Working with Variables

The extension has built-in variables which you can use in your demo steps. These variables are placeholders that get replaced with the actual value when the demo gets executed.

• {DT_INPUT}: The extension will ask you to provide a value for this variable when the demo gets executed.
• {DT_CLIPBOARD}: The value in your clipboard will be used for this variable.
• {STATE_<key>}: The value of the state key which you set via the setState action, will be used for this variable.

Examples of using the built-in variables

Request user input

You can use the {DT_INPUT} variable in your demo steps to request user input. When the demo gets executed, the extension will ask you to provide a value for this variable.

.demo/demo.json

{
  "action": "create",
  "path": "sample.json",
  "content": "{\n  \"firstName\": \"{DT_INPUT}\"\n}"
}

Use clipboard content

Similar to the {DT_INPUT} variable, you can use the {DT_CLIPBOARD} variable in your demo steps to use the value in your clipboard.

.demo/demo.json

{
  "action": "create",
  "path": "sample.json",
  "content": "{\n  \"firstName\": \"{DT_CLIPBOARD}\"\n}"
}

Use state value

You can use the {STATE_<key>} variable in your demo steps to use the value of the state key which you set via the setState action.

.demo/demo.json

[
  {
      "action": "setState",
      "state": {
          "key": "resourceID",
          "value": "{DT_CLIPBOARD}"
      }
  },
  {
      "action": "create",
      "path": "sample.json",
      "content": "{\n  \"resource\": \"{STATE_resourceID}\"\n}"
  }
]

Define custom variables

You can define variables in a variables.json file in the .demo folder. Once you created the variables.json file and added variables/constants to it, you can use these variables in your demo steps by using curly braces {variable_name}.

Example variables file

.demo/variables.json

{
  "SLIDES_URL": "http://localhost:3030"
}

Example usage in demo steps

.demo/demo.json

{
  "action": "executeVSCodeCommand",
  "command": "simpleBrowser.show",
  "args": "{SLIDES_URL}"
}