Test: Python REPL Smart Send

[anthonykim1]

Refs: #21778 #21838

• macOS @bpasero
• linux @TylerLeonhardt
• windows @Tyriar

Complexity: 4

Create Issue

---

Thank you in advance for testing REPL Smart Send feature!
Please let me know if you have any questions, problems, comments.
I hope you enjoy this feature whenever you want to shift+enter through your Python file!

Background Information

REPL Smart Send consists two integrated features(referenced above) that are shipped together to provide smoother Python REPL experience with Shift+Enter:

• Smart Selection: User (who is not highlighting/explicitly selecting any text) should be able to have their mouse cursor in some point of their Python code, and we should be able to detect, send minimum functional code to the REPL when Shift+Enter is pressed.
• Dynamic Cursor Move: When user shift+enters with no highlight/no explicit selection of the text, mouse cursor should move to next executable code in the currently opened Python document.

Setup:

1. Make sure you are using Python3.8 or above. This feature will only work for Python3.8 and above. (3.8 is the minimum official support that VS Code Python repository have at the moment)
2. Make sure you have pythonREPLSmartSend experiment enabled. You can do this by editing your settings.json to have

"python.experiments.enabled": true, 
"python.experiments.optInto": ["pythonREPLSmartSend"], 

Steps

1. Open Python file of your choice. You can start with empty Python file and code your own Python code!
2. Place your cursor wherever you would like in your Python code and press shift+enter.
3. Observe that it sends minimum viable/functional code to the Python REPL.
4. Observe that the mouse cursor is moved to the next executable block of code in the Python file.
5. Try with code block that are multi-line, such as but not limited to multi-line dictionary, lists.
6. Try shift entering AT higher level code block such as where functions are defined with: """def whatever_function:""" (cursor should be exactly at declaration of top level block you want to send)
7. Observe that whole higher level code block (in this case, function) is sent to the REPL and cursor is moved appropriately to after the block shift entered on (in this case cursor should be on executable code presented after whatever_function)
8. If you press shift+enter inside higher block of code (in this case, inside the function), it should only send that independent and hence the minimum viable code (in this case, print statement) to the REPL
9. Play around with any Python code block you want to test with, and see if appropriate "smart" code block is sent to the REPL, as well as the appropriate mouse cursor move you will see in your file editor window!

Note: Smart Send will only work when there is NO EXPLICIT selection, meaning NO EXPLICIT highlighting of the text.

[Tyriar]

I'm blocked on this by #22318

[anthonykim1]

Sorry for the initial typo, but its 'OptInto' not 'OptInFrom'. in setting up settings.json

[TylerLeonhardt]

Do we need to retest with the fixed setting? SHIFT+ENTER was being handled. Does this setting use a different code path for a similar feature?

[anthonykim1]

Hi @TylerLeonhardt , No need to retest if you were able to get smart send results with just the "python.experiments.enabled": true, " Thank you!

[anthonykim1]

@Tyriar Explained further on the issue you made, but long story short, Python2 code was messing up the parsing for your Python test file you were using. Smart Send should work on Python3! Thanks

[Tyriar]

It's unclear what is going to be send exactly, for example this will send the entire while block:

But this will only send the single line:

So the question is why doesn't the re.search line get run alone since it's technically the "minimum functional code"

[johnchristopherjones]

Hi @anthonykim1! I love REPL-style development, so thank you for this feature. That said, I have two concerns. :)

Should I open issues for them?

1. The dynamic cursor move does not leave cursor history. That is, I can't get back to my original cursor position with ⌃- (workbench.action.navigateBack).
   Example: I evaluate code with ⇧ENTER and my cursor jumps forward. When I hit ⌃-, I expect my cursor to jump back to where I hit ⇧ENTER. There's currently no way to get back to the exact position I was at before.
2. Is there any way to turn off the dynamic cursor move? For example, sometimes I just want to eval something resembling randint() a few times, like a hypothesis example.

Relatedly, can the work done here be used to make "Expand Selection" (editor.action.smartSelect.expand) work better? Before this experiment I'd use "Expand Selection" with "Run Selection/Line in Python Terminal". It's pretty rough around the edges.

[Tyriar]

@johnchristopherjones does the go back action work instead of shift+-? It's different depending on the platform:

• macOS ctrl+minus
• Windows alt+left
• Linux ctrl+alt+minus

[jicart]

It seems this was enabled for me after the last vscode update, and I can't find how to disable it.

I've looked for a specific configuration using the search, but couldn't find it.
I've tried setting:
"pythonREPLSmartSend": false,
but it changed nothing. Also it says it's an "Unknown Configuration Setting".
I also asked copilot, but it just answered nonsense.

I just want the old behavior back.

[anthonykim1]

Hi @jicart. You can disable the experiment by going to "~/Library/Application Support/Code - Insiders/User/settings.json"
and then including "python.experiments.optOutFrom": ["pythonREPLSmartSend"],

[anthonykim1]

Hi @anthonykim1! I love REPL-style development, so thank you for this feature. That said, I have two concerns. :)

Hello, @johnchristopherjones
Thank you for your kind words :)

Should I open issues for them?

You may file issue/concern anytime!

1. The dynamic cursor move does not leave cursor history. That is, I can't get back to my original cursor position with ⌃- (workbench.action.navigateBack).

This is quite interesting behavior. I will have to investigate on this.

Example: I evaluate code with ⇧ENTER and my cursor jumps forward. When I hit ⌃-, I expect my cursor to jump back to where I hit ⇧ENTER. There's currently no way to get back to the exact position I was at before.
2. Is there any way to turn off the dynamic cursor move? For example, sometimes I just want to eval something resembling randint() a few times, like a hypothesis example.

Yes! Setting for disabling Smart send (smart selection + dynamic cursor move) is coming soon.
Right now, you can opt out from by adding "python.experiments.optOutFrom": ["pythonREPLSmartSend"], in your user settings.json as mentioned above.

Relatedly, can the work done here be used to make "Expand Selection" (editor.action.smartSelect.expand) work better? Before this experiment I'd use "Expand Selection" with "Run Selection/Line in Python Terminal". It's pretty rough around the edges.

Feel free to file request/issue on this! Will look into this.