Had a bad day setting up Microsoft VS Code Python Extension to Lint PythonFu scripts properly .

So thought I would document the process for posterity.

Symptom...
pylint import-error: Unable to import 'gimpfu'
This meant there were loads of other warning about pdb, gimp, etc.

Software...

• Windows: v10.0.18362
• Python 2.7.18 (Optional - could also use version installed in Gimp folder)
• Pylint v1.9.5
• VS Code: v1.47.2
• Python extension for Visual Studio Code: v2020.7.96456 (ms-python.python)

Solution...

• Install pylint to Python2: C:\Python27\python.exe -m pip install pylint
• Open your plug-ins folder with VS Code (...\AppData\Roaming\GIMP\2.10\plug-ins\)
• Add the following to ${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/settings.json
  
  Code: Select all

  "python.pythonPath": "c:/Python27/python.exe",
"python.envFile": "${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/.env"
• Add the following to ${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/.env
  
  Code: Select all

  PYTHONPATH="C:/Program Files/GIMP 2/lib/gimp/2.0/python"
• Exit VSCode

Some comments & tips...

• I've chosen to implement this in the workspace folder so it doesn't affect my Python3 apps, but you could also do it in your VS Code user (global) settings.
• Note the forward slashes even though I'm on Windows. Alternative is to use escaped back-slashes... \\
• VS Code will automatically look for the .env file in ${workspaceFolder}... but this is NOT the .vscode folder (I wanted it out of the way, so I explicitly set path under .vscode).
• python.pythonPath pointing to Python2 location is required so the Linter does it's stuff to Python2 standards.
• PYTHONPATH tells the Linter where to look for modules for import - gimpfu in our case.
• If you don't have stand-alone Python 2.x installed, you can change the Python27 paths above to the python.exe in C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\bin (Only quickly tested this though).
• You can add # pylint: disable=unused-wildcard-import to the top of your plugin script to hide some warnings related to the from gimpfu import * line.
• I was hoping the VS Code "python.autoComplete.extraPaths" pointing to gimpfu.py would allow auto-complete for pdb functions etc, but it only seemed to recognise the a few enums etc. Might look at adding Gimp support to "typeshed" on GitHub next!
• I use WinPDB, so have not looked at how to attach VS Code debugger to Pythonfu plugin.

If anyone knows an easy way to get VS Code auto-complete working for gimp/pdb or how to debug plugins via VS Code - please document it here!

Cheers.