Introduction
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free source code editor made by Microsoft for Windows, Linux and macOS. It provides built-in support for JavaScript, TypeScript and Node.js. You can add extensions to provide support for numerous other languages such as C++, C#, Java, Python, PHP, and Go, and runtimes such as .NET and Unity.
The InterSystems® ObjectScript Extension Pack for VS Code enables you to use VS Code to connect to an InterSystems server and develop code in ObjectScript. The pages which follow describe how to install, configure, and use these extensions. These operations require some prior understanding of how to use VS Code. For your convenience, Useful Information about VS Code introduces those aspects of the VS Code environment which are explicitly referenced in instructions on later pages. For a more comprehensive understanding, consult the official Visual Studio Code DocumentationOpens in a new tab.
Development in ObjectScript involves both your local client machine, and an InterSystems IRIS server. Because both resources are required, the available workflows are different from that typical for many languages:
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With client-side editing, source code files are created on or exported to a client system. Edits are saved to the local disk, where they can be managed using a client-side version control system. Edited code is then imported into an InterSystems IRIS server, where it can be compiled, run, and debugged.
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With server-side editing, source code files are edited and source controlled directly on an InterSystems IRIS server or servers. Source files can then be compiled, run, and debugged on their respective servers.
Compare Client-Side and Server-Side Workflows provides more information about the differences between these two workflows.
For former InterSystems Studio users, the InterSystems ObjectScript extension for VS Code supports Studio Add-ins as well as Studio extensions, as provided by %Studio.Extension.Base. If you rely on Studio extensions such as source control hooks, you can continue to use them in VS Code. See Migrate from Studio for more information.
The ObjectScript extension pack is supported by InterSystems Caché® and Ensemble 2016.2 and higher, and all versions of InterSystems IRIS.
