Brtdku

How can I specify a VS Code extension parameter when starting VS Code from the command line?

Specifically, I want to input a URI of a Jupyter Server into the MS Python extension.

I can do this after VS Code starts by selecting ctrl+shift+P and selecting Python: Specify Jupyter server URI, then selecting Type in the URI for the Jupyter Server, and finally entering the URI to the Jupyter Server. Described here: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/jupyter-support#_connect-to-a-remote-jupyter-server

I already have a Powershell script that logs in and starts the Jupyter Server on the remote machine, captures the URI with the authentication token, and automatically launches a local instance of either a Jupyter notebook, or Jupyter labs using the remote Jupyter Server.

I would like to also have the option to launch VS Code using the remote Jupyter Server. Note that the Jupyter Server URI changes each time you start it on the remote machine.

What are the command line arguments to start VS Code and dynamically change extension parameters?

I did not find anything here:
https://vscode.readthedocs.io/en/latest/editor/command-line/#additional-command-line-arguments

I'm not sure that's possible via command line arguments. However, since this appears to be a setting, you could modify the workspace's settings.json accordingly before starting VSCode:

{

    "python.dataScience.jupyterServerURI": <uri>

}

It was @Gama11's suggestion that worked, so their answer is the accepted answer.

I changed the setting in the saved Code Workspaces instead of the global Code settings. I also added some logic to start a new Code Workspace in the folder this script is called from. This way each Workspace can have its own separate Jupyter notebook server.

For completeness, below is my Powershell script.

## Set $remoteName to either remote server IP or network name

# $remoteName = "111.111.111.111" 

$remoteName = "ServerNetworkName"



$cred = Get-Credential -UserName "$env:username" -Message "network username and password"



$jobname = Read-Host 'Enter a name for the remote job'



$s2 = New-PSSession -ComputerName $remoteName -Name $jobname -Credential $cred



if ($s2 -eq $null){

    Write-Host  "Log in failed"

    sleep 3

    Exit

}



Invoke-Command -Session $s2 -ScriptBlock {

    $env:PYTHONPATH = "C:UsersUserNameMiniconda3"; 

    $env:Path += ";C:UsersUserNameMiniconda3";

    $env:Path += ";C:UsersUserNameMiniconda3Librarymingw-w64bin";

    $env:Path += ";C:UsersUserNameMiniconda3Libraryusrbin";

    $env:Path += ";C:UsersUserNameMiniconda3Librarybin";

    $env:Path += ";C:UsersUserNameMiniconda3Scripts";

    $env:Path += ";C:nltk_data";

    $env:Path += ";C:UsersUserNamescripts";

    C:UsersUserNamescriptsAdditionalSettingsFile.ps1;

    cd "C:Users"

    } 



$jnCommand =  [scriptblock]::Create("jupyter lab --no-browser --ip=$remoteName")



$jn = Invoke-Command -Session $s2 -ScriptBlock $jnCommand -AsJob



$jo = $null

$timeout = new-timespan -Seconds 30

$sw = [diagnostics.stopwatch]::StartNew()

do{

    Receive-Job -Name $jn.Name -Keep -ErrorVariable jo

    $jo = $jo | select-string "URLs:" | Out-String

    $jnRunning = $jo.Contains("URLs:")

    sleep 2

}until(($jnRunning -eq $True) -or ($sw.elapsed -ge $timeout))





$splt = "URLs:", ""



$option = [System.StringSplitOptions]::RemoveEmptyEntries



$jurl = $jo.split($splt, 2, $option)[1].Trim()



## -IdleTimeoutSec in sec/min * min/hr * hrs/day * days

## 60*60*24*3 = 259200

Disconnect-PSSession -Session $s2 -IdleTimeoutSec (60*60*24*3)





$WorkSpacesPath = "C:UsersUserNameAppDataRoamingCodeUserworkspaceStorage"



$wsArray =  (

    Get-Item -Path $CodeWorkSpaces**.json | `

    Foreach-Object  { 

        (Get-Content ($_.FullName) | ConvertFrom-Json).configuration `

        -Replace 'file:///|[s]+', '' `

        -Replace '/', '' `

        -Replace '%3a', ':' `

        -Replace '%20', ' ' `

        }

    ) | `

    Where-Object { $_ } | `

    Get-Unique -AsString | `

    Foreach-Object {

        Get-Item -Path $_ -EA SilentlyContinue | `

        Select-Object -Property BaseName, FullName, LastAccessTime  `

    } | `

    Sort-Object -Property LastAccessTime 



$cwd = Get-Location



$NewSettings = [PSCustomObject]@{BaseName="New Workspace"; FullName=$cwd; LastAccessTime=Get-Date}



$wsArray += $NewSettings



$idx = 0

$wsArray | Foreach-Object {$_ | Add-Member @{Index = $idx } -Force; $idx++ } 



$wsArray | Select-Object -Property Index, BaseName, LastAccessTime | Format-Table *



$idxSel = Read-Host 'Select workspace index'



$SelPath = $wsArray[$idxSel].FullName

$SelName = $wsArray[$idxSel].BaseName



if ($SelName -eq $NewSettings.BaseName) {

    if ($jurl -eq $null) {$jurl = "local"}



    [PSCustomObject]@{

        "python.dataScience.jupyterServerURI"=$jurl

        } | `

    ConvertTo-Json  | `

    Set-Content  ("$SelPath.vscodesettings.json")



    code .



} else {

    $SelCont = Get-Content($SelPath) | ConvertFrom-Json



    $SelCont.settings | `

        Add-Member `

            -NotePropertyName "python.dataScience.jupyterServerURI" `

            -NotePropertyValue $jurl `

            -Force



    $SelCont | ConvertTo-Json | Set-Content  ($SelPath)



    code $SelPath

}

The final part of the script after $WorkSpacesPath will only work if:

1. VS Code is installed,


2. the 'ms-python.python' extension installed and enabled,

Obviously, you will need to change the additions to the remote's $PATH to point to your installation of python and location of other files you want to run on the remote machine.

Note that the select-string "URLs:" and .Contains("URLs:") work for the most recent (relative to this posting) version of Jupyter. Previously, the string was "token:" but the Jupyter team changed the startup output. Nothing to stop them changing it again and breaking the code above.

This can easily be changed to start Jupyter labs instead of VS Code. To do that simply replace the lines after $CodeSettingsPath to the following (assuming you have Google Chrome installed).

Start-Process chrome.exe --app=$jurl

If you wanted to start a Jupyter notebook instead, you will need to replace lab with notebook in the $jnCommand variable.