Environment page
The Environment page of the Control Panel shows the
“Visual Studio Code user settings and runtime detected on this machine.”: the AL settings in your Visual Studio
Code user settings.json, every other setting in that file, and the system Prism for AL runs on. The
page only reads; to change a setting, edit settings.json in Visual Studio Code.
Opening it
- Select Environment in the rail of the Control Panel.
The Environment icon in the rail turns red when Prism cannot find your user
settings.json, or the file is not valid JSON. Prism watches the file, so the icon and the page update
about half a second after you save it.
| # | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Environment | The page's item in the rail. Red when the settings file is missing or not valid JSON. |
| 2 | Visual Studio Code User Settings | “Settings from the Visual Studio Code user settings.json file”. Expanded by default. See Visual Studio Code User Settings. |
| 3 | Settings | The settings, in groups. See Setting groups. |
| 4 | System | “Operating system and runtime information”. Collapsed by default. See System. |
Visual Studio Code User Settings
This section reads your Visual Studio Code user settings file,
%APPDATA%\Code\User\settings.json. Prism reads it in the background, with a progress bar until the
settings show, and reads it again whenever the file changes.
| # | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | File path | The path of settings.json. Select it to open the file in its default program. |
| 2 | Found / Not found | Whether the file exists. |
| 3 | Reveal in File Explorer | Opens File Explorer with the file selected. |
| 4 | Re-read settings.json | Reads the file again. Prism also does this on its own when the file changes. |
| 5 | Search settings | “Filter by setting name or value.” Shows only the settings whose name or value contains the text, ignoring case. A match inside a list or table that shows only its first items opens it. |
| 6 | Show all settings | “When off, only settings with a value are shown.” Off by default. On, the AL settings your file does not set show too, as (not set). |
| 7 | Group | A group of settings, under a heading. A group with no setting to show is left out. |
| 8 | Setting | The setting's name, as in settings.json; point at a long name to see it in full. |
| 9 | Value | The setting's value. Point at it to see the start of a long value. A list or an object shows by its shape: see Lists, tables and JSON. |
Setting groups
The AL settings come first, in these groups; every other setting in the file follows under Other.
| Group | Settings |
|---|---|
| Compiler & Build Behavior | al.incrementalBuild, al.compilerOptions, al.useLegacyRuntime, al.enablePreviewFeatures |
| Code Analysis & Quality Rules | al.enableCodeAnalysis, al.codeAnalyzers, al.ruleSetPath, al.enableExternalRules, al.enableLegacyCodeActions |
| Symbol Management & Dependency Resolution | al.packageCachePath, al.autoDownloadSymbols, al.assemblyProbingPaths |
| Testing & Test Runner Integration | al.testRunner, al.enableLongRunningTests |
| Localization & Translation | al.translationFile, al.translationFormat |
| Editor & Productivity Features | al.enableCodeActions |
| Telemetry & Diagnostics | al.enableTelemetry |
| Other | Every other setting in the file, in alphabetical order. |
When the file cannot be read
Instead of the settings, the section then says why:
| Message | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Could not read settings: “File not found” | There is no user settings.json; the status reads Not found. | Change a setting in Visual Studio Code, which creates the file. |
| Could not read settings: “Invalid JSON — …”, with the parser's message | The file is not valid JSON. Comments and trailing commas are accepted, as in Visual Studio Code. | Correct the place the message names, and save the file. |
| Could not read settings: “Error reading file — …” | Windows could not read the file, for example while another program locks it. | Select Re-read settings.json when the other program is done. |
| “This settings.json is … MB, more than Prism shows. Open it in Visual Studio Code to read it.”, with Open file | The file is larger than 16 MB. | Select Open file to read it in its default program. |
Lists, tables and JSON
A value that is a list or an object shows by its shape, so you can read it without the brackets. The Show as JSON button beside its name shows the same value as the JSON it was read from.
| # | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | List | A list of short values wraps from item to item; paths and objects stack, one per line. |
| 2 | Show … more | A list or object with more than eight items shows the first five; select Show … more for the rest. |
| 3 | Table | An object whose values are objects with a few fields in common shows as a table: one row per key, one column per field, up to four columns. |
| 4 | Show as JSON | Switches the value between its shape and its JSON. |
| 5 | JSON | The value as indented JSON, highlighted. |
- An object shows its keys and values in two columns; an empty list or object shows as
[]or{}. - A value nested deeper than a list or object of plain values shows as JSON inside its row.
- Very large values are shortened: a text longer than 500 characters ends in …, and a list or object with more than 500 items says “… more not shown here; the full value is in the settings file”.
System
Expand System to see the machine Prism for AL runs on, for example to include it in a report to us.
| # | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | OS | The Windows version, such as Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26100.0. |
| 2 | .NET Runtime | The .NET runtime Prism runs on, such as .NET 10.0.0. |
| 3 | Machine Name | The computer's name. |
| 4 | User | The Windows user, as DOMAIN\user. |
| 5 | Processor Count | The number of logical processors. |