[Feature Request] IntelliJ-style git gutter patch preview/operations (git checkout -p)

[jabooth]

IntelliJ has a very natural UI for managing individual git patches - click in the gutter at a change indicator, and you immediately have the previous version of the file displayed and options for that diff (by far the most useful of which is rollback)

Use case

You open back up your editor and look at the file you were working on last night. You see in the sidebar little symbols indicating additions removals and changes (handy!). You can't remember what this particular change was though.

IntelliJ solution

Click the gutter symbol, see the old version of these few lines immediately in context. Ohh yeah that was just something you were fooling around with for debugging but it's not needed any more, click to rollback this single change.

VSCode solution

Change entirely to another view in the editor to see a full file-by-file diff of the two files (Git: Open Change). Unless I'm mistaken, manually change the file to undo the change (I looked for Git: {Revert,Undo,Rollback} this {change,diff,patch}) but came up empty).

Big picture

VSCode's inbuilt git UI is great for rolling back changes at the file level (git checkout), but weak at changes at the patch level (git checkout -p). This IntelliJ paradigm is the best GUI I have seen for handling this common operation.

I would love to contribute this feature to VSCode, whether though an extension or an addition to the core product. I would personally lobby for an inclusion in the core, as it complements and completes in my mind the existing git checkout/add features that do not require extensions. I also believe it is not presently possible to customise the gutter in extensions (#9561).

[joaomoreno]

Note that you already have these operations, although a bit hidden:

[jabooth]

@joaomoreno thanks hadn't seen that git add -p UI (and yeah, it's not very discoverable there IMHO).

Still seems that there is still no git checkout -p UI though?

If so, would you be open to a PR that simply added a new entry to that menu called Clean Selected Lines? The same as Stage Selected Lines but reverts the selected change rather than staging it?

This would complete a family of git operations offered within Code:

File operations (left file list panel)

• Stage
• Clean (revert)

Patch operations (select text + toolbar menu):

• Stage
• Clean (revert) <- Proposed addition

Understand the proposed gutter UI is a huge addition with many consequences, so would love to plug away at something more manageable in this area as a starting point...

[joaomoreno]

That action also is there, when you open a staged change file:

The functionality is there, just not very discoverable IMO. We can think about making it shine a bit more...

[joaomoreno]

Oh my bad, I mistook what you meant by your last comment. You meant checkout not reset.

I'd be totally interested in such a PR. The logic code is what matters, don't worry about UI; you can put the action right next to the Stage Selected Lines action. The Stage Selected Lines action will be a big help in getting there, namely the stageRanges.ts module. That would be an initial step, which we can then leverage to bring those actions to a regular, non-diff, editor.

[jabooth]

@joaomoreno great, I'll take a look at this when I get a free minute. Thanks a lot for the pointers!

[donaldpipowitch]

I'd love to see that feature as an interactive gutter indicator similar to IntelliJ. ♥