Appendix (legacy version)

This is additional information for Visual Studio Code tasks.
Schema for tasks.json

The following interfaces define the schema of the tasks.json file.

interface TaskConfiguration extends BaseTaskConfiguration {

    /**
     * The configuration's version number
     */
    version: string;

    /**
     * Windows specific task configuration
     */
    windows?: BaseTaskConfiguration;

    /**
     * macOS specific task configuration
     */
    osx?: BaseTaskConfiguration;

    /**
     * Linux specific task configuration
     */
    linux?: BaseTaskConfiguration;
}

interface BaseTaskConfiguration {

    /**
     * The command to be executed. Can be an external program or a shell
     * command.
     */
    command: string;

    /**
     * Specifies whether the command is a shell command and therefore must
     * be executed in a shell interpreter (e.g. cmd.exe, bash, ...).
     *
     * Defaults to false if omitted.
     */
    isShellCommand?: boolean | ShellConfiguration;

    /**
     * Specifies whether a global command is a background task.
     */
    isBackground?: boolean;

    /**
     * The command options used when the command is executed. Can be omitted.
     */
    options?: CommandOptions;

    /**
     * The arguments passed to the command. Can be omitted.
     */
    args?: string[];

    /**
     * Controls whether the output view of the running tasks is brought to front or not.
     *
     * Valid values are:
     *   "always": bring the output window always to front when a task is executed.
     *   "silent": only bring it to front if no problem matcher is defined for the task executed.
     *   "never": never bring the output window to front.
     *
     * If omitted "always" is used.
     */
    showOutput?: string;

    /**
     * If set to false the task name is added as an additional argument to the
     * command when executed. If set to true the task name is suppressed. If
     * omitted false is used.
     */
    suppressTaskName?: boolean;

    /**
     * Some commands require that the task argument is highlighted with a special
     * prefix (e.g. /t: for MSBuild). This property can be used to control such
     * a prefix.
     */
    taskSelector?:string;

    /**
     * The problem matcher to be used if a global command is executed (e.g. no tasks
     * are defined). A tasks.json file can either contain a global problemMatcher
     * property or a tasks property but not both.
     */
    problemMatcher?: string | ProblemMatcher | (string | ProblemMatcher)[];

    /**
     * The configuration of the available tasks. A tasks.json file can either
     * contain a global problemMatcher property or a tasks property but not both.
     */
    tasks?: TaskDescription[];
}

/**
 * Configuration of the shell when run in terminal
 */
export interface ShellConfiguration {

    /**
     * The shell executable.
     */
    executable: string;

    /**
     * The arguments to be passed to the shell executable.
     */
    args?: string[];
}

/**
 * Options to be passed to the external program or shell
 */
export interface CommandOptions {

    /**
     * The current working directory of the executed program or shell.
     * If omitted the current workspace's root is used.
     */
    cwd?: string;

    /**
     * The environment of the executed program or shell. If omitted
     * the parent process' environment is used.
     */
    env?: { [key:string]:string; };
}

/**
 * The description of a task.
 */
export interface TaskDescription {

    /**
     * The task's name
     */
    taskName: string;

    /**
     * Additional arguments passed to the command when this task is
     * executed.
     */
    args?: string[];

    /**
     * Whether this task maps to the default build command.
     */
    isBuildCommand?:boolean;

    /**
     * Whether this task maps to the default test command.
     */
    isTestCommand?: boolean;

    /**
     * Whether the executed command is kept alive and runs in the background.
     */
    isBackground?: boolean;

    /**
     * Controls whether the output view of the running tasks is brought to front or not.
     * See BaseTaskConfiguration#showOutput for details.
     */
    showOutput?: string;

    /**
     * See BaseTaskConfiguration#suppressTaskName for details.
     */
    suppressTaskName?: boolean;

    /**
     * The problem matcher(s) to use to capture problems in the tasks
     * output.
     */
    problemMatcher?: string | ProblemMatcher | (string | ProblemMatcher)[];
}

/**
 * A description of a problem matcher that detects problems
 * in build output.
 */
export interface ProblemMatcher {

    /**
     * The name of a base problem matcher to use. If specified the
     * base problem matcher will be used as a template and properties
     * specified here will replace properties of the base problem
     * matcher
     */
    base?: string;

    /**
     * The owner of the produced VS Code problem. This is typically
     * the identifier of a VS Code language service if the problems are
     * to be merged with the one produced by the language service
     * or 'external'. Defaults to 'external' if omitted.
     */
    owner?: string;

    /**
     * The severity of the VS Code problem produced by this problem matcher.
     *
     * Valid values are:
     *   "error": to produce errors.
     *   "warning": to produce warnings.
     *   "info": to produce infos.
     *
     * The value is used if a pattern doesn't specify a severity match group.
     * Defaults to "error" if omitted.
     */
    severity?: string;

    /**
     * Defines how filename reported in a problem pattern
     * should be read. Valid values are:
     *  - "absolute": the filename is always treated absolute.
     *  - "relative": the filename is always treated relative to
     *    the current working directory. This is the default.
     *  - ["relative", "path value"]: the filename is always
     *    treated relative to the given path value.
     */
    fileLocation?: string | string[];

    /**
     * The name of a predefined problem pattern, the inline definition
     * of a problem pattern or an array of problem patterns to match
     * problems spread over multiple lines.
     */
    pattern?: string | ProblemPattern | ProblemPattern[];

    /**
     * Additional information used to detect when a background task (like a watching task in Gulp)
     * is active.
     */
    watching?: WatchingMatcher;
}

/**
 * A description to track the start and end of a watching task.
 */
export interface WatchingMatcher {

    /**
     * If set to true the watcher is in active mode when the task
     * starts. This is equals of issuing a line that matches the
     * beginPattern.
     */
    activeOnStart?: boolean;

    /**
     * If matched in the output the start of a watching task is signaled.
     */
    beginsPattern?: string;

    /**
     * If matched in the output the end of a watching task is signaled.
     */
    endsPattern?: string;
}

export interface ProblemPattern {

    /**
     * The regular expression to find a problem in the console output of an
     * executed task.
     */
    regexp: string;

    /**
     * The match group index of the filename.
     */
    file: number;

    /**
     * The match group index of the problem's location. Valid location
     * patterns are: (line), (line,column) and (startLine,startColumn,endLine,endColumn).
     * If omitted the line and column properties are used.
     */
    location?: number;

    /**
     * The match group index of the problem's line in the source file.
     * Can only be omitted if location is specified.
     */
    line?: number;

    /**
     * The match group index of the problem's column in the source file.
     */
    column?: number;

    /**
     * The match group index of the problem's end line in the source file.
     *
     * Defaults to undefined. No end line is captured.
     */
    endLine?: number;

    /**
     * The match group index of the problem's end column in the source file.
     *
     * Defaults to undefined. No end column is captured.
     */
    endColumn?: number;

    /**
     * The match group index of the problem's severity.
     *
     * Defaults to undefined. In this case the problem matcher's severity
     * is used.
     */
    severity?: number;

    /**
     * The match group index of the problem's code.
     *
     * Defaults to undefined. No code is captured.
     */
    code?: number;

    /**
     * The match group index of the message. Defaults to 0.
     */
    message: number;

    /**
     * Specifies if the last pattern in a multi line problem matcher should
     * loop as long as it does match a line consequently. Only valid on the
     * last problem pattern in a multi line problem matcher.
     */
    loop?: boolean;
}