[IronPython] [wingide-users] Using Wing IDE with IronPython - autocomplete for .NET objects (PI file generator)

[Michael Foord]

Hello all,

Another update to the PI file generator for .NET objects.

This one adds return type annotations for methods. It means that if you 
do something like:

    from System import Guid
    g = Guid.NewGuid()

Wing knowsthat "g" is a Guid and provides the correct auto-complete 
members for it. This is *great*. See previous instructions on how to use 
the script. It now takes quite a *long* time to generate all 90 PI 
files. :-)

There is a caveat with this currently:

Many methods return types that are defined in other namespaces 
(especially types defined in System). Because those types are in another 
PI file, Wing doesn't recognise them. I'll work out how to fix this 
("from System import *" at the top of each PI file might catch most cases).

Secondly return types can currently return things like Array[int]()  the 
indexing will cause Wing to effectively ignore the return type - so I 
should change this to Array().

Still - getting there step-by-step and this is already enormously useful 
to me. I'm currently using a truly horrible regular expression to pull 
the return type out of the docstring...

I'll write this all up into a proper 'HOWTO: IronPython in Wing' once I 
have time.

All the best,

Michael

Michael Foord wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Attached is an updated script for generating PI files to provide 
> autocomplete on standard .NET objects.
>
> It now handles all the standard .NET member types (including static 
> properties, enumeration fields, indexers, events and so on).
>
> It also recurses into sub-namespaces generating new pi-files for all 
> of them.
>
> This script is hardcoded to add references to, and then generate PI 
> files for:
>
>    System
>    System.Data
>    System.Drawing
>    System.Windows.Forms
>
> It generates 90 pi files (90 namespaces) taking up 24mb! The 
> autocomplete it provides is awesome though. :-)
>
> I had to do a fair bit of violence to the standard generate_pi.py 
> script so I *doubt* it is desirable to merge it back in. Obviously 
> very happy for this to be included with Wing if you want, or merged if 
> you think it is worth it. Is it ok for me to offer this for download 
> from my site? If I make further changes I will email this list.
>
> The big thing to add is the return type for methods.
>
> Is it possible to specify return types for properties? (Currently any 
> attribute without an obvious parallel in Python I have turned into a 
> property in the PI files).
>
> The only real caveat with the current script (that I am aware of - bug 
> reports and contributions welcomed) is that None is a common 
> enumeration field member. This is invalid syntax in Python, so I 
> rename these to None_.
>
> There are quite a few minor changes sprinkled through the code - plus 
> the __main__ part of the script is very different. I have tried to 
> mark changes with a # CHANGE: comment, but it should be relatively 
> amenable to diffing anyway...
>
> For reference I was using IronPython 2.0.1, with .NET 3.5 installed 
> and Wing 3.2beta 1.
>
> All the best,
>
> Michael Foord
>
> Michael Foord wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I've created a modified version of the 'generate_pi.py' which 
>> generates the interface files for .NET libraries. It is attached.
>>
>> At the moment it generates PI files for the following assemblies / 
>> namespaces (hardwired at the bottom of the code):
>>
>>    System
>>    System.Data
>>    System.Drawing
>>    System.Windows.Forms
>>
>> To run it, create a new directory and add this to the 'Interface File 
>> Path' (File menu -> Preferences -> Source Analysis -> Advanced -> 
>> Insert).
>>
>> Then from the command line switch to this directory (if you are on 
>> Vista you will need to run cmd with admin privileges due to a defect 
>> explained below). Execute the command:
>>
>>    ipy generate_pi_for_net.py
>>
>> This generates the pi files. It doesn't work *as well* on 64 bit 
>> windows because the .NET XML help files (or whatever they are called) 
>> are in a different location so the docstrings are not always 
>> available - which is why I am not just distributing the pi files yet.
>>
>> The script doesn't yet understand static properties on classes - so 
>> it actually *fetches* static properties rather than looking at the 
>> descriptor (which is available in the class __dict__ so should be 
>> easy to fix). This is what causes inadvertent registry lookups etc 
>> and therefore requires admin privileges.
>>
>> It doesn't yet understand multiple overloads. This may require a 
>> change to Wing or may not matter.
>>
>> It isn't yet able to do anything with the information about return 
>> types - which would allow Wing to know the type of objects returned 
>> by methods. This may be easy to add?
>>
>> It is late so I am going to bed. At some point I will explain the 
>> simple changes I  had to make to the standard generate_pi.py script 
>> (although they are mostly straightforward). I will also do further 
>> work on it as it will be very useful to me...
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Michael
>>
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>>
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>
>
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