Ipython Notebook: Improved code editing functions

[palob]

While I'm an enthusiastic Ipython user I want to point out some usability restraints of the IPython Notebook editor:

• There is no 'Find/Replace' method for code editing.
• For there are no universal Comment/Uncomment , Indent/Unindent keyboard shortcuts: what about toolbar buttons for this functions?
• A 'toggle line numbers' applying to all cells keyboard shortcut/button would be helpful. By the same token a way to show the current column number would be helpful.
• When doing extensive inline plotting and using multiple cells in one document things can get confusing. What about a folding feature for code cells as well as for cell output?
• I propose adding basic shortcuts (e.g. Undo/Redo --> Ctrl+Z/Y) to the shortcut help.

[jdfreder]

Hi @palob,

Thanks for the feedback. In the context of IPython 2.0rc:

There is no 'Find/Replace' method for code editing.

See
#3270

For there are no universal Comment/Uncomment , Indent/Unindent keyboard shortcuts: what about toolbar buttons for this functions?

These shortcuts already exist:
ctrl-/ toggles comments.
tab and shift-tab indents and unindents blocks of text.

However, we do not have toolbar buttons for them yet.

A 'toggle line numbers' applying to all cells keyboard shortcut/button would be helpful. By the same token a way to show the current column number would be helpful.

This doesn't exist yet, but I hope you are aware of l in command mode, which toggles line numbers in the selected cell.

When doing extensive inline plotting and using multiple cells in one document things can get confusing. What about a folding feature for code cells as well as for cell output?

See:
#2284
#4211

I propose adding basic shortcuts (e.g. Undo/Redo --> Ctrl+Z/Y) to the shortcut help.

x, c, and v are already in the keyboard shortcut help for command mode. They do not exist in the help for edit mode because of the same reason insert, page-up, etc are not included.

Cheers,
Jon

[juhasch]

For codefolding in CodeMirror, you could try the extension here:
https://github.com/ipython-contrib/IPython-notebook-extensions/wiki/Codefolding

[jdfreder]

@juhasch that is a really cool extension you wrote! I wasn't aware of it, thanks for pointing it out. I'll probably start using it myself.

[juhasch]

Thanks, I hope you will like it. I use it every day and it works quite well for me. There is also a preprocessor for nbconvert to export folded code in notebooks.

[palob]

Thanks @juhasch, that is exactly what I was looking for. As for the output scroll/unscroll/hide function: at least in 1.2.1 the left side toggle bar can be overlain by pyplot outputs.
As a result there is only a tiny frame left accessible.

[juhasch]

@palob You might want to open an issue here:
https://github.com/ipython-contrib/IPython-notebook-extensions