JavaScript?
Yes, you can. You can see this working using JavaScript source maps in the Node.js Debugging topic.
How do I disable Syntax Validation when using non-ES6 constructs?
Some users want to use syntax constructs like the proposed pipeline (|>
) operator. However, these are currently not supported by VS Code's JavaScript language service and are flagged as errors. For users who still want to use these future features, we provide the javascript.validate.enable
setting.
With javascript.validate.enable: false
, you disable all built-in syntax checking. If you do this, we recommend that you use a linter like ESLint to validate your source code.
Can I use other JavaScript tools like Flow?
Yes, but some of Flow's language features such as type and error checking may interfere with VS Code's built-in JavaScript support. To learn how to disable VS Code's built-in JavaScript support, see Disable JavaScript support.