IPEP 16: Notebook multi directory dashboard and URL mapping

A Multi-directory IPython notebook dashboard

Author: Zach Sailer <zachsailer@gmail.com>

Created: 2013-4-10

Updated: 2013-4-10

Abstract

The current notebook dashboard only allows the user to open notebooks in their current directory location. It does not allow you to navigate through or open notebooks in subdirectories. This proposal describes a new URL mapping scheme to adjust for a multi-directory dashboard system and explores the possibility of implementing such a system.

Motivation

If you have notebooks saved or would like to start new notebooks in subdirectories, you have to reopen the IPython dashboard in that subdirectory. It would be convenient if you could click a button on your current dashboard and have it do the work for you. Then, you could pass back and forth through directories without starting up a new dashboard everytime. This would help with organizing a project and relieve frustration.

Proposed URL Mapping

Before this new dashboard can be implemented, the URL mapping of IPython notebook would need to be adjusted to allow for the proper storing of notebooks and path changing. One can see the current IPython notebook URL mapping here.

This proposal outlines the URL mapping scheme for this new multi-directory dashboard. It follows a RESTful design and offers an easy, practical URL path navigation. This does not propose anything drastically different than the current IPython web-service design; it simply takes it a step further to provide access to subdirectories in the dashboard. Therefore, you will see similar design in the IPython Development wiki pages.

The chart below shows the new proposed URL scheme for web-services in the notebook, where "foo/bar" is a path to a subdirectory:

HTTP verb	New URL	Action
GET	/notebooks/foo/bar	returns list of dicts with information about the sub-directories, files, notebooks and path for "foo/bar"
POST	/notebooks/foo/bar	if sending a body, saving that body as a new notebook in "foo/bar"; if no body, create a new notebook in "foo/bar"
GET	/notebooks/foo/bar/<notebook_id>	returns the json data for the notebook with the given ID in "foo/bar"
PUT	/notebooks/foo/bar/<notebook_id>	saves an existing notebook with body data in "foo/bar"
DELETE	/notebooks/foo/bar/<notebook_id>	deletes the notebook with the given ID in "foo/bar"

Along side the IPython web-services, there are other website URL's that will need to change as well. The chart below shows the proposed changes for the new website URL scheme of the notebook.

Notice the addition of "/app" to the website URL's. This is to prevent any confusion if the user has a subdirectory named "/notebooks".

HTTP verb	URL	Action
GET	/app	navigates user to dashboard at the top level directory of the notebook
GET	/	redirects to "/app" URL
GET	/app/foo/bar/<notebook_id>	go to webpage for that notebook
GET	/app/foo/bar	navigates user to dashboard for the "foo/bar" directory
GET	/app/foo/bar/new	creates a new notebook with profile (or default, if no profile exists) settings in"foo/bar"
GET	/app/foo/bar/<notebook_id>/copy	copies notebook of given ID to "foo/bar" directory
GET	/app/foo/bar/<notebook_id>/print	prints the notebook with the given ID; if notebook ID doesn't exist, displays error message
GET	/app/login	navigates to login page; if no user profile is defined, it navigates user to dashboard
GET	/app/logout	logs out of current profile, and navigates user to login page

Things to Consider

One question is whether we want the URL to continue using notebook ID, rather than the notebook's name. Keeping the ID leaves the URL as a hybrid between a path name (i.e. "foo/bar") and notebook ID. It might be nice to have the URL be consistent and say, "/foo/bar/notebook1" rather than a "foo/bar/long-stream-of-numbers-at-the-end".

The difficulty with changing the URL to filenames rather than IDs, however, is found in the sharing of notebooks:

1. If a notebook is being shared, and it is renamed or changed by user#1, those changes are not made on user#2's notebook page. If they save their unchanged notebook, all progress is lost for the user#1. User#2 would need to reload the page to avoid losing the progress of user#1.
2. The URL needs to change for both users if a notebook is renamed. The notebook ID style URL stays consistent despite any changes made.