Decide on scope names for all language constructs

[gravejester]

I'd like to have a discussion where we decide on the "correct" scope names for all PowerShell language constructs. This will mean much less work when doing updates to the tmLanguage file in the future, as the scopes (as well as the color(!) of each) are checked by a Travis CI build job on the vscode repo.

General

• All scope names should end in .powershell

As we decide, we can fill out this table:

Language construct	Scope Name	Comments/Examples
Line comment	comment.line.number-sign	# comments
Block comment	comment.block	<# comments #>
Help directives	comment.documentation.embedded	Meta scope
Help directives - keywords	keyword.operator.documentation	.SYNOPSIS
Help directives - keyword value	constant.string.documentation	'ParameterName' in .PARAMETER ParameterName
#Requires statement	keywords.operator.documentation	'Requires' in #Requires -Version 3.0
#Requires statement - parameter	constant.string.documentation	'-Version 3.0' in #Requires -Version 3.0
String - double quoted	string.quoted.double	"string"
String - single quoted	string.quoted.single	'string'
String - escape characters	constant.character.escape	't' in "onettwo"
String - heredoc double quoted	string.quoted.double.heredoc
String - heredoc single quoted	string.quoted.single.heredoc
ScriptBlock	meta.scriptblock	{ ... }
SubExpression	meta.subexpression	$( ... )
Hashtable	meta.hashtable	@{ ... }
Array	meta.array	@(1,2,3) & (1,2,3)
Property/Member	entity.other.attribute-name	'property' in (Invoke-Something).property & 'property' in $var.property
Numeric Constant - real	constant.numeric.real	+.5
Numeric Constant - integer	constant.numeric.integer	5
Numeric Constant - hexadecimal	constant.numeric.hexadecimal	0x20
Type	entity.name.type	'string' in [string]
Type - static method	meta.method	'::MinValue' in [int]::MinValue
Parameter decorator	entity.name.type	'Parameter' in [Parameter(Position = 1)]
Parameter decorator - property	entity.other.attribute-name	'Position' in [Parameter(Position = 1)]
Function	meta.function	Meta scope
Function - keyword	storage.type	'function' in function script:Invoke-Something { ... }
Function - scope	storage.modifier.scope	'script' in function script:Invoke-Something { ... }
Function - name	entity.name.function	'Invoke-Something' in function script:Invoke-Something { ... }
Command	meta.command	Meta scope
Command - keyword	support.function	'Invoke-Something' in Invoke-Something -p1 'v1'
Command - parameter	variable.parameter	'-p1' in Invoke-Something -p1 'v1'
Reserved words	keyword.other	configuration
Control words	keyword.control	break
Enum - keyword	storage.type	'enum' in enum myEnum { ... }
Enum - name	entity.name.function	'myEnum' in enum myEnum { ... }
Class	meta.class	Meta scope
Class - keyword	storage.type	'class' in class myClass : inheritedClass { ... }
Class - name	entity.name.function	'myClass' in class myClass : inheritedClass { ... }
Class - inheritance	entity.other.inherited-class	'inheritedClass' in class myClass : inheritedClass { ... }
Class - reserved words	keyword.other	hidden & static
Class - control words	keyword.control.class	'base' in : base( ... )
Operator - redirection	keyword.operator.redirection	2>&1
Operator - comparison	keyword.operator.comparison	-gt
Operator - bitwise	keyword.operator.bitwise	-band
Operator - logical	keyword.operator.logical	-and
Operator - format	keyword.operator.format	-f
Operator - assignment	keyword.operator.assignment	+=
Operator - logical not	keyword.operator.logical-not	-not & !
Operator - multiplicative	keyword.operator.multiplicative	/ & *
Operator - unary plus	keyword.operator.unary-plus	+
Operator - unary minus	keyword.operator.unary-minus	-
Operator - additive	keyword.operator.additive	+ & -
Operator - range	keyword.operator.range	..
Operator - command invocation	keyword.operator.other	&
Operator - stop parsing	keyword.operator	--%
Switch - keyword	keyword.control	'switch' in switch -regex ($var) { ... }
Switch - parameter	variable.parameter	'-regex' in switch -regex ($var) { ... }
Switch - reserved word	keyword.other	default
Illegal	invalid.illegal	Space after backtick
Variable - $	keyword.other	'$' in $variable
Variable - ${..}	keyword.other	'${' and '}' in ${variable}
Variable - automatic	constant.language	$_ & $error
Variable - scope	storage.modifier.scope	'script' in $script:variable
Variable - name	variable.other.readwrite	'variable' in $script:variable

I have started by filling out the scope names as I have used them in my refactored language file.

About scopes and highlighting

If, in the theme, there are colorization rules only for the scope constant.operator, both constant.operator and constant.operator.range will be colorized the same.

If there isn't any colorization rules for a scope, it will be colorized with the "root" color of the current scope. Meaning if the word 'test' only belong to the source scope (or have a scope name that is not defined in the current theme), it will be colorized with the default background color. If the word 'test' is found inside another scope, for instance a string, it will be colorized with the color for the string scope.

Colorization rules may differ between editors. For instance the background parameter. This is supported on Sublime Text, but not in VSCode.

A matched set of characters can be (and more often than not are) assigned multiple scopes. So for example the word variable in function MyFunction {"this is $("a $variable")"} have the following scopes: source, string.quoted.double, meta.subexpression, string.quoted.double and lastly variable.other.readwrite. Only the last one is used for colorization.

About the default themes in VSCode

There are five themes that are defined as default themes in Visual Studio Code:

• dark_plus "Dark+"
• dark_vs "Dark Visual Studio"
• hc_black "Dark Visual Studio"
• light_plus "Light+"
• light_vs "Light Visual Studio"

The themes supports nesting, and:

• Light+ includes light_vs (Light Visual Studio)
• Dark+ includes dark_vs (Dark Visual Studio)

The following scopes are defined in the plus-themes:

• meta.type.name, meta.return.type, meta.return-type, meta.cast, meta.type.annotation, support.type, entity.name.class, entity.name.type, storage.type.cs, storage.type.java
• entity.name.function, entity.name.method
• keyword.control
• meta.parameter.type.variable, variable.parameter, variable, variable.name

The following scopes are defined in the "old" default themes:

• emphasis
• strong
• header
• comment
• constant.language
• constant.numeric
• constant.regexp
• constant.rgb-value
• entity.name.tag
• entity.name.selector
• entity.other.attribute-name
• entity.other.attribute-name.css
• invalid
• markup.underline
• markup.bold
• markup.heading
• markup.italic
• markup.inserted
• markup.deleted
• markup.changed
• meta.selector
• meta.tag
• meta.preprocessor
• meta.preprocessor.string
• meta.preprocessor.numeric
• meta.structure.dictionary.key.python
• storage
• storage.type
• storage.modifier
• string
• string.xml, string.jade, string.yaml, string.html
• string.regexp
• support.property-value
• support.type.property-name.css, support.type.property-name.less, support.type.property-name.sass
• support.type.property-name
• keyword
• keyword.control
• keyword.operator
• keyword.operator.new
• keyword.other.unit
• keyword.control.less
• metatag.php
• support.function.git-rebase
• constant.sha.git-rebase
• storage.modifier.import.java, storage.modifier.package.java

Scope names on the same line, means they are defined in the same colorization rule.

[daviwil]

This is a great start! Curious to see what feedback Martin Aeschlimann (@aeschli) might have.

[gravejester]

Yeah, I have started by just filling out the scope names as I have used them. Hopefully we get some feedback from others in the community so we can decide/make changes as we agree on them :)

[vors]

What are good sources for existing scope names?

[gravejester]

Language files for other languages I guess. I tried looking at the built-in for c# that came with Sublime Text. That one was horrible :(

[aeschli]

https://manual.macromates.com/en/language_grammars is the textmate spec. I also found http://www.apeth.com/nonblog/stories/textmatebundle.html useful.

[gravejester]

Martin Aeschlimann (@aeschli) I looked at the TextMate documentation, but it's not always easy to figure out what scope name to use, so it would be good to have a discussion to come to some kind of agreement, regarding PowerShell as a language.

[allisoneer]

NOTE: This is attempting to colorize powershell syntax correctly and is not attempting to assign the technically correct scopes at all.

These are the main issues that I ran into that I think should be changed:

Variable - $ keyword.other '$' in $variable
Variable - ${..} keyword.other '${' and '}' in ${variable}
Variable - automatic constant.language $_ & $error
Variable - scope storage.modifier.scope 'script' in $script:variable
Variable - name variable.other.readwrite 'variable' in $script:variable

Having all of these as different scopes causes a huge amount of variation between themes that I tested vs powershell ISE. From what I can tell the color of variable.other.readwrite is the color that powershell ISE uses for all of the above variables in every theme that I found. That would mean changing all of the above to variable.other.whatever would be a great way to keep coloring consistent across all themes and editors.

Examples:
$script:muffins $_.muffins ${global:muffins} $false
All of these would be colored correctly with the above changes.

---

Keyword.other.* and keyword.operator.* :

Most of the time these are using the default text color in Powershell ISE(read as every theme I tested). If the editor theme includes keyword.operator or keyword.other specifically it sets the color to the default text color. The issue is when many themes do not have these specified, and you end up with tons of operators being the colors of the keywords, which in ISE this color is mainly just used for keyword.control. This was rather frustrating as I could not find a consistent way to represent these as just the simple text color across multiple themes, is there anything they could be set to that would consistently set them to the default text color? If not this might be something that requires updating themes instead of updating scopes.

Examples: any operator is affected "+ - = == =+ * / | - -match -replace -le ++ etc."
items labeled as other that were not asked to be changed to variable above already "@() () "

---

Things I know are wrong but don't know how to fix yet:

[string] $muffins[0] "[ and ]" I am not exactly sure what brackets are being classified as but they are not working well with themes. They are the same as the operators above where they are always the default text color in ISE, but often cause a ton of color contrast for no reason with the other editors.

[allisoneer]

Making all of those changes(still don't know how to edit the brackets) makes the following difference.

Current syntax in VSCode

Powershell ISE highlighting

Proposed changes in VScode

As you can see it looks much much better. I have tried it in several different themes and compared with similar results.

[Satak]

Very good demonstration Allieway! My number one reason that I'm not using the VSCode for Powershell projects is the confusing and distracting highlighting. It really should be consistent with ISE.

[omniomi]

We need to reopen this discussion. In my recent changes I followed https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/3/scope_naming.html and compared to some other language syntaxes.

Should we continue here or start fresh?