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taleinat opened this issue Aug 5, 2019 · 5 comments
Open

IDLE: Show help(object) output in a text viewer #81949

taleinat opened this issue Aug 5, 2019 · 5 comments
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topic-IDLE type-feature A feature request or enhancement

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@taleinat
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taleinat commented Aug 5, 2019

BPO 37768
Nosy @rhettinger, @terryjreedy, @taleinat
PRs
  • gh-81949: IDLE: show help(object) output in a text viewing window #15140
  • IDLE: make the config dialog vertically resizable #26561
    		•

    Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.

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    GitHub fields:

    assignee = 'https://github.com/taleinat'
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2019-08-05.20:56:06.543>
labels = ['3.8', 'expert-IDLE', 'type-feature', '3.7', '3.9']
title = 'IDLE: Show help(object) output in a text viewer'
updated_at = <Date 2021-06-06.15:28:24.396>
user = 'https://github.com/taleinat'

    bugs.python.org fields:

    activity = <Date 2021-06-06.15:28:24.396>
actor = 'taleinat'
assignee = 'taleinat'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['IDLE']
creation = <Date 2019-08-05.20:56:06.543>
creator = 'taleinat'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 37768
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 5.0
messages = ['349073', '349075', '349076', '351059', '351065']
nosy_count = 3.0
nosy_names = ['rhettinger', 'terry.reedy', 'taleinat']
pr_nums = ['15140', '26561']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'patch review'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue37768'
versions = ['Python 3.7', 'Python 3.8', 'Python 3.9']
    @taleinat
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    taleinat commented Aug 5, 2019

    Currently, IDLE just writes the entire help message into the shell.

    If auto-squeezing is enabled, then long help messages are automatically squeezed, following which the help text can be viewed in a text viewer or expanded inline. This is still not great UX.

    I propose to simply have help(object) open a text viewer with the help text. There's actually an old (2007) comment in Lib\idlelib\pyshell.py by KBK that this should be done.

    See related discussion in issue bpo-35855.

    @taleinat taleinat added 3.7 (EOL) end of life 3.8 (EOL) end of life 3.9 only security fixes labels Aug 5, 2019
    @taleinat taleinat self-assigned this Aug 5, 2019
    @taleinat taleinat added topic-IDLE type-feature A feature request or enhancement labels Aug 5, 2019
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    taleinat commented Aug 5, 2019

    See PR #59345.

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    taleinat commented Aug 5, 2019

    Raymond, I'm interested in your opinion on this.

    @terryjreedy
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    For myself, I only want this for 'large' outputs. I prefer something like the following left alone.

    >>> help('continue')
The "continue" statement
************************

    continue_stmt ::= "continue"

    "continue" may only occur syntactically nested in a "for" or "while"
    loop, but not nested in a function or class definition within that
    loop. It continues with the next cycle of the nearest enclosing loop.

    When "continue" passes control out of a "try" statement with a
    "finally" clause, that "finally" clause is executed before really
    starting the next loop cycle.

    Related help topics: while, for

    The threshhold for squeezer should be good enough. I think of this as autosqueeze + autoexpand if this if the first output after '>>>' and the statement began with 'help('. An advantage of doing it this way is that the squeezer button remains after dismissing the viewer.

    Also, I suspect that most people who disable squeezer would not like this either.

    @terryjreedy
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    I should have said, 'who disable autosqueeze'. Anyway, an option to disable help autoview will make me more comfortable adding it.

    A similar change would be to add 'Squeeze & View' to the context menu.

    @ezio-melotti ezio-melotti transferred this issue from another repository Apr 10, 2022
    @erlend-aasland erlend-aasland moved this to In Progress in IDLE Issues Jul 27, 2022
    @bedevere-bot bedevere-bot mentioned this issue Jan 7, 2023
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    @hugovk hugovk added 3.11 only security fixes 3.12 only security fixes and removed 3.9 only security fixes 3.8 (EOL) end of life 3.7 (EOL) end of life labels Apr 8, 2023
    @erlend-aasland erlend-aasland added the 3.13 bugs and security fixes label Jan 5, 2024
    @terryjreedy terryjreedy removed 3.11 only security fixes 3.12 only security fixes 3.13 bugs and security fixes labels Aug 6, 2024
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