Create A New File At A Specific Location In VS Code With An Extension

October 2024

This is what I want to do most of the time:

extension.ts

import * as vscode from 'vscode';
import path from 'path';
import os from 'os';

export function activate(context: vscode.ExtensionContext) {
	const desktopDir = path.join(os.homedir(), "Desktop");
	const tmpFilePath = path.join(desktopDir, "example.py");
	const cmd: string = 'vs-code-auto-typer.autoTypeScript';
	const disposable = vscode.commands.registerCommand(cmd, async () => {
		const uri = vscode.Uri.parse(`untitled:${tmpFilePath}`);
		const doc = await vscode.workspace.openTextDocument(uri);
		await vscode.window.showTextDocument(doc, { preview: false });
		const editor = await vscode.window.activeTextEditor;
		const pos = new vscode.Position(0, 0);
		if (editor) {
			await editor.edit((editBuilder) => {
				editBuilder.insert(
					pos, `print("hello, new python file")`
				);
			});
		}
	});
	context.subscriptions.push(disposable);
}

export function deactivate() {}

Notes

This is for the extension.ts file that's created when you run:
```
npx --package yo --package generator-code -- yo code
```
You'll need to update the cmd to match what you have in your package.json file.
You'll need to update the path to point to wherever you want the file to be prepped for saving on your machine.