Render Inline Images in code comments

[robertlugg]

• VSCode Version: Code 1.19.2 (490ef76, 2018-01-10T15:55:03.538Z)
• OS Version: Windows_NT x64 6.1.7601
• Extensions:

Extension	Author (truncated)	Version
path-intellisense	chr	1.4.2
bracket-pair-colorizer	Coe	0.10.14
language-julia	jul	0.9.1
python	ms-	0.9.1
unicode-latex	oij	1.1.1
vscode-code-outline	pat	0.0.12
progen-mtp	rob	0.0.1
tcl	ras	0.1.0
vscode-icons	rob	7.19.0
partial-diff	ryu	0.5.1
code-spell-checker	str	1.6.2

(1 theme extensions excluded)

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Feature Request

Allow images to be displayed "inline" with source code. Provide meta-data to indicate what to show (using markup, etc).

For several domains an image is worth a thousand words, as they say. I write geometric routines and wish to describe, for instance, coordinate systems.

I would also like to be able to insert other simple illustrations. This is better than ascii art.

I know this is a code editor and not a word processor, so have no problems greatly restricting how images are inserted. Primarily, its just for commenting code better.

As a bonus, I would love the "drag and drop" like this github issue dialog where dropping a file into VSCode will embed whatever markup is needed including potentially copying the image to the same directory as the source code.

References

This Visual Studio extension does exactly what I'm requesting:
https://github.com/lukesdm/image-comments

This Visual Studio example is also very similar:
https://editorsamples.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Image%20Insertion&referringTitle=Home

This request is not the same as
#7689 or
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=kisstkondoros.vscode-gutter-preview
, but is similar. I don't want a quick "icon", i want a read-able "full-size" image that will help my comment.

[pyang-1981]

Great request. That will be very helpful.

I think it's can be also very dangerous (unsecure)...

[m-schuetz]

I'd also love to have this feature! Developers in visual computing could greatly benefit from graphical representations of algorithms in comments.

If this makes it into vscode, it would be good if the links could be specified relative to the workspace/project folder, since web content may not always be available or it may get removed at some point.

[danmarshall]

👍 I've long wanted this feature in an editor. It could also support a data-uri.
Come to think about it, perhaps this could be implemented with markdown inside of a multi-line comment.