Edit notebook metadata

[jtpio]

Problem

In the classic notebook it's possible to edit the notebook metadata:

Proposed Solution

We add a new plugin to replicate that UX and let users edit notebook metadata in a dialog.

Additional context

In JupyterLab the notebook tools is in the right area:

[jtpio]

Marking as a good first issue in case someone would like to take it, thanks!

[jtpio]

The new plugin could go the notebook-extension package: https://github.com/jupyterlab/retrolab/blob/main/packages/notebook-extension/src/index.ts

That file already has some places showing how to retrieve the current notebook. which can serve as an example.

[jaivanti]

Hi! Can I try this one?

[kostyafarber]

Just checking if anybody is still working on this

[jtpio]

@kostyafarber I don't think anyone is still working on this so if you want to have a look that would be great, thanks!

In the meantime there has been some work on adding support for (hidden by default) left and right panels:

The notebook metadata can be edited there, but there could also be the popup like the classic notebook so it's easier to find.

[ShobhanSrivastava]

Hey @jtpio I would like to try and solve this issue, can you please assign it to me?

[jtpio]

Thanks @ShobhanSrivastava.

I guess it could still make sense to implement the dialog to edit the notebook metadata to keep the same UX as with the classic notebook.

cc @brichet in case you have an input on this, since this might also be related to some upstream work in JupyterLab.

[brichet]

I think we should use the existing MetadataEditor from Notebooktools. It could be extended into a new object that is displayed in a Dialog.

For example, I started to extend the MetadataEditor for an unrelated purpose in JupyterLab here.

[jtpio]

Maybe the simplest way for now would be to add a Edit Notebook Metadata command to the menu that would open the Notebook tools panel instead of a dialog.

[LornaJoyce]

test

[abidkhan484]

Hi @jtpio I would like to try and solve the issue if it still persists.

[jtpio]

Sure thanks @abidkhan484.

Feel free to open a Pr any time. Probably the suggestion from #6402 (comment) would be enough for now.

[abidkhan484]

Hi @jtpio I am new in open source contribution. I have read the contributing.md file.
Can you please guide me regarding these?

1. What is the Git branch strategy that I should follow? From which branch I should create a new one?
2. Is there any guidance on which part I may update? If I am not wrong, it's maybe on the front end (UI).
3. Is there any other suggestion for me as a newcomer?

[jtpio]

What is the Git branch strategy that I should follow? From which branch I should create a new one?

You would first need to fork the repository on GitHub:

Then you can create a new branch on your fork. Once ready, you can open a PR against the main branch of the jupyter/notebook repo.

Is there any guidance on which part I may update? If I am not wrong, it's maybe on the front end (UI).

Yes, it should be a frontend only change. If we stick to just adding the menu entry as suggested above, then it mostly means adding a new setting file here to add the entry to the menu: https://github.com/jupyter/notebook/tree/main/packages/notebook-extension/schema

Is there any other suggestion for me as a newcomer?

If you would like to, you could also use Gitpod as an alternative to setting up a development environment locally.

[Dilip-Jain]

Hi,
It looks like the issue is still not resolved and I guess no one is working on it. I'd like to take this up and close it asap, only a month before it turns two! So, maybe, you can assign this to me.
Progress so far: I cloned the repo, only to realize the frontend code is no more within the notebook and shifted under jupyterlab. I understood I have to work on the frontend, specifically add an option under the Edit menu which on clicking will trigger same functionality as Right Sidebar option in View (probably, along with uncollapsing the Application tools too). Well, honestly, I am having a hard time understanding the code (jupyterlab, especially the structure). I started with project-wide searching 'Clear Outputs of All Cells' (just another option under Edit menu), to quickly understand the call-stack and it didn't help much. Maybe, you can help me out for it to get quicker, or else, I'll spend some time, sit focused, and try.

[jtpio]

Thanks @Dilip-Jain for looking into this 👍

You can see the Notebook 7 application as a JupyterLab remix. This means the frontend reuses many JupyterLab plugins and extensions, and reassemble them in a different way to create this document-oriented notebook UI.

So most of the commands are inherited from JupyterLab. You can do a text search on the JupyterLab repo to find some hints: https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyterlab. The documentation also lists the available in JupyterLab: https://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/commands.html#commands-list. Although in the case of Notebook 7 only a subset of the commands are available.

One way to start on this issue would be to have a look at how existing commands can be added as menu items to the Notebook 7 interface. For example the application extension uses the settings system to re-order the menu entries:

notebook/packages/application-extension/schema/menus.json

Lines 4 to 75 in b397a3b

	"jupyter.lab.menus": {
	"main": [
	{
	"id": "jp-mainmenu-file",
	"items": [
	{
	"command": "application:rename",
	"rank": 4.5
	},
	{
	"command": "notebook:trust",
	"rank": 20
	},
	{
	"type": "separator",
	"rank": 30
	},
	{
	"command": "filemenu:close-and-cleanup",
	"rank": 40
	},
	{
	"command": "application:close",
	"disabled": true
	}
	]
	},
	{
	"id": "jp-mainmenu-view",
	"items": [
	{
	"type": "submenu",
	"disabled": true,
	"submenu": {
	"id": "jp-mainmenu-view-appearance"
	}
	}
	]
	},
	{
	"id": "jp-mainmenu-run",
	"items": [
	{
	"type": "separator",
	"rank": 1000
	},
	{
	"type": "submenu",
	"rank": 1010,
	"submenu": {
	"id": "jp-runmenu-change-cell-type",
	"label": "Cell Type",
	"items": [
	{
	"command": "notebook:change-cell-to-code",
	"rank": 0
	},
	{
	"command": "notebook:change-cell-to-markdown",
	"rank": 0
	},
	{
	"command": "notebook:change-cell-to-raw",
	"rank": 0
	}
	]
	}
	}
	]
	}
	]
	},

[jtpio]

As a side note it would indeed be useful to expand the existing contributing guide to explain how Notebook 7 reuses JupyterLab plugins and extensions: https://jupyter-notebook.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing.html

[joaovml]

Hello everyone, I'm working on this issue on and off for a while for a college class. I've managed to change some stuff around in the menus.json file and thought I was almost done, just needed to add an option with a command to show the Notebook Tools panel as suggested. The thing is, when I run ctrl+shift+c and the command palette pops us, there's the "Show Notebook Tools" command easily, but I cannot find it in the commands page. Can I have any guidance? Thanks

[Dilip-Jain]

Hi @joaovml, what you are looking for is an application command application:toggle-right-area with arguments, particularly, side (right), title (Show Notebook Tools), and id (notebook-tools) passed as args.

Unfortunately, I didn't know you were working on the issue, and since the issue was inactive for quite a long duration, I picked it up last week and started working on it. I just created a pull request and realized you too were working on this.

[joaovml]

Hi @Dilip-Jain ! No problem, I hadn't mentioned anything here. Your solution will be great in helping me understand a bit better how the code works and hopefully I'll be able to contribute somewhere else.

[Dilip-Jain]

Good luck @joaovml

[Dilip-Jain]

Hey @jtpio,
if you can please check the pull request I made to close this issue.
Although, it is missing some "prettiness" and failing some other test cases, it totally works as expected. Help!

[stevearmstrong-dev]

Hi is there anyone still working on this?
Would like to delve into this

[Dilip-Jain]

Hey @W0474997SteveArmstrong, I have already created a pull request for this enhancement. The only task left is adding the menu entry via the settings defined in the schema folder dropping the dependency on IMainMenu in the plugin.
Not sure why, but I am unable to achieve this shift. I'll try, you can too, and feel free to push to my fork.