Replace a side-pane widget without replacing the plugin

[martinRenou]

Problem

I am willing to use this extension: https://github.com/youngthejames/jupyterlab_filetree and to have it replace the core filebrowser extension.

I am aware one can disable another plugin using "disabledExtensions": ["@jupyterlab/filebrowser-extension"], and it seems to do what it says. But doing this brings multiple issues as other extensions are using the core filebrowser plugins.

So I am wondering if one could simply replace a widget instead of an entire extension.

Proposed Solution

Maybe something like:

app.shell.replace(oldwidget, mywidget);

[jtpio]

It's possible that #9667 might already help a bit by making the plugins more reusable and easy to replace.

I am aware one can disable another plugin using "disabledExtensions": ["@jupyterlab/filebrowser-extension"]

It should also be possible to disable single plugins (instead of the whole extension), for example the browser plugin defined here:

jupyterlab/packages/filebrowser-extension/src/index.ts

Lines 142 to 155 in 327832c

	const browser: JupyterFrontEndPlugin<void> = {
	activate: activateBrowser,
	id: '@jupyterlab/filebrowser-extension:browser',
	requires: [
	IFileBrowserFactory,
	IDocumentManager,
	ILabShell,
	ILayoutRestorer,
	ISettingRegistry,
	ITranslator
	],
	optional: [ITreePathUpdater, ICommandPalette, IMainMenu],
	autoStart: true
	};

With:

{
  "disabledExtensions": ["@jupyterlab/filebrowser-extension:browser"]
}

[martinRenou]

Thanks! Disabling only "@jupyterlab/filebrowser-extension:browser" seems to be what I needed :)

[jtpio]

Nice!

Do you think the docs should be a bit more clear about how to replace existing plugins? If so maybe this section would be the one to expand on?

https://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/stable/extension/extension_dev.html#disabledextensions

[martinRenou]

I guess the docs are fine. It was just unclear to me which plugin I needed to disable for my special case.

[echarles]

Do you think the docs should be a bit more clear about how to replace existing plugins? If so maybe this section would be the one to expand on?

I would say a concrete example would help. A list of steps with commands to run. To have a concrete extension, a new one could be added in https://github.com/jupyterlab/extension-examples

[jtpio]

To have a concrete extension, a new one could be added in https://github.com/jupyterlab/extension-examples

Sounds good. Maybe that example could have a smaller scope than replacing the file browser. For example replacing the jupyter logo in the top left corner by something else:

Since the logo is added as a plugin here:

jupyterlab/packages/application-extension/src/index.tsx

Lines 956 to 972 in d6c3857

	const JupyterLogo: JupyterFrontEndPlugin<void> = {
	id: '@jupyterlab/application-extension:logo',
	autoStart: true,
	requires: [ILabShell],
	activate: (app: JupyterFrontEnd, shell: ILabShell) => {
	const logo = new Widget();
	jupyterIcon.element({
	container: logo.node,
	elementPosition: 'center',
	margin: '2px 2px 2px 8px',
	height: 'auto',
	width: '16px'
	});
	logo.id = 'jp-MainLogo';
	shell.add(logo, 'top', { rank: 0 });
	}
	};

[echarles]

For example replacing the jupyter logo in the top left corner by something else:

That would be awesome! and a very useful case.

[jtpio]

Opened jupyterlab/extension-examples#156