AykutSarac/jsoncrack.com · info

Please select some text first!

Error message

Please select some text first!

What it means

When the VS Code command jsoncrack-vscode.start.selected runs, it checks editor.selection.isEmpty; if nothing is selected it shows this informational message and returns early. This is a deliberate input guard, not an exception — the command requires a text selection to populate the webview.

Source

Thrown at apps/vscode/ext-src/extension.ts:31

  context.subscriptions.push(
    vscode.commands.registerCommand("jsoncrack-vscode.start", () =>
      createWebviewForActiveEditor(context)
    ),
    vscode.commands.registerCommand("jsoncrack-vscode.start.specific", (content?: string) =>
      createWebviewForContent(context, content)
    ),
    vscode.commands.registerCommand("jsoncrack-vscode.start.selected", () =>
      createWebviewForSelectedText(context)
    )
  );
}

// create webview for selected text
async function createWebviewForSelectedText(context: vscode.ExtensionContext) {
  const editor = vscode.window.activeTextEditor;

  if (editor && editor.selection.isEmpty) {
    vscode.window.showInformationMessage("Please select some text first!");
    return;
  }

  const selectedText = editor?.document.getText(editor.selection);

  // Create the webview panel and send the selected JSON content
  const panel = createWebviewPanel(context, getPanelTitle(editor?.document));
  panel.webview.postMessage({
    json: selectedText,
  });

  const onReceiveMessage = panel.webview.onDidReceiveMessage(e => {
    if (e === "ready") {
      panel.webview.postMessage({
        json: selectedText,
      });
    }
  });

View on GitHub (pinned to 3c9af69e23)

Solutions

1. Select text (or Select All) first, then re-run the command.
2. If whole-document behavior is desired, fall back to editor.document.getText() when the selection is empty (as the start command does).
3. Point the user toward the non-selected command via the message.
4. Rebind the keybinding if it is triggered accidentally.

Example fix

// before
if (editor && editor.selection.isEmpty) {
  vscode.window.showInformationMessage("Please select some text first!");
  return;
}
const selectedText = editor?.document.getText(editor.selection);

// after
let selectedText: string | undefined;
if (!editor || editor.selection.isEmpty) {
  selectedText = editor?.document.getText();
  if (!selectedText) {
    vscode.window.showInformationMessage("Please select some text first!");
    return;
  }
} else {
  selectedText = editor.document.getText(editor.selection);
}

function hasSelection(editor?: vscode.TextEditor): editor is vscode.TextEditor {
  return !!editor && !editor.selection.isEmpty;
}

function hasSelection(editor?: vscode.TextEditor): editor is vscode.TextEditor {
  return !!editor && !editor.selection.isEmpty;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking the 'Open Selected' command via palette or keybinding with the cursor at a single position (no range selected); running the command in an editor with no active text; empty new untitled file.

Common situations: User expects the command to auto-select the whole document; command bound to a key hit accidentally; empty file.

Related errors

• Invalid
• Invalid Schema
• Your diagram is too large
• Invalid file
• Allowed formats are JSON, YAML, CSV, XML

AI-assisted analysis of AykutSarac/jsoncrack.com@3c9af69e23 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2bbcd7c091df4f33. Report an issue: GitHub.