[IPython-dev] Detecting GUI mainloop running in IPython

[Gael Varoquaux]

With the 0.11 series of IPython, I no longer understand how the
interaction with the GUI mainloop occurs:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
$ ipython -wthread

In [1]: import wx

In [2]: wx.App.IsMainLoopRunning()
Out[2]: False
----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------
$ ipython -q4thread
In [1]: from PyQt4 import QtGui

In [2]: type(QtGui.QApplication.instance())
Out[2]: <type 'NoneType'>
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Is there a mainloop running or not? If not, I really don't understand how
I get interactivity with GUI windows and I'd love an explaination or a
pointer.

The problem with this behavior is that there is a lot of code that checks
if a mainloop is running, and if not starts one. This code thus blocks
IPython and more or less defeats the purpose of the GUI options.

Cheers,

Gaël