PTX Preview

Browse and open OTX files inside PTX archives directly in VS Code — no manual extraction needed.

Features

• Click to preview — click any .ptx file in the Explorer and the main OTX file opens automatically as read-only
• PTX browser panel — a dedicated activity-bar panel shows the full contents of the archive as a collapsible tree
• Recursive extraction — embedded PTX archives (PTX files nested inside other PTX files) are extracted recursively and displayed with the correct directory hierarchy
• Read-only — all files opened from PTX archives are fully read-only; VS Code will never ask you to save them
• Two display modes — configurable via ptxPreview.mode:
  • direct (default) — for simple archives with a single OTX file, just open the OTX silently with no extra UI
  • panel — always show the activity-bar tree panel with the full file list
  • The panel is always used automatically when the archive contains more than one OTX file or any embedded PTX archives

Usage

1. Open a folder containing .ptx files in VS Code
2. Click a .ptx file in the Explorer — the main OTX opens in the editor automatically
3. If the archive is complex (multiple OTX files or nested PTX), the PTX Preview icon appears in the activity bar showing the full tree
4. Click any file in the tree to open it read-only in the editor

You can also right-click any .ptx file → Show PTX Preview to force the panel open.

Settings

PTX / OTX Format

PTX (Package Transfer eXchange) is a ZIP-based archive format used in automotive diagnostics (OTX — Open Test sequence eXchange, ISO 13209). This extension lets you inspect PTX packages without leaving VS Code.

Requirements

VS Code 1.80 or later.