[IPython-dev] Selecting data via http requests (event loop question?)

[Mark Voorhies]

A lot of visualization tools for genomic data can emit an http request in response to selecting a gene
(e.g., JavaTreeView and MeV (expression profiles and other matrix/dendrogram data),
        MochiView (deep sequencing and other genome position vs. scalar data),
        CytoScape (large network data -- interactive and scales better than GraphViz))

I am generating related, non-inlined plots in an IPython session and would like to update selections
on these plots in response to selections in the external programs.

A naive approach would be to listen for the HTTP requests using something based on BaseHTTPServer from the standard library;
for this case, is there a straightforward way to include the server's polling loop in the kernel's event loop
(e.g., something analogous to what's done for GUI event loops)?

Alternatively, is there a way to hook into Tornado directly, or is there a better approach that I'm not thinking of?

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Mark