Microsoft/vscode

Disposing a webview view when extension host is restarted

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#188,257 opened on Jul 19, 2023

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 (2 comments) (9 reactions) (1 assignee)TypeScript (74,848 stars) (10,221 forks)batch import
bughelp wantedwebview-views

Description

Originally in https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-pull-request-github/issues/4872#issuecomment-1573555380

Here is what I see happen:

  1. Open a folder
  2. Have an extension that creates a webview view
  3. Keep the webview view open
  4. Add a folder to the workspace, which causes the extension host to be restarted.
  5. The extension's deactivate gets called as expected. In deactivate the extension disposes of the webview view provider.
  6. With this dispose I would expect the webview view to hide, but it does not.

You can easily reproduce the above using the GitHub Pull Request extension with the steps linked from the original issue.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
typescriptnodejs
Domain
frontenddeveloper experience
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
VSCode extension APIwebview view lifecycle
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60
Research direction
Investigate the webview view provider disposal mechanism in VSCode. Look at the extension host restart sequence and the lifecycle of webview views. The issue mentions that dispose() is called but the view does not hide. Check files related to webview view rendering and extension host communication. Consider looking at the linked original issue for more context.
Disposing a webview view when extension host is restarted · Microsoft/vscode#188257 | Good First Issue