POE2 Filter Extension

A Visual Studio Code extension for Path of Exile 2 item filter files.

Features

• Syntax highlighting for POE2 filter files
• Color previews and editing for filter colors
  • Minimap icon previews with shape indicators
• Live Filter Preview for visualizing filter rules
• Document formatting support
• Document Outline for easy navigation
• Error Detection and Validation for common mistakes
  • Rule Conflict Detection to identify redundant rules
• Sound Playback for testing alert sounds directly in the editor
• BaseType Matching Indicators for identifying broad patterns

Feature Details

Syntax Highlighting

Proper syntax highlighting for POE2 filter files to improve readability and help catch syntax errors.

Color Features

• Live color previews for SetTextColor, SetBorderColor, and SetBackgroundColor
• Integrated color picker for easy RGB/RGBA value editing

Minimap Icons

Visual preview of minimap icons directly in the editor:

• Shows colored shape indicators for all MinimapIcon combinations
• Supports all 12 shapes (Circle, Diamond, Hexagon, etc.)
• Displays in 11 different colors (Red, Green, Blue, etc.)

Live Filter Preview

Interactive preview of your filter rules showing how items will appear in-game:

To open the Live Filter Preview:

• Click the filter preview icon in the editor title bar
• Right-click the editor and select "Show Filter Preview"
• Use the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P) and search for "Show Filter Preview"
• Right-click the file in the explorer and select "Show Filter Preview"

Features:

• Real-time updates as you edit your filter
• Visual representation of all styling rules:
  • Text colors and font sizes
  • Border and background colors
  • Beam effects with proper coloring
• Interactive features:
  • Zoom and pan to explore your filter
  • Click items to jump to their corresponding rules
  • Hover tooltips showing item details
• Sample items to test your filter
• Clearly indicates hidden items
• Supports Continue rules showing combined effects

Layout

The preview displays items in a spiral pattern, starting from the center: The first rule's items appear in the center Subsequent rules spiral outward clockwise This layout helps visualize rule priority:

• Central items are caught by earlier rules
• Outer items are caught by later rules Items affected by 'Continue' rules show combined styling from multiple rules

Font Setup (Optional)

For the most authentic Path of Exile look, you can install the Fontin font family:

1. Visit exljbris Font Foundry
2. Scroll to the "Fontin" section
3. Download and install the font for your operating system:
   • Mac users: Download the Type1 version
   • Windows users: Download the TTF version
   • For OpenType support: Download the OpenType version

If Fontin is not installed, the preview will fall back to Arial, Helvetica Neue, or your system's default sans-serif font.

Preview showing NeverSink's Indepth Loot Filter v0.2.1 with Fontin SmallCaps font

Document Formatting

Automatically format your filter files to maintain consistent styling and improve readability.

Formatting rules include:

• Consistent indentation for conditions and actions
• Empty lines between block statements (Show/Hide)
• Proper comment formatting:
  • One space after # for comments
  • Preserved special comment sections (like dividers)
  • Proper inline comment alignment
• Trimmed whitespace

Document Outline

Navigate through your filter with ease using the document outline view:

• Quick navigation through filter sections and rules
• Hierarchical view of your filter structure
• Easy folding/unfolding of filter sections

Error Detection and Validation

Helps catch common mistakes and provides quick fixes:

• Syntax error highlighting
• Command validation with suggestions for misspelled commands
• Parameter validation:
  • Color values validation
  • Class names validation against game data (supports both singular/plural forms)
  • BaseType validation against actual game items
  • Suggestions for similar valid values when mistyped
• Detection of conflicting rules that may never trigger
• Quick fixes for common mistakes like command typos

Rule Conflict Detection

Identifies when filter rules may never trigger due to previous rules:

• Warns about rules that would be completely caught by earlier rules
• Shows which specific conditions from the earlier rule would catch items
• Provides quick navigation to the conflicting rule
• Handles complex condition combinations including numeric comparisons

Sound Playback

Test your filter's sound alerts directly in the editor (implemented by @RobertFrydenlund):

• CodeLens integration provides a "Play sound" button next to PlayAlertSound commands
• Supports both default and custom sound files:
  • Built-in Path of Exile alert sounds (AlertSound1-16)
  • Named sounds (ShAlchemy, ShBlessed, etc.)
  • Custom sound files via CustomAlertSound
• Cross-platform compatibility:
  • Windows: Uses PowerShell MediaPlayer
  • macOS: Uses afplay
  • Linux: Supports multiple players (paplay, aplay, mpg123, etc.)
• Volume control support (where available)
• Intelligent player selection based on system capabilities

BaseType Matching Indicators

The extension provides visual feedback for BaseType matches:

• Shows the number of potential matches before items that have multiple matches
• Hover over BaseType values to see the list of matching items
• Only displays indicators when there are multiple potential matches to reduce noise
• Helps identify broad BaseType patterns that might catch unintended items

Known Issues

• None currently reported
• language file is mostly from PoE1 filter syntax need to update to reflect PoE2 properly

Release Notes

See CHANGELOG.md for detailed release notes.

Future Ideas / TODO

• Add BaseArmour/BaseEnergyShield/BaseEvasion condition types
• Error/warnings improvements:
  • Detection of nested blocks
  • Detection of empty blocks
  • More parameter validations
• Command completion and snippets
• Hover documentation for commands
• Preview of filter results
• More Quick Fix suggestions
• Support for PoE2-specific filter syntax (once documented)

Contributing

Feel free to open issues or PRs on the GitHub repository.

Development

Building and Packaging

To create a .vsix package:

Publishing

1. Ensure you have a Personal Access Token (PAT) from the VS Code Marketplace
2. Login to vsce:
3. Build and publish:

pnpm package

pnpm vsce:publish

Credits

This extension was inspired by and builds upon ideas from:

• Neversink's FilterBlade VSCode Extension - Inspiration for filter syntax highlighting
• Color Highlight - Color previews and editing
• Advanced POE Filter - Document Outline view

Special thanks to:

• RobertFrydenlund for implementing the sound playback feature

Thanks to these projects for paving the way in POE filter development tooling.