Alternative locations for the outline view

[jrieken]

The outline view lives inside the file explorer and while it can be re-arranges in there it cannot be dragged into its own view. Alternative locations could be:

1. a standalone viewlet,
2. inside another viewlets,
3. the bottom panel, or
4. as a re-arrangable view that can be docked anywhere in the UI (like most others have it).

[DanTup]

I have an ultrawide monitor and would prefer to dock this on the right side (separate from the existing sidebars). However, I can also imagine that on smaller screens (like a laptop) people would prefer it in the existing sidebar (some might want it in explorer, some might want it on its own tab).

Honestly, I think the best thing would be for all sidebar buttons to be individually dockable (eg. so I could have files and debug views visible on opposite sides of the window, or even docked into the same left sidebar). I think it'd be better to do something that works with the existing views than something specific for Outline.

[gulshan]

I think, outline should be a viewlet. But viewlets should become more flexible in general, at least ability to dock any of them left or right, independent of other viewlets, is desirable .

[Ettemlevest]

@DanTup & @gulshan That's a good idea. I would love to use outline viewlet permanently docked to one side and use every other viewlets in the other side.

[Krzysztof-Cieslak]

I think, outline should be a viewlet. But viewlets should become more flexible in general, at least ability to dock any of them left or right, independent of other viewlets, is desirable .

💯, it would solve the problem of increasing amount of viewlets contributed by extensions and constant switching between them

[ToMakeSense]

visual studio, Eclipse, webstom etc... I think it's obvious

[jrieken]

adding @isidorn since this is about the workbench layout

[gulshan]

Linking showing two sidebars issue- #26777

[regs01]

@gulshan i like the new way of Code Outline extension, but still it should be optional. Not everyone would like it in an own viewlet.

[ghiscoding]

@jrieken
Wasn't there a breadcrumb option as well? I would prefer that alternative, I always like having it on top right corner, the same default as VS. As long as I can have it on front stage at all time without having the solution explorer always open.

[jrieken]

@ghiscoding Yeah, breadcrumb is an option that we explore this milestone, see #9418

[paror]

@jrieken The outline view is my favorite among the tools recently added to Vscode. Simple and clean. The last thing I personally miss is the ability to change the location of the tool. I guess we will not have to wait too long ... I'm for proposition 4.

[staffann]

My need would be in a separate viewlet. The flexible positioning (especially if it is applied to viewlets in general) sounds really nice, but I would request that as a first step the outline can be moved to a separate, normal viewlet. The positioning that is in 1.25 is a big step backwards compared to the code outline extension.

[acid009]

Would be awesome to move Outline to the right or replace Minimap with Outline.

[lijingshanxi]

Hi, do you want this effect: file explorer is at left, outline is at right;

[qcxiang]

Hi, do you want this effect: file explorer is at left, outline is at right;

YES!

[lijingshanxi]

Hi, do you want this effect: file explorer is at left, outline is at right;

YES!

Please follow these steps:

1. Drag OUTLINE to PANEL:

2. Move PANEL RIGHT
   

3. OK
   

Hope it works for you;

[ghost]

Move Panel Right
   ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13703027/106093963-32b4bd00-616c-11eb-9574-1cf5c97c2945.png)

Tha tmoves everything like Console and else. We want to see the left, bottom and right panes separately and customisable. AFAIK its not that hard (some forks) but the problem is the philosophy of turning VS Code into an IDE and pull requests getting rejected.

[gnaeus]

but the problem is the philosophy of turning VS Code into an IDE and pull requests getting rejected.

Haha.. It outperforms almost all IDEs at least for JavaScript development. So the lack of this small but very useful improvement is very annoying.

[enkeyz]

This could've been a feature years ago, but something bs going on, and they never released a statement why they don't want to add this. Makes no sense.

There a web app based on vscode, where you could dock only the outline to the right, sadly I don't remember it's name.

Also, if they have no intention to add this feature, just close this issue.

[Serhioromano]

This could've been a feature years ago, but something bs going on, and they never released a statement why they don't want to add this. Makes no sense.

There a web app based on vscode, where you could dock only the outline to the right, sadly I don't remember it's name.

Also, if they have no intention to add this feature, just close this issue.

I do not think they do not want to do it. I think they just doing something big. It is not matter of placing outline to the right. There might be hundreds of extensions with valuable viewlets. I think they want to make a UI that allow to place viewlets to right or left or 2 or 3 columns for wide screen monitors. And that is not a simple change. That require strategy and a lot of compatibility problems.

[enkeyz]

Still, it'd be nice to get an offical statement from them to know if they're planned it to make this into a feature. Because there's silence since this request was opened.

[RollingHog]

Same here. This feature exists even in Notepad++ (which is kinda eighteen years old)!

I used a method offered by lijingshanxi (and thanks for it) but it's not really what this feature is about. Now I have my console docked to the right, but I want a separate panel, not console and all bottom stuff, to be docked there!

Maybe we can have just some "right panel" just as we have left and bottom ones, maybe hidden by default? I'm sure it is not that difficult to add.

[heartacker]

We reallllllllllllly need this feature. please

[RollingHog]

We reallllllllllllly need this feature. please

The most annoying thing here that as a programmer myself, I'm pretty sure it is rather easy to implement a new 3rd optional panel which has the same functionality as the console docked to the right.

[Serhioromano]

We reallllllllllllly need this feature. please

The most annoying thing here that as a programmer myself, I'm pretty sure it is rather easy to implement a new 3rd optional panel which has the same functionality as the console docked to the right.

If you think it is an easy task, just do it and submit PR. I am also programmer myself and I see it as one of the most complex task for VS Code.

[RollingHog]

The most annoying thing here that as a programmer myself, I'm pretty sure it is rather easy to implement a new 3rd optional panel which has the same functionality as the console docked to the right.

If you think it is an easy task, just do it and submit PR. I am also programmer myself and I see it as one of the most complex task for VS Code.

Uh, an angry russian programmer here. Sir, I am not a contributor of VS Code and it will take literally days of grep-ing to understand structure and "default ways" of such complex project. At the same time, adding a new (optional and hidden by default) entity similar to already existent "Ctrl+J Panel" should not be difficult if you already know the code; it is something like three positions in the "Appearance" menu (show and move Panel2) and some tinkering to avoid collisions with already existent Panel. Where am I wrong?

[jrial]

Where am I wrong?

In treating this like a discussion area, a soapbox, a pub, ... It's not. It's an issue tracker.

You said you're a programmer, so I'm sure I don't need to lecture you on its correct use.

[rafaelsierra]

Guys, please if you don't have anything to add that will move this issue forward, please refrain from commenting.

There are people following this issue (like me) waiting for news but just getting spammed by "this should be easy", "it has been 3 years, where's my panel!?" and such.

Again: if you do not have a PR or new information that will help this to be accomplished, please refrain from commenting.

[AmbrosiaDevelopments]

Not sure if mentioned already, can't be bothered to look through the spam. However, moving outline to the same panel as terminal then moving that whole panel to the right gets you half way there. With the most recent update you can now open terminals inside the editor area. You just drag this new editor pane to the bottom where the old terminal panel used to be and you're done.

[byehack]

@SimonDever
it's not good idea when working with splited editor groups. (try to add terminal at bottom after split the editor)
<btw we should have three panel (left/right/bottom) at same time.>

maybe we should request new feature to improve better grouping?

[Lorenz-N]

Besides what's already been told, from the extension developer perspective, it would be also great to allow re-using the Outline view in custom Side Bars. I'm aware of the options we have to create our own Outline via TreeViews but it would be another step backwards to something the previous code outline extensions already provided just to have it in another view... doesn't sound effective at all to me.

Plus, there is some extra stuff happening on the built-in Outline view (watched the source before and compared to TreeView alternatives), which is great, but it would make more sense to re-use that functionality across extensions and focus on extending the built-in views instead of having it hardcoded to the Explorer... sadly trying to use the id on custom views leads to:
... A view with id 'outline' is already registered..

Would also add to allow the same customization as with TreeViews or providing an API that covers both (I assume it's actually just a TreeView in the end) ... but that's probably another topic.

[gjsjohnmurray]

The new side panel (an experimental feature in 1.61) should resolve this. See #132893

[silentred]

The new side panel (an experimental feature in 1.61) should resolve this. See #132893

Thanks. I think this issue is well resolved. Just add "workbench.experimental.sidePanel.enabled": true to user setting and restart VSCode. Enable "View"-> "Appearance" -> "Show Side Panel".

[gustavz]

puh that was hell of a ride :D thanks for this feature, finally!

[manojbaishya]

The new panel does not get hidden in Zen Mode.

[KamasamaK]

The new panel does not get hidden in Zen Mode.

You should put any feedback you have specific to the new panel in its own issue at #132893.

[jrieken]

Closing. All thanks to @sbatten 🍻