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XBSL for VS Code

The VS Code extension for 1C:Element: syntax highlighting, live linting with Quick Fix, the visual form designer, the metadata explorer, and project-wide navigation – all on the xbsl engine.

Syntax highlighting and on-the-fly linting for 1C:Element sources (.xbsl), powered by the xbsl linter.

XBSL at work: the metadata tree and the component palette on the left, the form designer in the middle – structure, data and frame, the properties and documentation panels on the right, the yaml source below

Want to try everything on a toy project? Open the demo/ folder of the repository – a tiny 1C:Element app with a form and a handful of deliberate findings.

Features

  • Syntax highlighting for .xbsl: keywords (both Russian and English forms), declarations, operators, @-decorators, numbers, comments, and strings with %name / ${...} interpolation.
  • Live diagnostics as you type (debounced) and on save – brackets/blocks balance, unused locals, typography, code-style conventions, and everything else the linter reports. Squiggles carry the rule id (e.g. code/brackets) and severity.
  • Workspace diagnostics – saving any .xbsl/.yaml file runs the linter over the whole workspace folder in the background, so project-scope rules (code/unknown-type, yaml/unknown-type, Id uniqueness) show up right in the editor, across all files. Controlled by xbsl.workspaceLint (on by default).
  • Whole-project check – the command XBSL: check the whole project runs the same workspace-wide check on demand.
  • Go to definition, find all references and completion across the project – powered by a project index built by the linter (xbsl --index). See Navigation and completion.
  • Quick Fix for mechanical findings – a lightbulb on a fixable diagnostic (trailing whitespace, typography characters) applies the exact edit the linter reports; a fix all source action (source.fixAll.xbsl) fixes the whole file and can run on save via editor.codeActionsOnSave. Needs xbsl ≥ 0.7.1. See Quick Fix.
  • Deploy to the stand – the XBSL: deploy the project (elemctl) command (and a cloud button in the editor title of .xbsl files) runs elemctl deploy in a terminal task: build from sources → upload → apply → restart → verification that the apply actually took effect. See Deploy.
  • Form designer – a panel of three areas: the structure tree on the left, the form’s data on the right, the form frame under them. It follows the active editor and updates as you type; the selection is linked across the areas, the yaml cursor and the properties panel. The component palette sits next to the metadata tree while the panel is open. See Form designer.
  • Metadata explorer – a dedicated Activity Bar view: a tree of the project objects grouped by ElementKind, with subtrees (Attributes, Dimensions, Forms, enum Values …), an editable properties panel, creation of objects/fields/subsystems and filtering by subsystem. See Metadata explorer.
  • Documentation – a dedicated Activity Bar view: the 1C:Element reference the way the docs site shows it – a “Contents” tree (the developer and administrator guides, the type and query-language references), full-text search, and a page view with images and a link to the primary source. Right-click a type or variable to open its documentation. See Documentation.

.yaml element descriptions keep their built-in YAML highlighting.

Requirements

The extension is a thin client over the xbsl CLI – it does not bundle a checker. You need:

  1. Python 3.10+ and the linter: pip install xbsl. If the linter is missing, the extension offers to install it right from the error message.
  2. Element language data – generated once from your 1C:Element distribution, see step 1 of the linter README. Without it most rules cannot run; the extension surfaces the linter’s error once.

By default the extension calls xbsl from PATH. Point it elsewhere with xbsl.linter.command (an executable) or xbsl.linter.pythonPath (an interpreter – the linter is then invoked as <python> -m xbsl).

New project

The XBSL: new 1C:Element project command (xbsl.project.new) creates a project from scratch. The wizard asks four things – the project name, the vendor, the project kind (application or library) and the folder – then scaffolds it through the same engine that serves the other metadata operations and opens the generated Проект.yaml.

The vendor is remembered between runs: for one developer it is usually the same. If the project lands outside the open folder, the extension offers to open it – a fresh project is rarely part of the current window.

Structural search across forms

The XBSL: structural form search command (xbsl.forms.search) searches by structure, not by text: you give a component type and, optionally, key=value predicates on its properties. The extension collects the project’s forms (unsaved buffers included), sends them to the engine and lists the matches – picking one moves the cursor to the component’s line in its yaml.

This is what you want when the question sounds like “where do we have input fields with such a property”: plain text search does not find that, because in yaml the property and the component type sit on different lines.

Needs the LSP mode: the matching is done by the engine, which is not running in CLI mode.

The extension asks the linter for a project index once on activation and rebuilds it (debounced, one process at a time) whenever a .xbsl/.yaml file is saved. The index command is probed as xbsl index <root> first, then xbsl --index <root> as a fallback. If the installed linter does not support the index yet, navigation silently stays off – details go to the XBSL output channel, no popups.

Go to definition (F12 / Ctrl+Click), in .xbsl and .yaml:

  • a project object name (bare, or the root of a dotted chain) → its .yaml;
  • <Object>.<LocalType> → the type declaration; <Object>.<TabularPart> → the section in the object’s yaml; <Enum>.<Value> → the value line;
  • <Module>.<Method> (including manager modules named after the object), and a bare method name inside its own module → the method;
  • Components.<Name> → the component node in the current form’s yaml; Components.<Name>.<Method> → the method of that module;
  • in yaml, the value of Handler: <Name> → the handler in the paired .xbsl.

Find all references (Shift+F12, or Go to References / Find All References in the context menu), for methods, objects and interface components – every usage, from the same index:

  • a method → its calls inside the module, <Module>.<Method> and Components.<Module>.<Method> calls, and the Handler: <Name> keys that name it in yaml;
  • an object → every place it is the root of a dotted chain;
  • a component → its Components.<Name> uses in the form’s module.

Deeper chains that would need type inference are out of scope, as they are for go-to-definition.

A note on names. 1C:Element is bilingual all the way down: keywords, literals, stdlib types and the metadata vocabulary each carry a Russian and an English spelling, and this README uses the English one (var, new, Query{}, Array<String>, True). Sources may be written either way, and the extension reads both. The metadata names used below:

Name What it is
Attributes · Dimensions · Resources · TabularParts the field sections of an object
Id · Name · Type · Handler the yaml keys an element carries
Reference · Object the reference and the object of a type family
Components the components collection of a form
Multiline · Layout · HorizontalStretch · VerticalStretch · Pages the properties of a component

Completion (triggered by . and :):

  • after <Object>. – the type family (Reference, Object, …), TabularParts, local types and manager-module methods; for an enum – its values;
  • after Components. – the components of the current form; after Components.<Name>. – the methods of that module;
  • in yaml, after Type: – project object names (the object kind is shown as the detail).

Type-aware completion – in LSP mode only. The parsing runs over tokens, so keywords are understood in both of the spellings the language has, the English one and the Russian:

  • inside Query{ ... }, after a table – its fields: the standard fields of the kind, its Attributes and TabularParts. Aliases resolve too: FROM Product AS PP. gives the same fields;
  • after the loop variable of a query result (for Row in ResultRow.) – the columns of the selection (the SELECT ... AS aliases; a plain field is named by its last segment);
  • after a variable of a known type (var List = new Array<String>()List.) – the members of that type. The type comes from the annotation or from new; method parameters count as well;
  • after an stdlib type or global (AccessContext.) – its members. Properties and methods are listed apart: a method carries its own icon and is inserted with parentheses.

The members of stdlib types come from the Element data (the --data-dir root), everything else from the project index. A name in scope beats a type of the same name: once a variable List is declared, List. is about its type, not about the List component. Requires xbsl >= 0.10.0.

Known limits – by design: outside LSP mode the index knows declarations, not types (no completion after variables). Type inference for arbitrary expressions and for dotted chains deeper than one level is nowhere, and there is no rename. When the context is ambiguous the providers return nothing rather than guessing.

Quick Fix

Findings the linter can repair mechanically carry a fix; the extension turns it into a Quick Fix:

Live diagnostics in the editor and the Problems panel; the lightbulb applies the linter’s own edit

  • A lightbulb on the diagnostic (Ctrl+.) – Fix: <rule> – applies the exact edit: trailing whitespace removed, em dash → en dash, ..., curly quotes → straight.

  • A fix-all source actionFix all (xbsl) – repairs every fixable finding in the file in one edit. Run it on save by adding to your settings:

    "editor.codeActionsOnSave": { "source.fixAll.xbsl": "explicit" }

Fixes need a linter that emits them in its JSON (xbsl ≥ 0.7.1). Only unambiguous edits are offered, and only against the exact text they were computed on – a version-stamped snapshot guards against applying an offset to text that changed since the last lint. Whole-file fixes (mixed newlines) are left to xbsl --fix on the command line.

Settings

Setting Default Meaning
xbsl.linter.run onType When to lint: onType (debounced) / onSave / off.
xbsl.linter.command xbsl Linter executable (PATH or absolute path).
xbsl.linter.pythonPath Python interpreter; when set, runs <python> -m xbsl.
xbsl.linter.dataDir Element data root (folder with index.json); empty = auto-resolved.
xbsl.linter.lang auto Diagnostic language: (auto) / ru / en.
xbsl.linter.select Only these rules (ids, groups, or tier letters AD).
xbsl.linter.ignore Exclude these rules.
xbsl.rules {} Per-rule levels and disabling: {"style": "off", "code/brackets": "error"}. See Rules.
xbsl.linter.debounce 300 Delay (ms) before linting while typing.
xbsl.projectRoot Sources root for project-wide runs and the navigation index, relative to the workspace folder (or absolute). Empty – the whole folder. Set it when the repository holds examples or copies next to the project: otherwise project-scope rules (Id uniqueness etc.) cross-fire between directories.
xbsl.baseline Baseline file with the excluded findings, relative to the workspace folder (or absolute). Empty – .xbsllint-baseline in the workspace folder when it exists. See Excluding a finding.
xbsl.workspaceLint true Full workspace run on every save of a .xbsl/.yaml file.
xbsl.workspaceLintTimeout 60000 Kill a workspace run after this many ms (0 – no limit).
xbsl.navigation.enabled true Index-based go-to-definition and completion.
xbsl.groups.* default A dropdown per rule group (code, yaml, project, naming, style, typography, whitespace, encoding, structure, form, query, security): the rules’ own levels, one level for the whole group, or off. The naming group covers the names of project elements per the platform standard (needs xbsl >= 0.11.0). See Rules.
xbsl.deploy.* The deploy command settings – documented in the XBSL Debug README of the elemctl project.

Rules: levels and disabling

By group – in the Settings UI. The Rule groups section (search for xbsl.groups in the Settings editor, or browse Extensions → XBSL) has a dropdown per finding type – code, yaml descriptions, style, typography, whitespace, encoding, structure, forms, queries, naming, project, security: keep the group’s own rule levels, report all its findings at one level (error / warning / info / hint), or turn the group off entirely – off does not just hide the findings, it excludes the rules from the run.

Per rule – from the finding. Every finding carries a “Configure rule…” action in its lightbulb (Ctrl+.): disable the rule or override its level without leaving the line; the check reruns right away. The choices land in the xbsl.rules setting – a map from a rule id (whitespace/trailing) or a whole group (style) to a level or off. An exact id beats its group, and any xbsl.rules key beats the group dropdowns. Works in both the CLI and the LSP mode.

Excluding a finding (the baseline)

Disabling a rule silences it everywhere; sometimes a single finding must stay unfixed – the code is right on purpose. For that, every finding carries an “Exclude this finding (to the baseline): <rule> action in its lightbulb (Ctrl+.): type the reason, and the finding’s identity (file + rule + message) is recorded in the baseline file together with it. Only that one finding is excluded – the rule keeps checking every other file and name (to silence a whole rule, use “Configure rule…” instead). The finding disappears from the editor, and a CI gate over the same file (xbsl ... --baseline) stops reporting it too.

The file is .xbsllint-baseline in the workspace folder (created on the first exclusion), or wherever xbsl.baseline points. The reason stays next to the frozen finding, and xbsl --write-baseline keeps it on a rewrite:

"app/Useful.yaml": {
 "naming/number": {
  "The name 'Useful' is singular – ...": { "count": 1, "reason": "a historical name" }
 }
}

In the LSP mode the suppression runs on the server and needs the engine 0.15.0 or newer; the CLI mode works with any engine that has --baseline. The identity includes the message text, so the baseline is bound to the output language – write and check it under the same xbsl.linter.lang.

LSP mode (default)

The extension runs everything through a long-living xbsl-lsp server instead of spawning the CLI per event: the Element language data and the project index stay resident, so as-you-type diagnostics respond in milliseconds, hover appears (a card for a project object, method or form component), and so does type-aware completion. Definition, project-wide diagnostics on save and quick fixes work as before, just faster. Requires the linter installed with the [lsp] extra (pip install "xbsl[lsp]"); the server is found as xbsl-lsp on PATH, via xbsl.linter.pythonPath (run as a module), or by the explicit xbsl.lsp.command.

Without the server the extension quietly keeps working in the former CLI mode (details go to the XBSL output channel, and the status bar shows the mode actually in use). To switch the server off entirely, set "xbsl.lsp.enabled": false; changing the setting needs a window reload.

Code templates

The XBSL: code templates command (xbsl.templates.manage) opens the management panel – an analog of the Options – Templates dialog in 1C:EDT: the list on the left, the editor on the right, buttons to add, edit, delete, import and export.

A set has two parts. Built-in templates ship with the tool; your own live in .xbsl-templates.json at the workspace root – the xbsl.templates.file setting moves that file elsewhere. Your set extends the built-in one, and a template with the same name replaces the built-in one: that is how you adjust the default behaviour without breaking anything.

The file format is the one 1C:EDT exports, so a set travels between the IDE and the editor both ways:

  • XBSL: import code templates (xbsl.templates.import) – merge an EDT export into your file;
  • XBSL: export code templates (xbsl.templates.export) – write the set out in that same format.

The panel writes nothing on its own: both reading and writing go through xbsl templates, the same machinery the console command uses. So the set is identical in both extension modes, and from a shell you can work with it by the same means (xbsl templates list / export / import).

Template completion while typing works in LSP mode. In CLI mode the panel and the file exchange are available, but there is no completion from templates.

Code palette

The command XBSL: code palette (xbsl.choosePalette) recolors XBSL syntax with one of the popular palettes: the 1C:Element web IDE style (red keywords, blue strings), One Dark, Monokai, Dracula, GitHub Dark – or resets back to the active editor theme. The choice is applied via editor.tokenColorCustomizations rules addressing only *.xbsl scopes, so the global theme and other languages stay untouched; the extension manages only its own rules (prefixed xbsl-palette) and preserves any customizations of yours.

Form designer

The form panel: structure on the left, data on the right, the form frame under them; the component palette is a section under the metadata tree

The command XBSL: form designer (xbsl.previewForm, also a button in the editor title of form yamls – files whose ElementKind is InterfaceComponent) opens the form panel. A form depends on its own properties, so its structure and its data are edited where the form is shown: the structure tree on the left, the data on the right, the form frame under them, with draggable splitters between (their position is remembered).

A panel per form. A second form opens its own tab next to the first; each panel keeps its own tree, selection and expansion memory. A panel and its yaml travel as a pair: picking a tab on one side brings the other forward, and closing the panel closes the form’s yaml (an unsaved one is left alone). The keyboard works inside the panel: the arrows walk the tree, plus Alt+Up/ Alt+Down, F2, Delete, Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V and Ctrl+Z/Ctrl+Y.

Structure – the tree of slots and components with an icon per kind and linter badges. The context menu and the keys: Alt+Up/Alt+Down move a component, F2 renames, Delete removes, Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V carry a yaml fragment, plus wrapping into a container, duplicating, focusing on a subtree and the named-only filter. A node drags onto another node: a container takes it inside, a leaf places it after itself.

Data – the component’s own Properties: and the attributes of the owner object. A double click or a drag of a record onto a structure node creates an input component with its binding already in place (Boolean -> a checkbox, otherwise an input with Value: =...).

The form frame renders from the yaml: nested vertical/horizontal groups, labels, input fields with captions and =bindings, buttons (the primary one filled), checkboxes, tables with their real columns, switchable tabs (Pages), cards, image and HTML-container placeholders, and the form’s command bar. Unknown and custom component types render as labeled boxes with their content inside, so nothing disappears. The area header has a zoom (−/+, the wheel over the control and Ctrl+wheel over the frame) and a theme picker: light (the platform web client look, the default), dark, or the editor theme – the choice is remembered.

The selection is shared by the three areas. A click on a frame block and a cursor move in the yaml expand whatever collapsed groups stand in the way, land on the node in the structure and fill the “Properties” panel; the selected node keeps the full selection color wherever the focus is. The way back is the same: a click on a structure node puts the cursor on its yaml, a double click moves the focus there too, and Ctrl+click on a frame block jumps to its yaml.

The cursor sits on the Description field in the yaml – the same node is selected in the structure and highlighted in the form frame

The component palette sits next to the metadata tree and appears while the form panel is open. A double click on a palette component inserts it into the selected structure node. Dragging from the palette into the panel is impossible - the platform does not carry a drag from its own tree into a webview, which is why insertion is click-driven.

The properties panel of a button: the “Set” section, the “Events” section with the OnClick handler picked, the jump and reset buttons

Properties panel. A click on an element selects it and opens a separate Properties panel (its own tab – drag it below or aside, wherever suits), like the platform web editor: enums as dropdowns (Layout, alignments, spacings, widths, button kinds), HorizontalStretch and VerticalStretch as Auto / True / False toggles, everything else as text – the component’s standard set plus every property present in the yaml (object values are shown read-only). Edits land in the yaml document as precise text edits, so the regular undo works; an empty value / (auto) removes the property. Selecting an element and every edit also position the yaml editor on the affected line (without stealing focus); Ctrl+click or the Show in yaml button jumps into the editor – handy for navigating large forms.

Typed value editors. A color property opens a native color picker plus swatches of the colors already used in the form and your recent picks – one click reuses a shade. Any single-line value carries a literal/binding toggle: press = to bind the property to data, and in binding mode an autocomplete offers the bindings already used in the form and the attributes of the form’s owner object (=Object.Name); the abc button switches back to a literal.

It is a layout skeleton, not the platform’s rendering: composition, nesting and captions are faithful, exact sizes and styles are not (explicit label colors and font sizes are applied).

Block presets. In the structure area, Save as block preset on a component stores its whole subtree under a name (kept across forms and sessions); Insert block preset (in the palette title bar or a node’s menu) drops a saved preset into the current selection – a named, persistent version of copy/paste for the layouts you rebuild often. Manage block presets prunes the list.

Mass edit. Select several components in the structure area and Edit selected together sets (or clears) one property on all of them at once – pick a key from the ones they already use or type a new one, then a value; empty clears it. Handy for aligning widths, toggling visibility, or rebinding a group of fields in one step.

Metadata explorer

Metadata explorer: the tree, the properties panel, grouping by subsystem

A dedicated 1C:Element icon in the Activity Bar opens a tree of the project metadata – like the platform designer, but inside VS Code.

Experimental. The metadata explorer is an experimental feature – expect bugs and rough edges.

The tree. The root is the project descriptor, with Vendor\Name in grey; its context menu opens the application module. Below are a Subsystems branch and categories by ElementKind: Catalogs, Documents, Information/Accumulation registers, Enumerations, Common modules, HTTP services, Structures, Client events and so on – each with its own icon. The .yaml + .xbsl pair of an object is one row; an object/list form is nested under its owner, forms with no owner go to a Common forms section.

Object subtrees. A catalog/document expands into Attributes, Tabular sections, Forms; a register into Dimensions, Resources, Attributes; an enumeration into Values; a structure into Fields; client-work parameters into Parameters; an HTTP service into URL templates with their methods.

Clicks. An object or a field opens the properties panel on the right (a field’s Type is a combo of primitives, reference types (<Object>.Reference?) and the project enumerations, and still accepts a typed-in value); a common module opens its .xbsl; a form opens the preview. The context menu adds Properties, open description / module.

Properties panel (the same one the form designer uses). Scalar properties are edited in place: dropdowns for VisibilityScope and Environment, a True / False toggle, text for the rest. Id and ElementKind are read-only; collections (Attributes and the like) are edited in the tree. Edits are surgical (undo works); save the file (Ctrl+S) to refresh the tree.

The All properties section shows what the file does not set yet - not only for the object itself but for an item of any of its collections: an attribute, a dimension, a resource, a structure field, an attribute of a tabular part, a value of an enumeration, a parameter. The metamodel names the item class itself, and where a collection holds items of different classes it picks one by the name: the built-in Code, Name and Owner of a catalog are classes of their own, so their property sets differ too.

Composite (nested) properties – ContentHorizontalAlign { ... }, say – are shown but not editable: edit those in the yaml.

Creating objects. A category root has an Add <class> action (Add catalog, Add document, Add enumeration, Add information/accumulation register, Add common module, Add HTTP service, Add structure, Add client event, Add command-interface fragment, Add client-work parameters, Add common form): it asks a name and a subsystem (folder), writes a minimal valid yaml (a fresh Id; a paired .xbsl for module kinds) and opens it. Classes are shown even when the project has none of them yet. In the subtree groups a “+” adds an attribute / dimension / resource / value / parameter / field / tabular section; a catalog/document has Add object form: the engine generates a form populated from the object’s Attributes (optionally a list form with columns too) and registers it in the owner’s Interface.

The templates and yaml edits are computed by the engine (xbsl 0.16+): the same operations are available to agents through its meta_* MCP tools and to any editor through the xbsl/meta* LSP requests or the CLI subcommands – the tree only gathers parameters and applies the returned changes (regular undo works).

Creating an object from the tree: a new catalog and its attribute

Subsystems. A Subsystems branch lists the subsystem folders (a click opens the subsystem file); Add subsystem creates a folder with a subsystem file. The project root has Filter by subsystem (multi-select) and Clear filter; the active filter is shown in grey.

Git status. Object, form, subsystem and project rows carry the file’s SCM decoration (color and badge) like the Explorer, while keeping their kind icon.

Deletion. Right-click an object – Delete object (with confirmation; removes the object files, undoable; references are left as is – the linter flags dangling ones).

A created object is a scaffold in files – it does not deploy on its own; a broken one only surfaces on the next deploy (elemctl catches the rollback) and never corrupts your working files.

Example: a demo app from the tree, deployed to 1cmycloud.com

The tree can assemble a working app from scratch (the yaml is produced by the same templates the tree uses):

  1. Open a folder with a project file – the project root appears in the tree.
  2. Subsystems → “+” → Add subsystemMain.
  3. Catalogs → “+” → Add catalogProducts (subsystem Main); the same for Categories.
  4. Under ProductsAttributes → “+” → Add attributePrice, SKU.
  5. Enumerations → Add enumerationProductStatus; in ValuesInStock, OnOrder.
  6. Deploy: elemctl deploy --app-id <app> --project-dir <project folder> --output <tmp> (create the app first: elemctl apps ensure <app> --latest-build --wait).

The deploy report on 1cmycloud.com (ok: true only on an actual apply):

built archive <project> 1.0-N.xasm (version 1.0-N)
build uploaded, apply started, waiting for the app to stabilize...
app is Running, verifying the actual applied version...
verification passed: the build is applied
{
  "uri": "https://<app-host>.1cmycloud.com/applications/<app>",
  "status": "Running",
  "applied-version": "1.0-N",
  "applied": true,
  "uri-status": 200,
  "problems": [],
  "ok": true
}

applied: true and ok: true mean the build actually took effect – the Products / Categories catalogs and the ProductStatus enumeration built by the tree are then available in the standard UI (the demo needs no OIDC/login).

Documentation

A container of its own – Documentation (1C:Element) in the Activity Bar – shows the platform reference the way the docs site does, but built from your own distribution: it matches the platform version you use and works offline.

The documentation panel: the Contents tree on the left with the Std::Collections section expanded, the Array type page on the right with code samples and the Primary source link

The tree. A curated “Contents” that mirrors the site: the developer and administrator guides, the type reference (Std::CollectionsArray → …) and the query language. It is built from the distribution’s own sidebar, so the structure matches the site. Clicking a node opens the page.

Search. The search button in the view title (command XBSL: search the documentation) runs a full-text search over the whole reference and guide; pick a hit to open it.

The page. Opens as an editor tab beside the current one and does not steal the focus: the cleaned article with code (samples carry a Copy button), tables and images, plus a Primary source link to the same page on the docs site. A page’s sections are nested under its tree node, internal links navigate within the same tab, and opening a page reveals it in the Contents tree.

Documentation for the symbol. Right-click a type or variable in an .xbsl file – XBSL: documentation for the symbol – to open its page. For a type its reference page opens directly; for a method or an ambiguous name a pick-list of candidates is shown, ranked by the receiver before the dot (so Job.Setup prefers the scheduled-job pages, not a guide topic).

Where the other entry points lead. Hovering a name in an .xbsl shows the type description and a Documentation link; in the form designer the Open documentation action sits on a palette item (a short description also rides in its tooltip). Both open the page in this same panel – reading up on an unfamiliar component costs no trip out of the editor.

The data comes from the linter’s LSP server, so it needs LSP mode and the documentation database built from your distribution (xbsl ≥ 0.12.0, see the linter README). In the regular (CLI) mode the view reports that the documentation is available in LSP mode.

Deploy

The command XBSL: deploy the project (elemctl) (xbsl.deploy, also a cloud button in the editor title of .xbsl files) runs elemctl deploy – build, upload, apply and verification that the apply actually took effect – as a terminal task, after a confirmation dialog with the exact command line. The xbsl.deploy.* settings, the deploy cycle and the ELEMENT_* configuration are documented in the XBSL Debug README of the elemctl project (Marketplace).

Commands

  • XBSL: new 1C:Element project (xbsl.project.new) – the project wizard (see above).
  • XBSL: check the whole project (xbsl.lintProject) – lint the whole workspace.
  • XBSL: structural form search (xbsl.forms.search) – find components by type and properties (see above).
  • XBSL: restart the linter (xbsl.restartLinter) – clear and re-lint open files.
  • XBSL: code palette (xbsl.choosePalette) – pick a syntax palette for XBSL (see above).
  • XBSL: code templates (xbsl.templates.manage), import (xbsl.templates.import) and export (xbsl.templates.export) – the template set and exchange with an EDT export (see above).
  • Metadata explorer commands (xbsl.metadata.*) are invoked from the tree and its context menus: properties, add object / field / subsystem, add object form, filter by subsystem, delete object, refresh. See Metadata explorer.
  • XBSL: deploy the project (elemctl) (xbsl.deploy) – deploy to the stand (see above).
  • XBSL: form designer (xbsl.previewForm) – the panel of the active form yaml (see above).
  • XBSL: search the documentation (xbsl.docs.search) and documentation for the symbol (xbsl.docs.showForSymbol) – the Documentation view (see above).

How it works

The extension is a thin client of the xbsl engine: in the default LSP mode every feature – diagnostics, navigation, the docs panel and the metadata scaffolding – talks to one long-living xbsl-lsp server; without the server the same checks and scaffolding run through the CLI:

The extension features (diagnostics, metadata tree, form preview, docs panel) talk to the long-living xbsl-lsp server or, as a fallback, to the CLI; the engine reads the project sources and honors the baseline; scaffolding edits come back as full texts and are applied as one undoable WorkspaceEdit

In the CLI mode two producers feed one diagnostic collection, and the split is by buffer state:

  • While you type (dirty buffer) the extension runs xbsl --stdin --filename <name> --format json on the live text – per-file rules only, fast, debounced. Its result replaces the diagnostics of that buffer only.
  • When you save any .xbsl/.yaml file, the extension runs xbsl <workspace folder> --format json in the background (debounced, at most one run at a time; a save during a run cancels the now-stale run and starts over). The result covers per-file and project-scope rules, so it replaces the diagnostics of every file in the folder – except buffers that are dirty again by then: those stay with their live --stdin diagnostics until the next save.

This way there are no duplicates and no rule is lost: a clean file always shows the full workspace-run picture, a file being edited shows the instant per-file picture, and each save reconciles the two. Both runs speak the same {diagnostics, summary} JSON contract that the linter’s MCP server exposes.

A workspace run that fails or exceeds xbsl.workspaceLintTimeout is reported to the XBSL output channel only – no popups on every save.

Feedback and bugs

The extension is under active development, and bugs and rough edges are expected – the metadata explorer and the form designer especially. Please report anything that looks wrong, ideally with the steps to reproduce and the extension/engine versions from the status bar, in the project’s GitHub issues:

https://github.com/keyfire/xbsl/issues

VS Code also offers Report Issue on the extension’s page (from the manifest’s bugs link).

Development

npm install
npm run compile          # esbuild bundle -> dist/extension.js
npm run check            # tsc type-check
npm test                 # unit tests for the navigation core (plain Node, no runner)
npm run package          # build the .vsix (via @vscode/vsce)

Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host with the extension loaded.

License

MIT – see the repository.

Last updated on July 22, 2026

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