RFC / Beta Testers Wanted: pyscFilteredViewer

Eko palypse

I’m curious, did you ever encounter a npp crash while using your script?
I’m asking because I see you are using notepad.getLanguageDesc(notepad.getCurrentLang())
and in the past it happened to me that npp crashed randomly.
After some trial and error I found that this was the culprit.

PeterJones

@Eko-palypse ,

I think I had seen it crash once, but because it hadn’t come back, I hadn’t investigated it further.

In your experiments, what did you end up doing instead of that construct? Did you determine whether it was the getLanguageDesc() or the getCurrentLang() that caused it, or was it just caused by nesting the two without an intermediate variable (ie, would l=notepad.getCurrentLang(); notepad.getLanguageDesc(l) fix it?)

Eko palypse

To be honest, I haven’t done deeper research but I ASSUME that the issue is
that there is no intermediate variable and python already deleted the temporarily
created variable before getLanguageDesc got executed.
I ended up using editor.getLexerLanguage, which was ok for my use cases.
I will try to see if I can setup some tests and will report back.

PeterJones

I’ve just run the following a few times:

from Npp import *

console.show()
console.clear()
console.write(__file__ + "::" + __name__ + "\n")
for i in range(10000):
    x = notepad.getLanguageDesc(notepad.getCurrentLang())
    console.write( '#{:-4} => {}\n'.format( i, x ) )

and it hasn’t crashed yet, even when I do things like switch files/tabs, create a new file, and go from NPP to other apps and back while the 10000 loops are running…

I think it might be a combo of that call with something else, if there is an instability.

Eko palypse

You are right, this was my first also (using the console), within the console I can’t see that problem
but I can say that an intermediate variable does not solve the problem as I got a crash while
using one. Currently I’m looking into callbacks. Will take some time - I’m coming back later.

Eko palypse

I guess I found the culprit.
If uncommenting this # y = notepad.getLanguageDesc(x) then npp crashes.
I assume it is related to what has been reported as an issue as well.

import random
from Npp import editor, notepad, NOTIFICATION, MENUCOMMAND

def on_lang_changed(args):
    x = notepad.getCurrentLang()
    # y = notepad.getLanguageDesc(x)
    y = editor.getLexerLanguage()
    print y

notepad.clearCallbacks([NOTIFICATION.LANGCHANGED])
notepad.callback(on_lang_changed, [NOTIFICATION.LANGCHANGED])

LANGUAGES = [eval('MENUCOMMAND.{}'.format(x)) for x in dir(MENUCOMMAND) if x.startswith('LANG_') and not x.startswith('LANG_USER')]
COUNTS = len(LANGUAGES)
for i in range(1,1001):
    if i % 2 == 0:
        notepad.menuCommand(MENUCOMMAND.LANG_PYTHON)
    else:
        notepad.menuCommand(LANGUAGES[random.randint(0,COUNTS-1)])

Eko palypse

it is the function itself as this simplified version crashes npp as well

from Npp import notepad, LANGTYPE
LANGUAGES = LANGTYPE.values.values()
for language in LANGUAGES:
    x = notepad.getLanguageDesc(language)

Eko palypse

Final conclusion - it is a python script plugin bug because calling
via SendMessage does not crash (tried it 1000x)

import ctypes
from Npp import notepad, LANGTYPE

LANGUAGES = LANGTYPE.values.values()
SendMessage = ctypes.windll.user32.SendMessageW

# #define NPPM_GETLANGUAGEDESC  (NPPMSG + 84)
NPPM_GETLANGUAGEDESC = 2024+84
# // INT NPPM_GETLANGUAGEDESC(int langType, TCHAR *langDesc)
# // Get programming language short description from the given language type (LangType)
# // Return value is the number of copied character / number of character to copy (\0 is not included)
# // You should call this function 2 times - the first time you pass langDesc as NULL to get the number of characters to copy.
# // You allocate a buffer of the length of (the number of characters + 1) then call NPPM_GETLANGUAGEDESC function the 2nd time
# // by passing allocated buffer as argument langDesc
npp_hwnd = ctypes.windll.user32.FindWindowW(u'Notepad++', None)
for language in LANGUAGES:
    length = ctypes.windll.user32.SendMessageW(npp_hwnd, NPPM_GETLANGUAGEDESC, language, None)
    buffer = ctypes.create_unicode_buffer(length+1)
    return_value = ctypes.windll.user32.SendMessageW(npp_hwnd, NPPM_GETLANGUAGEDESC, language, ctypes.byref(buffer))
    print buffer.value

# crash
# for language in LANGUAGES:
    # print notepad.getLanguageDesc(language)

PeterJones

Strange. I could not get a crash, or even weird behavior, using your “simplified version” (2019-01-24T19:06:19.201Z). With the code before that (2019-01-24T18:33:47.183Z), I never got a crash, but I did get one or two times when NPP prompted me that it was about to exit, and did I want to cancel – whether I said YES or NO to canceling, it stayed in NPP and the script continued looping.

Notepad++ v7.6.2   (64-bit)
Build time : Jan  1 2019 - 00:02:38
Path : C:\usr\local\apps\notepad++\notepad++.exe
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : ON
OS : Windows 10 (64-bit)
Plugins : ComparePlugin.dll DSpellCheck.dll MarkdownViewerPlusPlus.dll mimeTools.dll NppConverter.dll NppExec.dll NppFTP.dll PythonScript.dll

I guess I’ll keep an eye out for crashes while using pyscFilteredViewer, and I’ll investigate that call as the culprit.

I’m reluctant to just switch to an alternate method, because the getLanguageDesc() method returns slightly different information than getLexerLanguage(), especially on UDL: “User Defined language file - CustomLanguageName”, vs “user”, and I filter at least one UDL regularly. The getLanguageDesc() appears to match what’s normally put in the STATUSBARSECTION.DOCTYPE location. (If there were just a getStatusBar(statusBarSection) to read back what was previously written with setStatusBar(statusBarSection,text), that would get rid of the need for getLanguageDesc() in my utility. Added #3 to explore this more in the future)

Meta Chuh

@PeterJones

looks very promising
side note: the first thing i read this morning was “psychicFilteredReader” … i guess my coffee hadn’t kicked in yet 😂

i didn’t have much time to test it enough for much feedback yet (no crash so far), but i’ll probably compile a static, stand alone one file pyscfr command executable (let’s call it phprun.exe or phpysc.exe for now) to render php files to stdout to fiddle around a bit more.

currently i only have suggestions for the guide:

first feedback about the documentation:
i’d simplify it a bit for newer users, it seems more info than necessary, and missing plug and play examples for the .ini at the “getting started” section.

simplified Installation Procedure (on 7.6.2):

extract pyscFilteredViewer-0.01-beta.zip and copy the containing folder pyscFilteredViewer to %AppData%\Notepad++\plugins\config\PythonScript\scripts

the current pyscfr manual explains a bit much about where to put the files (18 lines instead of 1-2), and it’s doubled as long as it would have been, by giving the user the choice on whether to install it to machine or user scripts, also leaving some users helpless, as they wouldn’t know which location is right for them.

any further explanation, or guide to an alternative script location, can be done at the end, after a simple getting started guide.

pyscFilteredViewer.ini template:
as it is a completely new product, it’s imperative to ensure an immediate, easy start for any new user, eg. by delivering prebuilt, functioning configuration files (pyscFilteredViewer.ini) to attract people to a new application.

a default ini should be fully working, without relying that a new user understands what to do, in order to ensure a high acceptance count.
(unless it’s an already huge product, like apache, where the devs can say: everyone uses it, so learn it or leave it 😉)

a distributed ini example would be:

[PHPFile]									;   => this is the name of the section; it must be unique.  Typically, based on the language
Extension=.php								;   => space-separated list of filename extensions, including the period.
Language=PHP								;   => this is the name of the language (from Notepad++'s perspective): for a UDL, use your "UserName" from the UDL dialog
Command=C:\usr\local\bin\phpysc.exe "%1"	;   => this is the filter command; %1 is the name of the active file/buffer; the command must result in the HTML being dumped to STDOUT

or even better, an ini using a working preview-ini.bat or exe which is already deployed from the pyscFilteredViewer folder in the zip, as it would always be in %AppData%\Notepad++\plugins\config\PythonScript\scripts\ pyscFilteredViewer instead of a non predictable location on each user’s unique setup as example.

btw: nice, i like the emoji based ⇉📺⇉ in the readme.md 😃

Meta Chuh

@PeterJones

btw: wasn’t there someone who recently said:

and I just don’t have the py-knowledge to keep up for long

? 😉👍

Eko palypse

@PeterJones @Meta-Chuh

huh - that is strange as this is 100% reproducible at my side.
Later this day I will do further tests with clean npp and clean PS startup.py.

Eko palypse

Very strange - I download both latest npp and full PythonScript plugin zips.
Create a new minimal test script and boom - crash? 10 tries ten crashes.

Notepad++ v7.6.2   (64-bit)
Build time : Jan  1 2019 - 00:02:38
Path : D:\temp\clean_762_x64\notepad++.exe
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : ON
OS : Windows 7 (64-bit)
Plugins : DSpellCheck.dll mimeTools.dll NppConverter.dll PythonScript.dll

PeterJones

@Meta-Chuh ,

Thanks for the feedback. I do tend toward detailed wordiness. I’ll try to simplify, and maybe move the details to the end, or to supporting documentation.

PeterJones

oh, and

btw: wasn’t there someone who recently said:

and I just don’t have the py-knowledge to keep up for long

Yes, I said that. And I think I said elsewhere (I cannot find the exact quote: google-search no longer returns results inside the forum, and the forum search isn’t always as helpful as I’d like), I said something to the effect of “time to go practice my Python” – this is what I was working toward with that practice. :-)

PeterJones

Ah, there we go: this post: “Now back to studying Python”. That’s what I was looking for.

In languages I’m fluent in, pyscFilteredViewer would have been much faster for me to write. For Python, I still have to look up some basic syntax or command at least once per day, that would be at a Python expert’s fingertip muscle memory.

PeterJones

side note: the first thing i read this morning was “psychicFilteredReader” … i guess my coffee hadn’t kicked in yet 😂

Yeah, “pysc” is my shorthand prefix for PythonScript. I wanted something to indicate the intended audience (Notepad++ PythonScript), without getting too huge or getting in the way of the main name. I don’t know if I was successful. :-)

btw: nice, i like the emoji based ⇉📺⇉ in the readme.md 😃

Thanks. There’s no place for a real “icon” in a PythonScript, and didn’t want to have to design one anyway. I tried looking for a unicode “filter” symbol, but the standard Y-shaped filter icon doesn’t have a unicode-equivalent. Arrows through a display unit (like a TV) seemed a reasonable compromise.

I’ve added your suggestions as issues, so I won’t forget about them.

PeterJones

@Eko-palypse said,

Very strange - I download both latest npp and full PythonScript plugin zips.
Create a new minimal test script and boom - crash? 10 tries ten crashes.

I have no idea why our systems are behaving differently. It seems odd that my couple of extra plugins would make my system more stable than yours.

Maybe Windows 7 is less stable than Win10? (Hard to believe, I know).

Meta Chuh

@PeterJones

Thanks for the feedback. I do tend toward detailed wordiness. I’ll try to simplify, and maybe move the details to the end, or to supporting documentation.

wordiness comes only because it’s your own baby ;-)
if you answer any notepad++ question, you keep it as short and easy to read as possible, with a syntax always matched to the original poster’s capabilities.

btw: i hope you don’t mind my feedback, i just think psychicFilteredReader ;-) has potential and a simplified guide might attract more unexperienced users.

pyscFilteredReader or pyscfr is a fine name, it will be easy to find in google at it is unique.

Yes, I said that. And I think I said elsewhere (I cannot find the exact quote: google-search no longer returns results inside the forum, and the forum search isn’t always as helpful as I’d like), I said something to the effect of “time to go practice my Python” – this is what I was working toward with that practice. :-)

>>> this <<< was your post i was referring to … because it was the last chat we had with scott around here … sigh :-(

PeterJones

I asked for feedback, why would I mind?

The name might change eventually.

You seem to have latched on Reader rather than Viewer. Other than the psychic connection, is there a reason you prefer FilteredReader to FilteredViewer?

I thought of it as a “filtered viewer”, because it based on using the “filtered” feature of PreviewHTML. But really, my script is neither doing the filtering (it delegates that to an external process) nor a viewer (it delegates that to an external process) – so it might not be the best name. Maybe something like “ConvertAndLaunch”. I don’t know. I don’t want it to include “HTML” in the name, even though right now it does “ConvertToHTMLAndLaunch”, because I’m hoping to make it allow other filter-destinations. Maybe “ConvertThenPreview”?

Hmm, it just hit me: if I do get the alternate destination, other than HTML, it’s basically become a generic utility that could not only be used for convert-from-X-to-HTML-and-view, but also compile-then-run, by using the compiler command (or make or whatever) for the Command=, and telling it that the output is an executable rather than HTML. Interesting. More things to ponder.