a helper tool for initializing defaultViewers in labconfig/

[parmentelat]

with nb7 about to be released, the default versions of jupyterlab(4)/notebook(7) will both require to configure defaultViewers if one wants, for example, to easily open text notebooks from the web app, or to be able to open notebooks through a URL (these settings were not required with nbclassic)

here's a typical setup (this one is right for my use case, but more languages could be added of course)

cat ~/.jupyter/labconfig/default_setting_overrides.json
{
    "@jupyterlab/docmanager-extension:plugin": {
        "defaultViewers": {
            "python": "Jupytext Notebook",
            "markdown": "Jupytext Notebook"
        }
    }
}

So I've been thinking that providing a simple way to safely implement these settings would be helpful, especially for large classes of beginner students

Here's a POC for that

Of course it would need to be integrated more nicely, and could be exposed as either

• jupytext init
• jupytext --init

or any variant, to be discussed...

the first form would resonate with conda init bash but it might have ambiguous meaning (and/or be harder to implement) what if a file is named init ? on the other hand, there's a precedent with jupyter notebook mynotebook and jupyter notebook list that behave differently - so in this instance too, what if your notebook is called list ?

anyways, just throwing the idea in the air, I just feel like having this could save a lot of frustration

[parmentelat]

browsing the doc, I come across this section https://jupytext.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html#jupytext-s-contents-manager that mentions .jupyter/jupyter_notebook_config.py which is the nbclassic side of configuring for jupytext

this could be taken care of in jupytext init as well, and would simplify the doc as a side effect

[mwouts]

Hey @parmentelat , thank you for suggesting this.

This reminds me of some config file that are installed by the pip package, and activate the extensions bundled with Jupytext: https://github.com/mwouts/jupytext/blob/main/setup.py#L82-L92

Obviously, making text files open as notebook with a single click for every Jupytext user would be quite a strong move and might not be appropriate, but maybe there's something interesting in that approach? I.e. do you think the setting could be an extension that the users could activate by typing something like jupyter labextension activate open-text-files-as-notebooks?

[parmentelat]

let me clarify I am not suggesting that this be done at install-time More like exposing a tool that can be triggered explicitly to perform this configuration:

• more simply than having to juggle with a 5-lines bash snippet, that in addition won't work on a bare windows install
• and more safely too (create the folder if missing, add settings if some are already present, etc..)

so I was more hoping that my installation instructions could just read

pip install jupytext
jupytext init

or something along these lines

[parmentelat]

@mwouts let me ping you on this one I'd have some cycles in the coming weeks, and would ideally like to have this shipped when my students show up in early september; I can take care of mostly everything, but would love to reach a consensus on the proposed approach so your inputs on a potential way forward would be great :)

[parmentelat]

hi @mwouts ping again

I'm not sure that I fully understand your suggestion about https://github.com/mwouts/jupytext/blob/main/setup.py#L82-L92

again I was just proposing that, instead of instructing my newcomer students to mess with the file (i.e. creating the folder(s), open an editor, screw up the json syntax, ...) instead of that they would be able to implement this settings using a simple jupytext init much like / inspired by e.g. conda init bash

this would be an explicit choice indeed

I do not know enough about the jupyter labextension subcommand, plus, my main objective really is to keep it as simple as possible, hence my proposal

[parmentelat]

I went ahead and the latest tip of that branch has support for

• jupytext --init
  defines the defaultViewer for all 7 languages : "python", "markdown", "myst", "r-markdown", "quarto", "julia", "r",

• jupytext --init markdown python same but on a specific subset of langs

if you first use jupytext --init, running it again with a smaller set of languages, it will not remove any setting; generally speaking in this version it never removes a setting

[parmentelat]

@mwouts you are loudly silent on this thread, is there any chance I can get you to accept this PR ?

believe me it would really really improve many teachers' life :)

[mwouts]

Thank you @parmentelat for this PR, I agree that it addresses the need of configuring the default viewers in Jupyter Lab/Notebook.

I am sorry I have not answered earlier, this was because 1. your other PR seemed more urgent and 2. I have not taken/had time to test this myself yet, and maybe also 3. until now the configuration was done through jupyter commands, not jupytext, so I do have a little hesitation to add this to the jupytext command (but maybe a) it does make sense or b) we could create another command especially for this, what do you think?)

[parmentelat]

Hi @mwouts

in my use case, the feature addresses newbie L3 students, and during the very first course we have them install the software stack that they will use throughout the year to read the course notebooks so my major objective here is simplicity; I need something easy to remember and to type

I have seen your proposal that was about using instead jupyter labextension activate open-text-files-as-notebooks honestly, this imho is not right, it is too cumbersome even for me to remember that... in addition, in practical terms, it feels like using a jupyter command is going to take a lot of discussions, and thus delay; and ideally I'd need this in a 3-week time when the students turn up !

plus, because we already have miniconda as part of the stack, my first inclination had been to propose jupytext init just like we have also conda init bash

the current code actually implements jupytext --init because it the simplest road to a running code, and plus it allowed to specify a list of languages on the command line, so it looked OK, but this can be changed as per your feedback

now if you'd rather that we define a new command instead, like, I don't know jupytext-as-default-viewer, or something to that effect, that would work for me too

so to summarize, anything that can be made available for sept. 4 and that's reasonably easy to remember would work for me :-)

[mwouts]

Hey @parmentelat, no worries, I pretty am sure we will be able to meet the deadline on this one!

What would you think about a new command line tool that we would call like this:

jupytext-config set-default-viewer python markdown

The idea is that later on maybe jupytext-config would be able to show/edit the Jupyter/Jupytext configuration

[parmentelat]

Hey @mwouts That sounds fine to me How would you like to proceed ? I can update the PR to implement this if you wish

[mwouts]

Hey @parmentelat , thanks for offering this. I think I will need to experiment a bit with this on my end too, so maybe I give it a try this weekend and I make a PR on top of yours ?

[parmentelat]

Hi @mwouts I went ahead and came up with a draft that would do what we have agreed upon I have added another subcommand while I was at it: jupytext-config list of course this is just a suggestion and please change or rewrite as you see fit

[parmentelat]

hi @mwouts thanks for reviewing this first draft; you're making a lot of sense please allow for a few days and I will take all this into account I'm just curious about the failing actions; I guess the CI/test-pip thing can be safely ignored for both 3.12-dev and 3.13-dev, but what about (3.11, ~=4.0) ? is that something that I need to worry about ?

[parmentelat]

I made all the code changes

as far as the doc, I have a question about the With a right click section, that currently suggests to use the Notebook entry in the Open with submenu but my understanding was that it should rather be the Jupytext Notebook entry instead, no ?

[parmentelat]

oops, sorry, I was trying to rename in my repo the branch that this PR is built against, it did not work as I expected...

[parmentelat]

so, trying to clarify the behaviour of the 2 entries in the Open With submenu:

both Notebook and Jupytext Notebook behave the same, i.e. each will result in opening a new tab with the contents opened as a notebook

and given that the default viewer with jupytext-config set-default-viewer is Jupytext Notebook, it feels better if the docs to advise to use the Jupytext Notebook viewer

I mean, if I do Open with → Notebook and then later I double click on the same notebook, I will get 2 tabs with the same contents...

what do you think @mwouts ?

[mwouts]

Hey @parmentelat , thank you for the changes!

I'm just curious about the failing actions; I guess the CI/test-pip thing can be safely ignored for both 3.12-dev and 3.13-dev, but what about (3.11, ~=4.0) ? is that something that I need to worry about ?

These are three experimental builds, they are allowed to fail. Version 4.0 of markdown-it-py does not exist yet, the build is there to start testing it when it will lands (but, since it is allowed to fail maybe it's not adding much :confused:)

I have a question about the With a right click section, that currently suggests to use the Notebook entry in the Open with submenu, but my understanding was that it should rather be the Jupytext Notebook entry instead, no ?

Well historically we only had a Notebook entry. We had to add Jupytext Notebook to the list of editors to allow opening .md links as notebooks if I remember correctly. As you report both behave the same - in the end they both open the document with the notebook editor. If we can continue to use Notebook I have a preference for that as for me the existence of the Jupytext Notebook entry in that menu is just a undesired consequence of allowing to use the notebook editor for text files.

[parmentelat]

Hi @mwouts I'm all done with this PR I believe:

• I have added a jupytext-config unset-default-viewer subcommand for consistency
• I have lightly rewritten docs/text-notebooks.md as per your suggestions

please review the latter and let me know of anything that needs further trimming

[parmentelat]

last minute: I came across another section in the doc that needed a tweak about the classic notebook

[mwouts]

Hey @parmentelat , this looks great! Let me know when you want me to release this.

[parmentelat]

Well as far as I am concerned this is good to fly :) Just please be aware that I have referred to this version as 1.15.1 in the docs:

$ grep 1\.15\.1 docs/*.md
docs/install.md:*Note*: as of this writing (version 1.15.1) this section **applies only to
docs/text-notebooks.md:Since version 1.15.1, `jupytext` comes with a helper command that allows you to

so you may want to tweak these files if you want to issue this under another version number

[mwouts]

Awesome ! Yes 1.15.1 is the version number that I am planning to use for the new release.