spans default to not having a tabindex

Some problems:

• The main document cannot be focused via tab
• Tab doesn't work when the main document has focus and arrows don't work either

Plan Items

Below is a summary of the top level plan items.

Legend of annotations:

Features

• Ability to edit the bytes in the middle column and modify the file #17
• Ability to edit the decoded text in the right column and modify the file. #17
• 💪 Ability to edit inside the data inspector #17

Bugs / Fixes

• Files over 18MB couldn't be opened #3
• Focus is difficult to see #24
• Data inspector font can appear fuzzy #35

Dear M$:
I am Embedded developer, and we often need to edit hex/bin files, and I've been looking for a plug-in that can edit these files in VSCode, because VSCode is my favorite code development tool. Now I've finally got a hexEditor, so we are STRONGLY recommend that writing-operations.
THANKS very much!

It should be blue in Dark+

Thank you for this marvelous extension. Editing and viewing binary files is quite cumbersome. This extension definitely helps here!

Especially when binary files were changed, it is really handy to compare them in HEX. That way I can easily check that I didn't destroy anything. Therefore the question: Is it possible to add support for comparison / compare editors in HEX?

I am only aware of the Total Commander being capable to do that (all I want to say is this is a really helpful feature, which not many tools out there support). Unfortunately I do not speak Java- nor Typescript...

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

• Focus on a hex cell
• Arrow right. As you can from above gif, the focus element has a blue border around it
• Arrow down, focus goes to the right side

Testing microsoft/vscode#101307

• Open Hex editor
• Do some changes
• Go to SCM view
• Undo the changes in SCM view
  🐛 Hex editor is not updated

I notice https://hexed.it/ uses home and end to go to the start and end of the document respectively, is this standard across all hex editors? It would be better if we aligned with the editor imo and have home/end go to the start/end of the line and ctrl/cmd+home/end go to the start/end of the file.

This is a feature request.

I would like to be able to group the bytes with a dropdown menu in:

• 1 byte (current feature)
• 2 bytes
• 4 bytes
• 8 bytes
• 16 bytes

We currently have 1-byte grouping right now. I humbly request and wish to be able to group bytes like so:

2-bytes groups:

4-bytes groups:

8-bytes groups:

16-bytes groups:

Thank you so much for this hex editing support. I really hope this extension kicks off greatly!

1. Create a file empty.txt
2. Open the file with the hex editor

The headings will be in the wrong places and it looks like a mangled mess.

This is a feature request.

Currently, we have the ability to read the bytes of a file, based on the memory offset and the decoded text.

I would like to be able to search for particular bytes in the file, to be able to pinpoint where in the file are byte patterns found. This can be helpful for viewing data chunks and data wrappers where a particular byte pattern is used commonly in the file, making it easier to navigate and locate the data needed.

It would be even wonderful, as another feature, if we could search by decoded text and look for the matching byte values in the hex editor. I don't know if Regular Expressions can work for decoded text, but 'tis a dream.

When opening a binary file, it should open the hex editor by default

Currently only a single cell can be selected and trying to drag show an overlay that looks like it's dragging the whole document like an image:

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

On selecting the rightmost column (0F), data inspector reports end of file for all data larger than 8 bits. it should instead wrap around to the next row.

Testing microsoft/vscode#101307

See the recording - I am just pressing cmd+z and it keeps editing the content

Currently, you can only select 1 byte value at a time, both in the Hex Value (center column) and in the Decoded Text (right column). I don't know what the center column is called, and I wished there is a name for it. ("Memory"?)

You cannot copy hex values from the Data Inspector, the Hex Values, and the Decoded Text. If we are able to select multiple byte values for copying, then the Data Inspector and the Decoded Text should also be allowed to do copy operations for multiple byte values.

Hey Logan, just kreating this so we keep it in mind.
The hex editor should be accessible, that means that all fields should be navigalbe by keyboard and that when you navigate the screen reader always reads the correct content.

For more details we can also sync. Feel free to ping me

Hex editors are usually used for binary file formats. Currently only the file bytes are displayed (in hex), and to see a UInt32 value you have to know where it is in the file and move the cursor to it.

Most hex editors include a feature that allows to define binary templates for different file formats and view the parsed results as JSON or similar.

Update: This is no longer about one specific template format, but on supporting templates at all - see #50 (comment)

Original:

The cross-editor standard for binary templates is Kaitai Struct - https://kaitai.io/

It supports integration with many programming languages, it is free and open source, and it has a lot of community-contributed templates for many popular file formats - https://formats.kaitai.io/

The templates are defined using YAML, with a .ksy file extension.

Example template:

seq:
  - id: length
    type: u32
  - id: contents
    type: str
    size: length
    encoding: UTF-8
  - id: has_crc
    type: u1
  - id: crc32
    type: u4
    if: has_crc32 != 0

This will generate a JS class that you can pass the file data to and it will give you the parsed result.

Kaitai Struct also has a small web editor to try out templates that you can draw inspiration from:

Unfortunately Kaitai Struct doesn't support editing the parsed results and writing them back to the file, but the parsing is the important part.

What do you think?

I know this is only the initial version but I would like to have the ability to edit and save files from within this extension.

If you have a file over 18MB the div won't grow large enough causing all the lines to get squished at the bottom.

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

Given that rendering is virtual (and it seems to be), there is no reason for there to be a limit on file size. There is nothing in a hex editor which scales with file size, only with viewport height.

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

1. Create empty file

I can't find any way to open this file with the hex editor. I've tried Command Palette, right click... the Open With or Reopen With options are nowhere to be found.

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

Looks like the select box for endianness and the data inspector selection outline is not a color from the theme.

Repro:

• changing themes doesn't change colors

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

• Click a hex cell
• Click again
• The data inspector shows invalid

Hello,
Please add a menu entry to an Editor Tab and in the Explorer view to open a file in the HexEditor. I had to visit the issues tracker to actually figure our how to open a file in the HexEditor view.

Thanks

Executing the revert file command currently does not work for hex files. This is because the feature isn't implemented yet and is something that should be looked into.

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

You should be able to use our list widget for this. It seems we're rendering wayyy more than necessary and I get a lot of blank frames when scrolling around.

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

It seems to require quite a wide editor for everything to fit:

Thank you for developing hexeditor for vscode.
I installed and opened file in hex editor. Next I did want to switch back to view file in normal edition mode. Did not fiqure out how to do it. Plead add some Ui element/visual cue to hexeditor to switch back to normal mode.

To reproduce:

• Ctrl + N
• type some text
• Ctrl + Shift + P -> File: Reopen With... -> Hex Editor

Actual:
An error occurs: Unable to open 'Untitled-1': Unable to resolve filesystem provider with relative file path 'untitled:Untitled-1'.

Expected:
A Hex Editor opens. This is useful, e.g. for copy-pasting content from elsewhere without having to save to a temporary file first

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

I get the feeling that the UI is stuck every time I click & drag... nothing really happens. I expected a range cursor a la text editor

I can't figure out how to open the hex view for a given file. There isn't a hex language mode, any hex-related options in the command palette, or any context menu options for viewing files as hex. Please consider adding usage information to the readme.

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

Maybe add some padding where the actual data is shown? (padding around 110 for Int8 for example)

cc: @misolori thoughts?

Testing microsoft/vscode#101307

I don't know what's causing it. It's visible on both my QHD, and FHD monitors on linux. I have tried the following things:

• reloading vscode
• restarting vscode
• starting vscode with --disable-gpu

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

Scrolling really fast with a mouse looks ok, but if I scroll too much with a touchpad or keep the arrow key pressed, the editor goes blank. I'm guessing this has something to do with how events are debounced?

Touchpad:

Keyboard:

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

If you press DownArrow continuously until you hit the bottom of the page and then some, the view will scroll in a way the cursor will be at the center of the viewport. The view should really only scroll bit by bit, similar to a text editor.

I need the ability to showing hexdump of text from the clipboard.
Without having to save it in a file first.

I know it's very early but I'm excited about this very useful extension and therefore this feature request. I'd like to search for a byte pattern as suggested in #45 with regex but more precisely in IDA style byte masking with ??. As it's a very common format to share malware patterns and all.
Example pattern: 3d ac ?? 25 9d ?? ?? 2f.

Testing microsoft/vscode#101307

1. Scrolling feels very "slow" as compared to other editors
2. Dragging the scrollbar seems to have a parallax effect. I could not get to the bottom of my file.

In the Data Inspector the fonts appear to be fuzzy and makes it hard to read

Expectation:

Testing microsoft/vscode#101307

Is there an easier way to open large files?

Update:
I can still open the file using "View: Reopen editor with > HexEditor". But the "HexEditor: Open file" command does work. At least not on linux 😅

Plan Items

Below is a summary of the top level plan items.

Legend of annotations:

Features

• Ability to open files as hex in a read-only manner
• Ability to select a hex cell and associated decoded text
• Hover support
• Add headers to the editor for improved readability
• Style editor for various VS Code themes
• 🏃‍♂️Widget to show hex in various formats
• 💪 Simple find support

Bugs / Fixes

• Large files cause editor to crash, should show error
• Some decoded text is still control characters, need to narrow list of characters
• Resizing the editor causes structure to fall apart (needs a scrollbar)

The memory offset column always starts from 0000 0000, which is true for bin files, but hex files in intel and motorola format can have blocks, which starts at later adresses. Can be the real offset shown?

It's too difficult imo to tell the difference between selected unfocused:

And selected focused:

The only difference is it looks slightly blurry.

Testing microsoft/vscode#98980

The decoded text column is cut off at the right boundary.

Testing microsoft/vscode#101307

Based in the release notes, we got rid of the 18M file restriction in v1.1.0.

The setting should either be removed, or the validation message should be fixed