[IPython-user] help with embedding

Tue Jul 8 10:31:12 CDT 2008

Hi,

I am starting to use ipython as a replacement for matlab.  I have been
trying to use IPShellEmbed to create a "keyboard-like" command for
ipython and have some problems/questions.  keyboard is a command in
matlab that you stick in a script that allows you to drop out of the
script and into a manual entry state where you have access to the same
namespace as the script and can look at and modify variables.  As I
understand, this is the purpose of IPShellEmbed (except for modifying
variables, which I don't think it allows - correct me if I am wrong).
However, I can't seem to get it quite right.  I think I have also found
some bugs, or at the very least some very strange behavior.

First I generate an IPShellEmbed instance:

from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
keyboard = IPShellEmbed(['-pi1','keyboard <\\#>'], \
	'Entering Keyboard','Exiting Keyboard')

Then I use it with keyboard().  This basically works, but I have the
following questions:

1) Calling keyboard() from ipython itself seems to drop me into a new
namespace that doesn't know anything about the variables in the original
ipython namespace.  I can fix this by setting the local or global
namespace to _ip.user_ns.  Can someone explain why this is necessary?
Naively, I would expect to end up in the ipython namespace just as
calling keyboard() from a script does.    

2) The restriction to not being able to modify variables is a bit of a
pain.  In matlab, I often use keyboard to give information to my
scripts.  Is there a way around this?  Or is there another approach I
should be using?

3) When I create the shell instance, it spits out information about the
logging state, as if I had just started ipython.  This makes some sense
as it is like starting a new ipython, but this has a strange interaction
with the ipython history.  All the commands I enter end up in
ipython_log.py, but when I create the instance from inside ipython
itself, it has the effect of making ipython "forget" about previous
commands.  If I use the up arrow key to flip through previous commands,
all commands from the current session are absent, including the command
I used to create the embedded ipython instance.  Is this normal?

3) Once I finish in the embedded shell, I enter %quit and leave it.
After this, attempting to reuse the keyboard() immediately exits the
shell.  Presumably it is dead.  Is there a way to make an embedded shell
that stays alive or to bring back to life a dead shell?  Or do I need to
create a new instance each time?

4) If I create, use and exit an embedded shell, either from ipython
itself or in a script I execute with %run (and possibly other ways), and
then I try to use the %quit magic command to exit ipython, it does
nothing.  It asks if I want to leave, I enter y, hit enter and then it
just puts me right back in ipython.  The only way I have found to exit
is with ctrl-d.  This seems like a bug to me.  Am I correct?

Thanks,
David

P.S.  Below is a recent ipython session indicating some of the issues
discussed above.

--------------------------

$ ipython 
Activating auto-logging. Current session state plus future input saved.
Filename       : ipython_log.py
Mode           : append
Output logging : False
Raw input log  : False
Timestamping   : False
State          : active
Python 2.5.2 (r252:60911, Apr 21 2008, 11:12:42) 
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

IPython 0.8.1 -- An enhanced Interactive Python.
?       -> Introduction to IPython's features.
%magic  -> Information about IPython's 'magic' % functions.
help    -> Python's own help system.
object? -> Details about 'object'. ?object also works, ?? prints more.

In [1]: from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed

In [2]: 

In [2]: keyboard = IPShellEmbed(['-pi1','keyboard <\\#>'],'Entering
Keyoard','Exiting Keyboard')
Activating auto-logging. Current session state plus future input saved.
Filename       : ipython_log.py
Mode           : append
Output logging : False
Raw input log  : False
Timestamping   : False
State          : active

In [3]: a=1

In [4]: a
Out[4]: 1

In [5]: keyboard()
Entering Keyoard

keyboard <1>a
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
<type 'exceptions.IndexError'>            Traceback (most recent call
last)

/home/dmk/docs/python/adult_movement/<ipython console> in <module>()

/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/IPython/Prompts.py in __call__(self,
arg)
    505 
    506             # do not print output if input ends in ';'
--> 507             if self.input_hist[self.prompt_count].endswith(';
\n'):
    508                 return
    509             # don't use print, puts an extra space

<type 'exceptions.IndexError'>: list index out of range

keyboard <7>b=1

keyboard <8>%quit
Do you really want to exit ([y]/n)? y
Exiting Keyboard

In [6]: b
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
<type 'exceptions.NameError'>             Traceback (most recent call
last)

/home/dmk/docs/python/adult_movement/<ipython console> in <module>()

<type 'exceptions.NameError'>: name 'b' is not defined

In [10]: a
Out[10]: 1

In [11]: keyboard()
Exiting Keyboard

In [12]: %quit
Do you really want to exit ([y]/n)? y

In [13]: %quit
Do you really want to exit ([y]/n)? y

In [14]: %quit
Do you really want to exit ([y]/n)? y

In [15]: %quit
Do you really want to exit ([y]/n)? y

In [16]: 
Do you really want to exit ([y]/n)? y
$

-- 
**********************************
David M. Kaplan
Charge de Recherche 1
Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement
Centre de Recherche Halieutique Mediterraneenne et Tropicale
av. Jean Monnet
B.P. 171
34203 Sete cedex
France

Phone: +33 (0)4 99 57 32 27
Fax: +33 (0)4 99 57 32 95
http://www.ur097.ird.fr/team/dkaplan/index.html
**********************************