Most of our wecodemakecode.com posts share a link to the Makecode programs that were described in the post. To use the code, follow these steps on a Windows 10 PC.

Skip to Step 5 — if you are an experienced Code Connection user. In this case, in another 30 second you will have opened your first shared program.

Skip to Step 4 — if you know how to open and link Code Connection to Minecraft.

Skip to Step 3 — if you have already installed Minecraft and Code Connection.

Step 1. Install Minecraft and Code Connection from the Microsoft Store

Step 2. Start Minecraft and Code Connection

Step 3. Link Code Connection to Minecraft

Copy the link from Code Connection by

Click the   button, which copies the link to the Windows clipboard.

Start a game in Minecraft and choose a world.

Open or create a world and open a chat window. Paste the link copied from about into the chat window. I use the keyboard combination control-v to do the paste.

Hit Enter on the keyboard or click , which is to the right in the chat window. The message “Connection established to server: …” should be shown on the Minecraft screen. If instead, an error message is shown, a common reason is the Internet connection is not available or too slow.

After the connection is established, the Code Connection screen will show the  languages in which programs can be written to control Minecraft objects, for example, MakeCode or Scratch.

Click the MakeCode button. The MakeCode window will then become that shown below on the left. I like to position my Code Connection window to the left and my Minecraft windows on the right.

I sometimes think of the Code Connection window as my MakeCode window because once I open or create a program, it is MakeCode I see, such as shown below after clicking the New Project button.

Step 4. Load a MakeCode Program

In the Code Connection screen shown above, there are five ways to access a MakeCode program:

1. New Project, by clicking  .
2. By clicking one of buttons to the right of New Project, which, in my case, is one of the projects that I had previously developed, for example, . Of course, your Code Connection will show your prior projects.
3. By clicking one of the buttons below New Project, which are Microsoft-developed example MakeCode programs, such as, .
4. By clicking the Import button  , which is on the upper right just below the Code Connection banner, two additional sources of programs are revealed.
   • Import a previously saved program from your computer.
   • Import a shared program from Code Connection using a URL that was supplied to you by the person sharing the program, for example, one a friend or teacher might have emailed you or one suppled in a We Code MakeCode blog post.

Step 5. Import a Shared MakeCode Program

Click the Import URL button  , which is on the right, to open the window shown below.

Now all that is needed is the URL of the specific project you are wanting to import. The URL must have been provide to you by the person sharing the program. For Example, In We Code MakeCode blog posts, we provide the needed URL in the “Get the Code” section at the end of the post. Paste the URL supplied for the program you want to use  in the space under the text “Copy the URL …”

Click the Go ahead! button 

The next window you will see will be is the MakeCode window with the code downloaded from the URL. At this point, you can treat it like any other code, e.g., run it, save it locally, modify it, publish your changes or whatever else your heat desires.

Methods of Using the Code URL that Mostly Don’t Work

We have tested several other methods of downloading the code using the URL. We have pasted it into browser or click the link. Typically, this will open a browser, e.g., Edge, Safari. Interestingly, Safari on iPad opened the code allowing a view of both the Block and JavaScript versions of the code. There was a run button, but it did exactly nothing. Edge on a high-end Surface Studio with very fast download Internet connection,  opened smaller programs but always hung up on larger ones. On those that opened, I have not yet figured out how to get the opened new Code-Connection window linked to Minecraft. Of course, I would prefer clicking a shared URL put the code in my usual Code Connection window, but I have not yet accomplished that.

I recommend you stick to the method described above of pasting the URL into the Code Connection import window.