Skip to content

fix: stabilize settings tree and also fixes during startup to stop ghost scrolls from early extension registrations.#278931

Merged
rzhao271 merged 7 commits intomicrosoft:mainfrom
KanishkRanjan:fix_issue
Jan 26, 2026
Merged

fix: stabilize settings tree and also fixes during startup to stop ghost scrolls from early extension registrations.#278931
rzhao271 merged 7 commits intomicrosoft:mainfrom
KanishkRanjan:fix_issue

Conversation

@KanishkRanjan
Copy link
Contributor

@KanishkRanjan KanishkRanjan commented Nov 22, 2025

Fixes #277787
This PR fixes a crash in the Settings UI triggered when interacting with the Editor: Default Formatter dropdown while VS Code is still discovering extensions during startup.

The issue occurs because this dropdown dynamically updates its schema as new formatters become available, causing repeated Settings Tree rebuilds. During this “startup storm,” the TOC (sidebar) and Main Settings Tree enter a feedback loop where they exchange stale element references.

while working on this I noticed that the Settings Editor viewport often drifts or jumps (usually by ~38px) when extensions load or configuration schemas update in the background

I implemented a scroll anchoring mechanism within onConfigUpdate to stabilize the view:

  • Capture: Right before the destructive model refresh, I capture the ID (Setting Key or Group ID) of the firstVisibleElement.
  • Restore: Immediately after the tree re-renders, I look up the equivalent element in the new model using that captured ID.
  • Snap: If the element exists, I force a reveal(element, 0) to snap the viewport back to the correct position, neutralizing any layout shift
GhostScroll.mov

@KanishkRanjan
fix: stabilize settings tree and also fixes during startup to stop gh…
c2150a9 
…ost scrolls from early extension registrations.
@vs-code-engineering
Copy link

vs-code-engineering bot commented Nov 22, 2025 •
edited
Loading

📬 CODENOTIFY

The following users are being notified based on files changed in this PR:

@rzhao271

Matched files:

  • src/vs/workbench/contrib/preferences/browser/settingsEditor2.ts

@KanishkRanjan
Copy link
Contributor Author

KanishkRanjan commented Nov 22, 2025

@microsoft-github-policy-service agree

@KanishkRanjan
Add comments
ebaa4e2 
Update search result model and refresh settings tree on changes.
@KanishkRanjan
Copy link
Contributor Author

KanishkRanjan commented Nov 25, 2025

Sry to bother you @rzhao271, What are your reviews on this ?
This is my second pr so I am bit excited for this 😊

@rzhao271
Copy link
Collaborator

rzhao271 commented Nov 26, 2025

No problem. I plan to take a look on Monday.

@rzhao271 rzhao271 added this to the November 2025 milestone Nov 26, 2025
@rzhao271
Copy link
Collaborator

rzhao271 commented Dec 1, 2025 •
edited
Loading

When trying Ben's steps from the original issue, I now see the following error:

selectBoxCustom.ts:519 Uncaught NotFoundError: Failed to execute 'remove' on 'Element': The node to be removed is no longer a child of this node. Perhaps it was moved in a 'blur' event handler?
    at Object.dispose (selectBoxCustom.ts:519:34)
    at ContextView.hide (contextview.ts:372:25)
    at ContextViewService.hideContextView (contextViewService.ts:65:20)
    at SettingTreeRenderers.cancelSuggesters (settingsTree.ts:2270:28)
    at SettingsEditor2.updateTreeScrollSync (settingsEditor2.ts:1205:25)
    at settingsEditor2.ts:1145:10

I'll check whether that issue also shows up before this PR. Feel free to also take a look in the meantime.

Edit: Even though there's no more console error upon selecting another table of contents entry thanks to the hasElement check, the settings list still fails to scroll to that entry. I'd prefer that the fix also resolves the desync issue itself.

@KanishkRanjan
Copy link
Contributor Author

KanishkRanjan commented Dec 2, 2025

@rzhao271 will be committing a fix it soon

@KanishkRanjan
Improve settings tree element reveal logic
7dfda83 
Enhance settings tree element handling by searching for equivalent old objects when the current element is not found. This includes a recursive search through the tree nodes to reveal the appropriate element.
@KanishkRanjan
Copy link
Contributor Author

KanishkRanjan commented Dec 2, 2025

Sorry for that PR, and wasting your time. I was so distracted by ghost scrolling that might have overlooked the required fix.
I had added a lot of debug statements and modified many lines code before finding a fix and while trying to keep everything clean and committing minimal changes, I might have overlooked it. ( I recloned vscode and modified it by comparing previous clone, It was working in prev as ghost scroll wouldn't reproduce ).

Thank you for your time
@rzhao271 please take a look.

Screen.Recording.2025-12-02.at.10.30.12.AM.mov

@KanishkRanjan
Copy link
Contributor Author

KanishkRanjan commented Dec 8, 2025

Hey @rzhao271,

Just a quick check-in is this ready for review? I appreciate you taking the time to look at it.

Thanks,
Kanishk

@rzhao271
Copy link
Collaborator

rzhao271 commented Dec 12, 2025

Hi Kanishk,

The team is currently working on housekeeping. I would like to take a look in January if that works for you.

Thanks,
Raymond

@rzhao271 rzhao271 mentioned this pull request Dec 12, 2025
Open
@KanishkRanjan
Copy link
Contributor Author

KanishkRanjan commented Dec 12, 2025

Hi rzhao271,

Yes, of course !!

Best,
Kanishk

@rzhao271 rzhao271 modified the milestones: December 2025, January 2026 Jan 6, 2026
@rzhao271
Copy link
Collaborator

rzhao271 commented Jan 22, 2026 •
edited
Loading

Ref #145589

rzhao271
rzhao271 reviewed Jan 26, 2026
View reviewed changes
rzhao271
rzhao271 reviewed Jan 26, 2026
View reviewed changes
rzhao271
rzhao271 approved these changes Jan 26, 2026
View reviewed changes
Copy link
Collaborator

@rzhao271 rzhao271 left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

LGTM. Thanks for the fix!

@rzhao271 rzhao271 enabled auto-merge (squash) January 26, 2026 23:02
@rzhao271 rzhao271 merged commit 2170a51 into microsoft:main Jan 26, 2026
17 checks passed
@KanishkRanjan KanishkRanjan deleted the fix_issue branch February 1, 2026 19:19
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Reviewers

@rzhao271 rzhao271 rzhao271 approved these changes

@dmitrivMS dmitrivMS dmitrivMS approved these changes

Assignees

@rzhao271 rzhao271

Labels

None yet

Projects

None yet

Milestone

January 2026

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

[SettingsTree] Tree element not found: [object Object]

3 participants

@KanishkRanjan @rzhao271 @dmitrivMS