VSCode and Calva user guide
Open the VSCode editor and start a REPL for your project. Then add your Clojure project and connect to your REPL.
MacOSX Keys - Option or Alt
Depending on the version of Mac computer you use, your Alt key may be called Option
So Ctrl+Alt+cv e would be Ctrl+Option+v e
Open Project Folder in VSCode
Ctrl+k Ctrl+o to open the Folder that contains your project. Or using the menu File > Open Folder
Select the top level of the folder, e.g. playground and click OK
Start a REPL project and connect: . Answer the quick-pick prompts telling Calva about project types and what profiles to start.
Start a REPL for the project using Leiningen.
ctrl+alt+c ctrl+alt+j to start a REPL.
Select or type Leiningen when prompted for the project type
Wait a few moments for the REPL to start.
A new CLJ REPL tab will open when the Clojure REPL is ready
Troubleshooting
If the REPL did not start, the nREPL link in the bottom blue bar will show the word "Disconnected".
Open the Output tab to see the progress of the REPL starting. Ask your coach for help if you see output other than that below.
Developing your project
Once you have a running REPL, use these commands to help you develop your code.
MacOSX Keys - Option or Alt
Depending on the version of Mac computer you use, your Alt key may be called Option
So Ctrl+Alt+c e would be Ctrl+Option+c e
| Evaluate code | Keybinding | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Namespace | Ctrl+Alt+c n |
[Broken] Evaluate the current namespace and change namespace in REPL |
| All code in Namespace | Ctrl+Alt+c alt+n |
Evaluate all the code in current namespace |
| Outer expression | Ctrl+Alt+c SPACE |
Show the result of the top level expression |
| Expression | Ctrl+Alt+c e |
Show the result of the current expression |
| Expression (send to REPL) | Ctrl+Alt+c alt+e |
Send expression to the REPL and evaluate |
| Pretty print | Ctrl+Alt+c p |
Print expression so its easier to read |
| Replace expression | Ctrl+Alt+c r |
Replace the expression with its result |
| In the REPL | Enter |
Code in the REPL window is evaluated |
You can run tests from Calva too...
| Tests to run | Keybinding | Description |
|---|---|---|
| All tests | Ctrl+Alt+c Shift+t |
Run all tests in the project |
| Current Namespace tests | Ctrl+Alt+c t |
Run all tests for the current namespace |
| Re-run failing tests | Ctrl+Alt+c Ctrl+t |
Run all tests for the current namespace |
REPL history
The REPL maintains a history of the code typed in and can be navigated by using the up and down arrow keys.
Commenting / uncommenting code
Type ;; at the start of a line to comment out the whole line.
Comment keybindings ?
Increase / decrease font size
Ctrl + and Ctrl - will increase and decrease the size of the whole editor.
Structured editing - Paredit
Once you get the basics of Clojure development, you can try structural editing which is a way to refactor you code without breaking the structure of Clojure. Structural editing ensures you dont have uneven parentheses, (), [], {}, etc.
Please look at the documentation for Calva Paredit to make use of Structural editing.
Starting a remote REPL (old approach)
Ctrl+` toggles open the VSCode Integrated terminal. Or open your operating system terminal.
Windows GitBash users
In the terminal, change to the folder than contains your project, e.g. cd projects/clojure/playground
Type the command lein repl in the terminal.
Connecting to a Remote REPL from Calva
Ctrl+Alt+c c will open a command pop-up asking you to enter host and port. These details were shown when the REPL was run in the terminal.
In the bottom left of Atom, check the status of the nrepl connection. If you are connected, then the disconnected status should disappear
