[Python-Dev] [isssue 2001] Pydoc enhancement patch questions

[Ron Adam]

On 07/24/2010 04:29 PM, Alexander Belopolsky wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 3:34 PM, Ron Adam<rrr at ronadam.com>  wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 07/24/2010 05:37 AM, Nick Coghlan wrote:
> ..
>>> - leave the "-g" option alone (including the tk gui), but make sure
>>> other options still work when tk is unavailable
>>
>> I was hoping it would be ok to drop the tk gui in pydoc.  Keeping it
>> requires rewriting the tk gui interface to use the new server because the
>> server code and the gui code are not cleanly separate.  I can do this if
>> it's really wanted. (Nothing against tKinter, I use it for my own gui apps.)
>>
> FWIW, I am +1 on dropping tkinter interface.  Tkinter window looks
> foreign next to browser and server-side GUI that opens a new client
> window with each search topic does not strike me as most usable
> design.  Furthermore, I just tried to use it on my OSX laptop and it
> crashed after I searched for pydoc and clicked on the first entry.
> (Another issue is that search window pops under the terminal window.)
> I think Tkinter interface to pydoc may make sense in IDLE, but not in
> the main pydoc GUI.  If the equivalent functionality is available in
> the browser (preferably in the style familiar to docs.python.org
> users, I don't see why we need to keep old GUI and hide new behind a
> new option.

The information returned by the new find field in the browser navigation 
bar is the same as that returned to the tk gui window. Each item is a link 
followed by the synopsis.  The style is similar to the other pydoc pages 
with the navigation bar at the top that makes it easy to do other searches 
or return to an index page.

There should be a link on each pydoc module page to the online docs.  I 
have to look at how pydoc decides to include that or not.  The patched 
version does not include it.  I don't think I did anything to remove that, 
but will check and add it back if I did.

Both python 2.6 and 3.1 versions of pydoc currently adds a "Module Docs" 
link to module pages to the 2.7 online docs.  (A bug?, I'm using Ubuntu)

Having the search results in the browser instead of the tk gui allows you 
to print the results and you can also right click on the links and choose 
open in a new tab or window.   (Firefox Browser)

Ron