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author	created on	last updated
<Pankaj> <Bhojwani> <@PankajBhojwani>	<2020-9-9>	<2020-10-15>

Proto extensions

Abstract

This spec outlines adding support for proto extensions. This would allow other apps/programs to add json snippets to our json files, and will be used when we generate settings for our various profiles.

Inspiration

Goal: Allow programs to have a say in the settings for their profiles

Currently, Ubuntu/WSL/Powershell etc are unable to provide any specifications for how they want their profiles in Terminal to look - only we and the users can modify the profiles. We want to provide these installations with the functionality to have a say in this, allowing them to specify things like their icon, their font and so on. However, we want to maintain that the user has final say over all of these settings.

Solution Design

Currently, when we load the settings we perform the following steps (this is a simplified description, for the full version see the spec for cascading default + user settings):

Generate profiles from the defaults file
Generate profiles from the dynamic profile generators
Layer the user settings on top of all the profiles created in steps 1 and 2
Validate the settings

To allow for installations to add in their snippets of json, I propose the addition of a new step in between 2 and 3:

Generate profiles from the defaults file
Generate profiles from the dynamic profile generators
Incorporate the additional provided json stubs - these stubs could be:
1. modifications to existing profiles
2. additions of full profiles
3. additions of colour schemes
Layer the user settings on top of all the profiles created in steps 1 through 3 (this includes the user-defined default settings which they wish to apply to all profiles)
Validate the settings

Specifications of the json stubs

As written above, the json stubs could be modifications to existing profiles, additions to full profiles, or additions of colour schemes.

To allow modifications/additions of several profiles in one file and to allow the addition of several colour schemes in one json file, these stubs should be put into lists in the json file: one list named profiles and the other list named schemes. For example:

{
    "profiles": [ modifications and additions of profiles go here ],
    "schemes": [ additions of colour schemes go here ]
}

An example of a full json file with these fields filled out is shown at the end of this section.

Modifications to existing profiles

The main thing to note for modification of existing profiles is that this will only be used for modifying the default profiles (cmd/powershell) or the dynamically generated profiles.

For modifications to existing profiles, the json stub would need to indicate which profile it wishes to modify. It will do this by providing the corresponding guid in the "updates" field of the json stub. The reason we use an "updates" field rather than a "guid" field (like the way the user settings are eventually layered onto profiles) is because we do not want to mistakenly create a new profile when the stub was meant to update a profile that did not exist.

Note that currently, we generate a GUID for dynamic profiles using the "initial" name of the profile (i.e. before any user changes are applied). For example, the "initial" name of a WSL profile is the <name> argument to "wsl.exe -d <name>", and the "initial" name of a Powershell profile is something like "Powershell (ARM)" - depending on the version. Thus, the stub creator could simply use the same uuidv5 GUID generator we do on that name to obtain the GUID. Then, in the stub they provide the GUID can be used to identify which profile to modify.

Naturally, we will have to provide documentation on how they could generate the desired GUID themselves. In that documentation, we will also provide examples showing how the current GUIDs are generated for clarity's sake.

We need to inform developers that we will not prescribe any ordering to the way in which these modifications will be applied - thus, they should not rely on their stub being the first/last to modify a particular profile (in the event that there is more than one json stub modifying the same profile).

Here is an example of a json file that modifies an existing profile (specifically the Azure cloud shell profile):

{
    "profiles": [
        {
            "updates": "{b453ae62-4e3d-5e58-b989-0a998ec441b8}",
            "fontSize": 16,
            "fontWeight": "thin"
        }
    ]
}

NOTE: This will not change the way the profile looks in the user's settings file. The Azure cloud shell profile in their settings file (assuming they have made no changes) will still be as below.

{
    "guid": "{b453ae62-4e3d-5e58-b989-0a998ec441b8}",
    "hidden": false,
    "name": "Azure Cloud Shell",
    "source": "Windows.Terminal.Azure"
}

However, the user is free to make changes to it as usual and those changes will have the 'final say'.

Full profile stubs

Technically, full profile stubs do not need to contain anything (they could just be '{}'). However we should have some qualifying minimum criteria before we accept a stub as a full profile. I suggest that we only create new profile objects from stubs that contain at least the following

A name

As in the case of the dynamic profile generator, if we create a profile that did not exist before (i.e. does not exist in the user settings), we need to add the profile to the user settings file and re-save that file.

Furthermore, we will add a source field to profiles created this way (again, similar to what we do for dynamic profiles). The source field value is dependent on how we obtained this json file, and will be touched on in more detail later in the spec.

Here is an example of a json file that contains a full profile:

{
    "profiles": [
        {
            "guid": "{a821ae62-9d4a-3e34-b989-0a998ec283e6}",
            "name": "Cool Profile",
            "commandline": "powershell.exe",
            "antialiasingMode": "aliased",
            "fontWeight": "bold",
            "scrollbarState": "hidden"
        }
    ]
}

When this profile gets added back to the user's settings file, it will look similar to the way we currently add new dynamic profiles to the user's settings file. Going along with the example above, the corresponding json stub in the user's settings file will be:

{
    "guid": "{a821ae62-9d4a-3e34-b989-0a998ec283e6}",
    "name": "Cool Profile",
    "hidden": "false",
    "source": "local"
}

Again, the user will be able to make changes to it as they do for all other profiles.

Creation of colour schemes

As with full profiles, we will have some qualifying criteria for what we accept as full colour schemes: color schemes must have all the fields that define a colour scheme - see the docs on creating new colour schemes for what this means.

This may cause the issue of colour schemes being overridden if there are many creations of a colour scheme with the same name. Since for now all we have to uniquely identify colour schemes is the name, we will just let this be.

Here is an example of a json stub that contains a colour scheme:

{
    "schemes": [
        {
            "name": "Postmodern Tango Light",

            "cursorColor": "#FFFFFF",
            "selectionBackground": "#FFFFFF",

            "background": '#61D6D6',
            "foreground": '#E74856',

            "black" : "#0C0C0C",
            "blue" : "#0037DA",
            "cyan" : "#3A96DD",
            "green" : "#13A10E",
            "purple" : "#881798",
            "red" : "#C50F1F",
            "white" : "#CCCCCC",
            "yellow" : "#C19C00",
            "brightBlack" : "#767676",
            "brightBlue" : "#3B78FF",
            "brightCyan" : "#61D6D6",
            "brightGreen" : "#16C60C",
            "brightPurple" : "#B4009E",
            "brightRed" : "#E74856",
            "brightWhite" : "#F2F2F2",
            "brightYellow" : "#F9F1A5"
        }
    ]
}

This stub will not show up in the users settings file, similar to the way our default colour schemes do not show up.

Example of a full json file

This is an example of a json file that combines all the above examples. Thus, this json file modifies the Azure Cloud Shell profile, creates a new profile called 'Cool Profile' and creates a new colour scheme called 'Postmodern Tango Light'.

{
  "profiles": [
    {
      "updates": "{b453ae62-4e3d-5e58-b989-0a998ec441b8}",
      "fontSize": 16,
      "fontWeight": "thin"
    },
    {
      "guid": "{a821ae62-9d4a-3e34-b989-0a998ec283e6}",
      "name": "Cool Profile",
      "commandline": "powershell.exe",
      "antialiasingMode": "aliased",
      "fontWeight": "bold",
      "scrollbarState": "hidden"
    }
  ],
  "schemes": [
    {
        "name": "Postmodern Tango Light",

        "cursorColor": "#FFFFFF",
        "selectionBackground": "#FFFFFF",

        "background": '#61D6D6',
        "foreground": '#E74856',

        "black" : "#0C0C0C",
        "blue" : "#0037DA",
        "cyan" : "#3A96DD",
        "green" : "#13A10E",
        "purple" : "#881798",
        "red" : "#C50F1F",
        "white" : "#CCCCCC",
        "yellow" : "#C19C00",
        "brightBlack" : "#767676",
        "brightBlue" : "#3B78FF",
        "brightCyan" : "#61D6D6",
        "brightGreen" : "#16C60C",
        "brightPurple" : "#B4009E",
        "brightRed" : "#E74856",
        "brightWhite" : "#F2F2F2",
        "brightYellow" : "#F9F1A5"
    }
  ]
}

Creation and location(s) of the json files

In this section, we cover where an app that wants to use this proto-extension functionality should put the json files. Once we implement this feature, we will need to provide documentation on this for app developers.

For apps installed through Microsoft store (or similar)

For apps that are installed through something like the Microsoft Store, they will need to declare themselves to be an app extension or write a separate app extension. In the app extension, they will need to create a public folder, and create a subdirectory within that folder called Fragments. The json files should be inserted into the Fragments subdirectory. The specifics of how they can declare themselves as an app extension are provided in the Microsoft Docs, and I will replicate the necessary section here.

In the appxmanifest file of the package:

<Package
  ...
  xmlns:uap3="http://schemas.microsoft.com/appx/manifest/uap/windows10/3"
  IgnorableNamespaces="uap uap3 mp">
  ...
    <Applications>
      <Application Id="App" ... >
        ...
        <Extensions>
          ...
          <uap3:Extension Category="windows.appExtension">
            <uap3:AppExtension Name="com.microsoft.windows.terminal.settings"
                               Id="<id>"
                               PublicFolder="Public">
            </uap3:AppExtension>
          </uap3:Extension>
        </Extensions>
      </Application>
    </Applications>
    ...
</Package>

Note that the name field must be com.microsoft.windows.terminal.settings for us to detect this extension. The Id field can be filled out as the app wishes. The PublicFolder field should have the name of the folder, relative to the package root, where the json files they wish to share with us are stored (this folder is typically named Public but can be renamed as long as it matches the relevant folder).

During our profile generation, we will probe the OS for app extensions with the name com.microsoft.windows.terminal.settings and obtain the json files stored in the Fragments subdirectories of the public folders of those app extensions.

For apps installed 'traditionally'

For apps that are installed 'traditionally', there are 2 cases. The first is that this installation is for all the users of the system - in this case, the installer should add their json files to the global folder:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Terminal\Fragments\{app-name}

Note: C:\ProgramData is a known folder that apps should be able to access. If the folder Windows Terminal in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows does not already exist, the installer should create it. Note: the installer must create a subdirectory within the Fragments folder with their app name, we will use that name for the source field.

In the second case, the installation is only for the current user. For this case, the installer should add the json files to the local folder:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Terminal\Fragments\{app-name}

We will look through both folders mentioned above during profile generation.

The source field

Currently, we allow users an easy way to disable/enable profiles that are generated from certain sources. For example, a user can easily hide all dynamic profiles with the source "Windows.Terminal.Wsl" if they wish to. To retain this functionality, we will add source fields to profiles we create through proto-extensions.

For full profiles that came from apps installed 'traditionally', we will use the name of the subdirectory where the json file was found to fill out the source field.

For full profiles that came from app extensions, we will use the app package name to fill out the source field.

UI/UX Design

This feature will allow other installations a level of control over how their profiles look in Terminal. For example, if Ubuntu gets a new icon or a new font they can have those changes be reflected in Terminal users' Ubuntu profiles.

Capabilities

Accessibility

This change should not affect accessibility.

Security

Opening a profile causes its commandline argument to be automatically run. Thus, if malicious modifications are made to existing profiles or new profiles with malicious commandline arguments are added, users could be tricked into running things they do not want to.

Reliability

This should not affect reliability - most of what its doing is simply layering json which we already do.

Compatibility

Again, there should not be any issues here - the user settings can still be layered after this layering for the user to have the final say.

Performance, Power, and Efficiency

Looking through the additional json files could negatively impact startup time.

Potential Issues

An installer dumps a lot of json files into the folder which we need to look through.
When a .json files is deleted, any new profiles that were generated from it remain in the user's settings file (though they no longer appear in the tab dropdown).

Future considerations

We need to consider how an app extension provides the path to an image (for the icon source or background image of a profile for example)

This will likely be a stepping stone for the theme marketplace.

This will also likely be a stepping stone to allowing users to specify other files to import settings from.

Resources

N/A

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