Looking at Errors through a Lens
The Error Lens Extension is NOT included in the Visual Studio Code for IBM i installer package - IBM i Development Pack
The Error Lens Extension can be manually installed from here
The Error Lens extension is like turning up the contrast knob on your code diagnostics, it makes errors, warnings, and hints pop visually so you can squash bugs faster and with less squinting.
Error Lens enhances the visibility of diagnostics in VS Code by:
- Highlighting entire lines that contain errors, warnings, or info messages
- Appending inline messages directly to the end of affected lines
- Displaying icons in the gutter and optionally in the status bar
- Customizing severity levels with emojis, colors, and templates
- 15+ commands to toggle visibility, copy messages, exclude problems, and jump to issues
- 70+ settings for customizing font, color, alignment, margin, and message templates
- Supports CodeLens, hover tooltips, and status bar integration
- Works with ESLint, Pylance, and other linters for rule-specific feedback
For IBM i devs juggling RPGLE, CL, COBOL, and SQL:
- It makes diagnostics impossible to miss, even in legacy code
- Speeds up debugging and refactoring by surfacing issues inline
- Plays nicely with other extensions like vscode-rpgle, CLLE, and Db2 for i
It’s like giving your code a highlighter pen and a megaphone.
