I was trying IPython with a module I created and it does not show the actual representation of class objects. Instead it shows something like
TheClass.__module__ + '.' + TheClass.__name__
I heavily use metaclasses in this module and I have really meaningful class representations that should be shown to the user.
Is there an IPython specific method I can change to make the right representation available instead of this namespace thingy that is quite useless in this application?
Or, if that's not possible, how can I customize my version of IPython to show the information I want?
EDIT
As complementary information, if I get a class and change the __module__
attribute to e.g. None, it blows with this traceback when trying to show the representation:
Traceback (most recent call last):
... [Huge traceback] ...
File "C:\Python32\lib\site-packages\IPython\lib\pretty.py", line 599, in _type_pprint
name = obj.__module__ + '.' + obj.__name__
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'NoneType' and 'str'
So my expectations were right and this function is used to show class objects:
def _type_pprint(obj, p, cycle):
I tried customizing it in my class but I don't think I'm doing it right. This module IPython.lib.pretty
does have a big dictionary linking type
(the parent of metaclasses) with this function.
EDIT 2
Things I tried:
- Adding the
_repr_pretty_
function to metaclass. It do work with instances but not with classes... - Using this function
IPython.lib.pretty
.for_type(typ, func)
. It only changes the big dictionary a wrote above but not the copy of it made by theRepresentationPrinter
instance... So this function has no use at all?! - Calling the magic function
%pprint
. It disables (or enables) this pretty print feature, using the default Python__repr__
for all the objects. That's bad because the pretty printing of lists, dict and many others are quite nice.
The first approach is more of what I want because it does not affect the environment and is specific for this class.