New user - rustlings & vscode

[planetf1]

I decided to try rustlings as a first step to getting more familiar with rust. (my experience is mostly in Java/C/Python)

I ran the installer - already had the prereqs installed via homebrew on macos.

I then opened the root directory of the git clone in vscode. I installed an appropriate set of extensions in a clean profile, including rust-analyzer.

I've also run rustlings lsp (and reloaded the workspace) but I have only syntax highlighting in vscode - no warnings/errors. I do get hover help though for the functions.

The generated file was:

{"sysroot_src":"/Users/XXX/.rustup/toolchains/stable-aarch64-apple-darwin/lib/rustlib/src/rust/library","crates":[{"root_module":"exercises/clippy/clippy1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/clippy/clippy2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/clippy/clippy3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/conversions/as_ref_mut.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/conversions/from_into.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/conversions/from_str.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/conversions/try_from_into.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/conversions/using_as.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/enums/enums1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/enums/enums2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/enums/enums3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/error_handling/errors1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/error_handling/errors2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/error_handling/errors3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/error_handling/errors4.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/error_handling/errors5.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/error_handling/errors6.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/functions/functions1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/functions/functions2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/functions/functions3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/functions/functions4.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/functions/functions5.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/generics/generics1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/generics/generics2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/hashmaps/hashmaps1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/hashmaps/hashmaps2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/hashmaps/hashmaps3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/if/if1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/if/if2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/if/if3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/intro/intro1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/intro/intro2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/iterators/iterators1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/iterators/iterators2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/iterators/iterators3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/iterators/iterators4.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/iterators/iterators5.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/lifetimes/lifetimes1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/lifetimes/lifetimes2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/lifetimes/lifetimes3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/macros/macros1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/macros/macros2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/macros/macros3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/macros/macros4.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/modules/modules1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/modules/modules2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/modules/modules3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/move_semantics/move_semantics1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/move_semantics/move_semantics2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/move_semantics/move_semantics3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/move_semantics/move_semantics4.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/move_semantics/move_semantics5.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/move_semantics/move_semantics6.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/options/options1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/options/options2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/options/options3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/primitive_types/primitive_types1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/primitive_types/primitive_types2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/primitive_types/primitive_types3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/primitive_types/primitive_types4.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/primitive_types/primitive_types5.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/primitive_types/primitive_types6.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/quiz1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/quiz2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/quiz3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/smart_pointers/arc1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/smart_pointers/box1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/smart_pointers/cow1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/smart_pointers/rc1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/strings/strings1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/strings/strings2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/strings/strings3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/strings/strings4.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/structs/structs1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/structs/structs2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/structs/structs3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/tests/tests1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/tests/tests2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/tests/tests3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/tests/tests4.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/threads/threads1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/threads/threads2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/threads/threads3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/traits/traits1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/traits/traits2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/traits/traits3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/traits/traits4.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/traits/traits5.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/variables/variables1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/variables/variables2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/variables/variables3.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/variables/variables4.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/variables/variables5.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/variables/variables6.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/vecs/vecs1.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]},{"root_module":"exercises/vecs/vecs2.rs","edition":"2021","deps":[],"cfg":["test"]}]}

I also tried adding

{
    "rust-analyzer.linkedProjects": [
        "./Cargo.toml"
    ]
}

which felt unnecessary from the docs - though it made no difference.

Any tips on getting the extension to work

[planetf1]

I should add that rustlings itself is working well - it's a nice approach. It's just that moving forward I'd use vscode, and that ide support is a big timesaver over just cli usage.

[planetf1]

It appears as if errors are shown if I introduce them into quiz1.rs etc at the top level of the project, but not within the exercises (ie exercises/variables/variables2.rs) so I presume it's something related to the project setup for the plugin

[planetf1]

I was able to get some syntax assist by adding this into cargo.toml (found from some google searches)

[lib]
name = "rustlingslib"
path = "exercises/mod.rs"

which I guess pulls the exercises into the project so RA finds it.

Even with this, though some errors, such as adding a random character in the file, show up as errors (squiggles & problems), others do not -- the E0283 for example in variables2.ts. I see no red squiggles in vscode, and nothing under PROBLEMS

[drmason13]

I had a look at the rustlings repo and it looks like rust analyzer is not going to understand the exercises (but keep reading, there's hope!)

They aren't part of a rust project, so rust analyser doesn't "see" them. That explains why some errors don't get detected.

I suspect the errors that do get detected are for code in src/ folder of the git repo. This is the rustlings binary project code and rust analyser should understand it.

It appears that there is an lsp command. This writes a JSON file that rust analyser will use to "see" all the exercises. (I had a peek at the code in src/main.rs)

It is documented in the readme but, it's pretty far down. I'm not surprised you didn't find it

rustlings lsp

That should sort everything.

Good luck and make another post if you have a question about an exercise.

[drmason13]

For the curious rust-project.json is discussed in the rust analyzer manual here.

It is needed when your rust code isn't managed by cargo. But cargo almost always will be used for a "real" project.

[planetf1]

Thanks @drmason13 - However I did indeed find rustlings lsp and ran it (in the first post ). Unfortunately it didn't help. I'll need to take a read through a) the source code of what that does and b) learn more about cargo.

Specifically it will be interesting to see if this is 'just me' - something about my environment (I may try in a clean ide elsewhere for example) or common. Obviously if the latter I'll raise an issue/figure out PR..!

I think having the IDE work properly with rustlings is important.

[drmason13]

Ah my bad, it seemed like a good solution at the time!

[fdiebold]

rustlings lsp should make most features like semantic highlighting, inlay hints for types, completion, autoimport and other code assists work, and also rust-analyzer's own diagnostics (error squiggles) which cover e.g. syntax errors and some simple type errors. It won't make rust-analyzer able to run the actual compiler against the exercises though, which means you still don't get the more complex compiler errors, you have to run the rustlings program in a terminal for that.

It might be good to explain that in the rustlings readme to set correct expectations