Feedback about Multi-Cursor Mode

[johnfn]

This is a thread for feedback about Multi-Cursor Mode. I don't use it all that often, so I'm open to any and all suggestions about what it should do or be like.

[jgoz]

As of 0.3.0 (Windows, Code 1.5.3), it's very difficult to actually get into Multi-Cursor Mode from Normal Mode. Using the Add Cursor Above/Below shortcuts in Normal mode, it will expand the cursor appropriately but then the first command that gets invoked will only apply to the first line. See the following screencast:

The commands I tried were in this order:

• dw
• x
• i

Note that I was only able to get to mult-cursor/normal mode by first entering Insert mode, adding cursors, making a change, and then exiting into Normal mode again.

[johnfn]

Thanks for the feedback @jgoz! I don't actually have a Windows machine, so that probably explains some of your problems. :P

I'm curious how the new command gc that we added works for you?

In the meantime I'll see if I can find someone with a Windows machine to do some testing.

[jgoz]

I'm curious how the new command gc that we added works for you?

I'm not sure exactly how gc is supposed to work, but here's what happens on my machine:

• gc -> highlight all occurrences of a string
• any other command (d, etc): only execute command on the first string that was selected

If I keep doing gc, it will add the selections one-by-one and then commands I execute will operate on those selections. I can do another screencast if my description was unclear :)

[johnfn]

gc should add another cursor at the next instance of the word. It should be exactly the same as cmd-d.

Then once you've added a bunch of cursors, you should be able to run vim commands on all of them.

If I keep doing gc, it will add the selections one-by-one and then commands I execute will operate on those selections.

This sounds like desired behavior, at least for "gc does the same as ctrl-d". Am I wrong?

[johnfn]

@jgoz I think I see the bug for Windows. Give me a sec.

[jgoz]

This sounds like desired behavior, at least for "gc does the same as ctrl-d". Am I wrong?

Sounds like it. I tested this out on my Mac at home and it behaves the same as Cmd+D.

One issue I did notice with both Cmd+D and gc is that (in Normal mode) if you run it on a word with a trailing comma, the comma will be part of the selection in the first instance. I can file this as a separate issue if you like.

@jgoz I think I see the bug for Windows. Give me a sec.

👍

[Platzer]

Hi i use (Vscode 1.6.0 Insider, Windows 7, Vim 0.3.0), it seams that VsCodeVim eats the Add Cursor Above/Below shortcuts:

If i uninstall the extension the shortcuts working just fine.

And you can see another issue in the gif. If i add a new cursor below in normal mode an switch to insert mode only the main cursor is acitve.

[habamax]

Yep, windows 10 and gc only highlights multiple selections but any operation I do are applied only for the first one.

[johnfn]

Yeah, sorry about that! It seems like it's no good on Windows. Once #835 is done I will address those problems and push out a new version!

[octref]

Thanks a lot for the work! I didn't know the multi-cursor is the one with cmd+alt+down (just looked at it and it looks awesome), so I used Ctrl+V to activate it:

The blinking cursor is a bit annoying.

And here I'm pressing w and b.

cmd+alt+down version doesn't have these issues. I'd suggest letting Ctrl-V use the multi-cursor implementation, as all its use cases are covered by multi-cursor. IIRC that is what Atom and Sublime's Vim implementation was using.

Again, thanks for the multi-cursor support. It's amazing.

[frederickfogerty]

Hey there @johnfn, thanks for creating this. Works great when using vim commands, but there is no interoperability with VSCode's native selections, is this right? i.e. if I select text using Shift + arrow keys in insert mode, and press command + d, I get the following:

The first part is when I use VSCode's selections (shift+option+arrow key) + cmd-d, the last part is using Vim selections (vaw) + cmd-d.

Would this fixed by #832?

[vogler]

Some strange behavior I noticed:

1. alt+cmd+up/down (editor.action.insertCursor{Above/Below}) only works in normal mode - why not in insert mode?
2. alt-clicking for multiple cursors in normal mode, after i, only the first cursor remains

[maciej-trebacz]

@johnfn On macOS Sierra, when I try to highlight a word and then use "Replace all occurrences" feature it doesn't work property, only the originally highlighted word gets replaced, while for all the others the text gets appended.

[zmx]

Use cw command on last word of lines will cause lines incorrectly join together.
macOS 10.11