File search on .gitignore files

[sapirpol]

VSCode has an option Use Global Ignore Files in their settings so I can search for .gitignore files.
I don't see this option in theia.
How can I search for ignored files?

[vince-fugnitto]

@sapirpol we do not have support for the preference Use Global Ignore Files today, I actually do not see this preference being used often as searching for ignored files is usually done when needed and not always (like this preference controls).

Search In Workspace

If you are referring to search in workspace, then you can use the search option include ignored files (eye icon), so that the search yields results from ignored files.

File Search

If you are referring to the file search (which returns file results to be opened), then you can trigger the command and looking at the placeholder you'll see an option as how to trigger the search for ignored files (in my case ctrl+p):

[sapirpol]

Thanks for your response!
I have a VSCode plugin and I'm using VSCode API vscode.workspace.findFiles.
Is there any other option I can use to enable searching for ignored files?

[vince-fugnitto]

Based on the documentation, perhaps when passing null for exclude:

@param exclude A glob pattern that defines files and folders to exclude. The glob pattern
will be matched against the file paths of resulting matches relative to their workspace. When undefined only default excludes will apply, when null no excludes will apply.

theia/packages/plugin/src/theia.d.ts

Lines 5166 to 5181 in 4390a7d

	/**
	* Find files across all [workspace folders](#workspace.workspaceFolders) in the workspace.
	*
	* @sample `findFiles('**​/*.js', '**​/node_modules/**', 10)`
	* @param include A [glob pattern](#GlobPattern) that defines the files to search for. The glob pattern
	* will be matched against the file paths of resulting matches relative to their workspace. Use a [relative pattern](#RelativePattern)
	* to restrict the search results to a [workspace folder](#WorkspaceFolder).
	* @param exclude A [glob pattern](#GlobPattern) that defines files and folders to exclude. The glob pattern
	* will be matched against the file paths of resulting matches relative to their workspace. When `undefined` only default excludes will
	* apply, when `null` no excludes will apply.
	* @param maxResults An upper-bound for the result.
	* @param token A token that can be used to signal cancellation to the underlying search engine.
	* @return A thenable that resolves to an array of resource identifiers. Will return no results if no
	* [workspace folders](#workspace.workspaceFolders) are opened.
	*/
	export function findFiles(include: GlobPattern, exclude?: GlobPattern | null, maxResults?: number, token?: CancellationToken): PromiseLike<Uri[]>;

It is the same case in vscode:

[sapirpol]

I checked my plugin in theia and vscode, it seems that vscode.workspace.findFiles API ignores null for exclude and acts the same as before with regards to .gitignore files.
I also noticed that in vscode the search for ignored files worked - they set disregardIgnoreFiles to true and calledsearchService.fileSearch, so they respect files from .gitignore : https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/blob/f74e473238aca7b79c08be761d99a0232838ca4c/src/vs/workbench/api/browser/mainThreadWorkspace.ts#L147
Why does theia act differently from vscode? Should I open a bug?

[vince-fugnitto]

I quickly made an extension to test the feature, in vscode if exclude: null is provided then searching in ignored files is supported (such as node_modules). It looks like Theia does not support this yet as there is a discrepancy in the results. Please feel free to provide a pull-request to resolve the issue:

• extension: https://github.com/vince-fugnitto/vscode-find-files/releases/download/1.0.0/vscode-find-files-0.0.1.vsix

VS Code:

Theia: