Nesting of input variables

[thebit94]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes/No

• VS Code Version: 1.88.1
• OS Version: Linux x64 6.5.0-1018-oem snap

Steps to Reproduce:

The documentation (https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/variables-reference#_why-arent-variables-in-tasksjson-being-resolved)
states that "Input variables in the inputs section will not be resolved as nesting of input variables is not supported.

First of all that's not true (it's supported with limitations)
Second it is quite powerful to fully support it!
Lets take this example:

"inputs": [
	{
            "id": "get_pid",
            "type": "command",
            "command": "shellCommand.execute",
            "args": {
                "command": "docker exec ${input:get_container_id} pidof xxx" //replace xxx with a process name
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "get_container_id",
            "type": "command",
            "command": "shellCommand.execute",
            "args": {
                "command": "docker ps --format \"{{.ID}}\""
            },
        },
]
...

As we can see "get_pid" needs "get_container_id" and both of them are reference later in the configuration.

In the code above it won't work as the first ${input:get_container_id} will be evaluated to empty string.
One workaround to make it working is to "dummy" references the ${input:get_container_id} in the configuration before referencing ${input:get_pid}
(Then even if you delete that dummy reference it will keep working until you restart VSCode)

Another nicer workaround would be to use variables and invoke the input command first:

	       "variables": { 
                "containerId": "${input:get_container_id}",
                "pid": "${input:get_pid}", //Important: the precedence is important otherwise they won't evaluate (this command depending on the previous one)
                },

So could you please fully support this

"

[VSCodeTriageBot]

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Happy Coding!