/notes

Important notes

vscode

How to run Sinatra/Ruby server & open it in chrome instantly from vscode

Result: to test a build, only have to right click controller (e.g. app.rb), click run code, should open localhost in browser ~ 1 second later with server up. (Play button on rb file also works.) Ctrl-C to get out

  • Get Code Runner extension
  • Open vscode settings: File > Preferences > settings or Ctrl + ,
  • search for code-runner.executorMap setting
  • hit pen icon to left of it to add it to custom settings
  • change the key "ruby": to value (one-line):

ruby $fileName || (echo;echo 'panic: ruby fail city';echo) & (sleep 1 && google-chrome http://localhost:4567/ --incognito)&>/dev/null; (for i in `seq 1 10`;do echo;done); echo 'server up or fails here'; echo; fg&>/dev/null; echo;echo;echo 'server down'; echo; ps; echo 'make sure no ruby running ^ (fg and Ctrl-C otherwise)'; echo;

  • Changing how to launch chrome:

    • Linux/Ubutu: google-chrome http://localhost:4567/ --incognito
    • OSX open -a /Applications/Google Chrome.app 'http://localhost:4567/' --args --incognito (not verified)
    • remove --incognito to launch in default browser session
    • could use directly in terminal, but need to replace $filename with ruby controller file necessary like app.rb

  • Other vscode core-runner settings:

  "code-runner.runInTerminal": true,
  "code-runner.saveFileBeforeRun": true,
  "code-runner.saveAllFilesBeforeRun": true,
  "code-runner.fileDirectoryAsCwd": true,
  "code-runner.ignoreSelection": true,
  "code-runner.showRunIconInEditorTitleMenu": true,
  "code-runner.preserveFocus": false,

Done

what plug-in does:

  • with those settings, sends the long terminal command to internal terminal

what terminal command does:

  1. run selected ruby file
  2. wait 1 second
  3. opens localhost:4567 in chrome (hide browser return outputs in terminal)
  4. print 10 blank lines (so easier to see where server starts)
  5. write server up
  6. make sure server outputs are visible / at front
  7. if ruby process returns error, say ruby fail (shouldn't say it if terminated by Ctrl-C)
  8. when ruby process terminated, say server down
  9. show all running processes in that terminal to make sure no left over ruby server processes
    • (common issue is background server still running when starting another one so convinient to see at the end)