[issue43236] Windows IDLE taskbar icon jump list fails to open recent files

[Eryk Sun]

Eryk Sun <eryksun at gmail.com> added the comment:

The IDLE shortcut that's installed by the development distribution runs `"<installation_path>\pythonw.exe" "<installation_path>\Lib\idlelib\idle.pyw"`. Thus opening a file that's pinned to the jumplist will execute it as a script via "pythonw.exe". 

To integrate better with the Windows shell, IDLE would need its own executable. Moreover, AFAICT, it isn't enough to use a launcher that executes "pythonw.exe", such as a distlib launcher installed by pip for an entrypoint script. Using a launcher disassociates the executable that the shell runs to open a file from the application that creates the UI. It needs to be a simple C application that hard codes executing the idlelib module, similar in spirit to what's implemented in PC/python_uwp.cpp for the store app. I created a test app that implements this, and I can confirm that pinned and recent files in the jumplist open as desired in IDLE.

The development distribution would install the new binary (e.g. "idle3.10.exe") in the installation directory beside the DLL. That's the simplest way to link with the interpreter DLL and find the standard library. The IDLE shortcut target and "Edit with IDLE" command would be updated to use the new executable instead of "pythonw.exe".

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nosy: +eryksun

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<https://bugs.python.org/issue43236>
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