vscode-extension-mardown-image-paste (currently macos only)

A command to read the image from system clipborad, optimize the size, upload to CDN, and return you the CDN link. Support jpg, png, pdf....

Chinese blog introducing this extension: http://www.njleonzhang.com/2018/08/14/vs-code-paste-image.html

How?

• The extension spawn a electron process for read image in clipborad via electron api clipboard.readImage.
• extension process communicate with electron process via node-ipc.
• send the image to tinyPng for size optimization.
• send the image to CDN for hosting

Installation

• Install this extension. (search by name markdown image paste in vscode extension store)

• Install the electron ipc server app.

    npm install -g electron-image-ipc-server
  

  You can start the electron ipc server manually by command eiis

Supported CDN Comparison

CDN	Advantage	Disadvantage
qiniu	totally 10G free storage; monthly 1 million times free viewing; fast net access globally; big and stable company in China	need filing domain approved by China goverment for accessibility 😂
github	based on github, little limitation if you follow the terms of service and github pages limits; great and stable company	access is slow in China
cloudinary	totally 10G free storage for at most 300K items, 20 GB free monthly net viewing bandwith, fast net access globally	a small and unstable company? (not sure)
sm.ms	No limitation, fast access in China	no account, and you can not manage your picture, private projects
s3	Pay only for what you use. There is no minimum fee, fast access in global	need AWS account

This extension is made originally for writing my personal techblog, which means the storage and network access cost to the CDN should be small. You should not use this extension to upload pitures with mass access to github, which may exceed github pages limits.

Extension Settings

Setting	type	default	desc
markdownPasteImage.cdnType	string	"github"	cdn type, currently support qiniu, github, cloudinary, sm
markdownPasteImage.tinyPngKey	string	''	the tiny png developer key, refer to the doc, if not provided, the optimization is skipped
markdownPasteImage.qiniuBucket	string	""	qiniu cdn's bucket name
markdownPasteImage.qiniuAK	string	""	qiniu cdn's access key
markdownPasteImage.qiniuSK	string	""	qiniu cdn's security key
markdownPasteImage.qiniuPreUrl	string	""	qiniu cdn's pre-url
markdownPasteImage.githubAccessToken	string	""	the github access token, created in github token management page with all privileges of repo scope
markdownPasteImage.githubRepo	string	""	github repository to store your images, example: njleonzhang/image-bed; Formart: [username]/[repo name], for example: njleonzhang/image-bed
markdownPasteImage.githubAssetFolder	string	""	asset folder of your image bed github repository
markdownPasteImage.proxy	string	""	proxy for github api, for exmaple: http://127.0.0.1:1087
markdownPasteImage.githubTimeOut	number	10000	github api is slow in china, here you can set timeout according to you network. 10s as default
markdownPasteImage.cloudinaryName	string	""	cloud name of cloudinary
markdownPasteImage.cloudinaryApiKey	string	""	api key of cloudinary
markdownPasteImage.cloudinarySecret	string	""	api secret of cloudinary
markdownPasteImage.cloudinaryFolder	string	""	folder of cloudinary you want to put your image in
markdownPasteImage.s3Bucket	string	""	s3 bucket name, like "com.xxx.xxx"
markdownPasteImage.s3PreUrl	string	""	s3 domain name, like "img.xxx.xxx"

when you select s3, you must config s3 Credentials in your computer, follow this link step: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-javascript/v2/developer-guide/getting-started-nodejs.html

if cdn is not configured correctly or the editing file is not a markdown file, the picture will be paste to current folder of the editing file.

if you use github as cdn in China, I suggest you config a proxy.

command	name	desc
extension.markdownPasteImage	Paste Image	paste the clipbord image to cdn
extension.markdownPasteImage.reInit	Paste Image: Reinit	restart and reconnect to electron app which act as ipc server

PR welcomed

• support more CDN, such as Amozon S3 and Azure storage, refer to current code

Development

Clone the porject, and open it in vscode. press F5 to start debug mode after npm install the dependency. At last, run npm run package to package a extension vsix file, and install it to your vscode for test.

Limitations

1. need to install a extra node module, electron-image-ipc-server. if we bundle the electron in the extension, the extension size will be more than 70M. electron-image-ipc-server is started as a long live electron process by the extension.
2. can not support gif due to the limitation of electron api