Profiles: Extend from Default Profile

[sandy081]

Allow to configure settings across profiles.

One idea we are considering is to allow users to choose between following options while creating a profile:

1. Extend from Default Profile
2. Diverge from Default Profile

When chosen to extend, settings from default profile are applied unless user overrides them in the profile.

[GongT]

need something like:

{
	"setting.item": { "$linkWith": "default" }
}

or

{
	"profile.link": [
		{"source": "default", "keys": ["item", "item2"]}
	]
}

I also need keybindings never change between profiles. or this feature is not usable for me.

[dimateos]

Exaclty, I was expecting settings profiles to allow specifying what is to be replaced from default, something like what is done in settings sync:

Basically I need keybinds and settings persistent across profiles. Otherwise when I add new ones/update in the default profile I have to recreate profiles or edit the exported file with a diff and reimport... Also note how there are conditional clauses for hotkeys (e.g. editorTextFocus && editorLangId == 'markdown') that you can use to differentiate per language. So there is no need for profiles per language here, which is one of the main uses of setting profiles. I believe there are also similar options for settings per language, but I think that this is less used.

Anyway I only plan to use setting profiles for enabling extensions per language/work-place, and I think am not alone (multiple extensions target this specific case). The fact that it enforces persistent settings and keybinds prevents me from using it.

Your proposed features to just extend/diverge from default could work, although then maybe e.g. there is no way to add new extensions while disabling others?

[Lamarcke]

This would indeed be a really great option.

Often, when i need to change a setting for something native or for a extension i use in all profiles (like GItlens) i need to copy and paste in every profile. (Although knowing where the profiles' settings.json are stored make this easier).
This would also apply to keybinds.

[kozer7]

This is the idea of my profile settings. I use many tech stack and I like to try new things so I change my extensions very much. But I would love to have layered or stacked profiles not just extending from one. Let me give you a example.

One of the programming languages I mainly use is Java. I use diffrent tools(extensions) and let me group these like these:
+Java:
++ Editor Settings, Key Bindings & Java related extensions like Spring Framework, Maven, Gradle, Test Extension and more.
++ (Optional) Container Extensions
++ (Optional) Kubernetes Extensions
++ (Optional) Git related extensions
++ (Optional) Xml, Yaml, Json etc. related extensions.
++ (Optional) NoSQL data management extensions
++ (Optional) SQL data management extensions

and goes on. The other language I mainly use is python and this is the tools I generally use.

+Python:
++ Editor settings, formatter, virtual env. manager and test extensions
++ (Optional) Container Extensions
++ (Optional) Kubernetes Extensions
++ (Optional) Git related extensions
++ (Optional) Xml, Yaml, Json etc. related extensions.
++ (Optional) NoSQL data management extensions
++ (Optional) SQL data management extensions

Apart from these I try to play with Flutter, Angular or React frontend tech stacks:) Ok, I dont use them mainly but wanted to have an opinon about them. but still use them every now and then.

So what I wanted to do is, activating each required profile for the project. I mean one python application is running on containers and I have to activate related extension but one project is not using any container mechanism. I dont want to deactivate them manually and re-open. Same as using sql or nosql related extensions.

This way I can update a profile like adding GitLens to git profile. And all projects in which git profile active will have the Gitlens.

[cweagans]

For me, this is really the only thing that's missing from the settings profile functionality as it exists currently. I was using https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=cyberbiont.vscode-profiles for a while. My base profile has only a couple of plugins (vscodevim, editorconfig, markdown preview mermaid support, and the Nord theme) and a fair amount of configuration that's standard across every tech stack I work on (font, UI, window settings, etc).

In the secondary profiles that extend from the base profile, I intend to add language-specific extensions and configuration. I would love to not have all of my base configuration duplicated in the secondary profiles. I would like to not update my font in a bunch of different places if avoidable.

[cweagans]

Alternatively, instead of having separate config files for different profiles, having profile-specific sections in the main config would work well:

{
    "editor.fontSize": 15,
    "editor.lineHeight": 1.9,
    "[profile:screencast]": {
        "editor.fontSize": 20
    }
}