ise_compatibility.md

ISE Compatibility

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Summary

While the PowerShell extension for VSCode does not seek complete feature parity with the PowerShell ISE, there are features in place to make the VSCode experience more natural for users of the ISE.

This document tries to list settings you can configure in VSCode to make the user experience a bit more familiar compared to the ISE.

Key bindings

Function	ISE Binding	VSCode Binding
Interrupt and break debugger	Ctrl+B	F6
Execute current line/highlighted text	F8	F8
List available snippets	Ctrl+J	Ctrl+Alt+J

Custom Keybindings

You can configure your own keybindings in VSCode as well.

Tab completion

To enable more ISE-like tab completion, add this setting:

"editor.tabCompletion": "on"

This is a setting added directly to VSCode (rather than in the extension), so its behavior is determined by VSCode directly and cannot be changed by the extension.

No focus on console when executing

To keep the focus in the editor when you execute with F8:

"powershell.integratedConsole.focusConsoleOnExecute": false

The default is true for accessibility purposes.

Do not start integrated console on startup

To stop the integrated console on startup, set:

"powershell.integratedConsole.showOnStartup": false

Note: The background PowerShell process will still start, since that provides intellisense, script analysis, symbol navigation, etc. But the console will not be shown.

Assume files are PowerShell by default

To make new/untitled files register as PowerShell by default:

"files.defaultLanguage": "powershell"

Color scheme

There are a number of ISE themes available for VSCode to make the editor look much more like the ISE.

In the Command Palette type theme to get Preferences: Color Theme and press Enter. In the drop down list, select PowerShell ISE.

You can set this in the settings with:

"workbench.colorTheme": "PowerShell ISE"

PowerShell Command Explorer

Thanks to the work of @corbob, the PowerShell extension has the beginnings of its own command explorer.

In the Command Palette enter PowerShell Command Explorer and press Enter.

Open in the ISE

If you end up wanting to open a file in the ISE anyway, you can use Shift+Alt+P.

Other resources

• 4sysops has a great article on configuring VSCode to be more like the ISE.
• Mike F Robbins has a really good post on setting up VSCode.
• Learn PowerShell has an excellent write up on getting VSCode setup for PowerShell.

More settings

If you know of more ways to make VSCode feel more familiar for ISE users, please contribute to this doc. If there's a compatibility configuration you're looking for, but you can't find any way to enable it, please open an issue and ask away!

We are always happy to accept PRs and contributions as well!

VSCode Tips

Command Palette

F1 OR Ctrl+Shift+P (Cmd+Shift+P on macOS)

A handy way of executing commands in VSCode. See the VSCode docs for more details.