[Documentation, Windows] Pipenv + Cmder Documentation

[gtalarico]

There are 2 issues that make Pipenv difficult to use on Windows + Cmder (#2 affects win+cmd.exe as well). I am also assuming these are also applicable for ConEmu.

Cmder/ConEmu is used by a many Windows users so it would be great to improve
support/documentation for it.
(PS: I also use it on Mac, but my transition there was much smoother with no noticeable issues)

Below are the two main issues I encountered, and the solutions I found.
Could we add this to either the Wiki or the Docs?

1 - Pipenv Uses cmder by default when entering into a new shell

We need to pipenv to continue using cmder when entering into a shell, otherwise it will default to cmd.exe

Solution

Set PIPENV_SHELL to cmder's init file
Edit your environment Variables and add:
PIPENV_SHELL=C:\path\to\cmder\vendor\init.bat

Note:
If path to your init.bat contains space it will not work, so you will need to use a copy of cmder that is not in one of those files (issue #2115 )

2 - Pipenv does not show the active env's in the prompt

This works fine out of the box with virtualenv + virtualenvwrapper.
For this feature to work on windows, the PROMPT variable which is normally set to $P$G need to be amended to (envname) $P$G
More details on #2116

Solution (Workaround; needs a PR for proper fix)

Make sure you have a .env file for your project, and in that file add
PROMPT=(envnameYouWant) $P$G

This will force pipenv to overwrite the %PROMPT% variable when a pipenv shell is started

[uranusjr]

I use Pipenv with Cmder a lot, and don’t seem to have your first issue. This could be a bug.

[gtalarico]

Now that you mentioned, it will probably be fixed
When issue #2115 is fixed.
Is your cmder stored on a folder path that contains spaces?

[uranusjr]

No, mine is in C:\tools\cmder.

[uranusjr]

BTW I do this to prepend the virtualenv name to prompt during Clink startup. This is registered as a Clink prompt filter during startup. This might be of interest of some people.

local function find_virtualenv_prompt()
    local virtual_env = clink.get_env('VIRTUAL_ENV')
    if virtual_env == nil then
        return nil
    end

    local activate_bat = io.open(virtual_env..'\\Scripts\\activate.bat', 'r')
    if activate_bat == nil then
        return nil
    end
    local content = activate_bat:read('*a')
    activate_bat:close()

    return content:match('set "PROMPT=%((.+)%) %%PROMPT%%"')
end

local function set_prompt_filter()
    local env = find_virtualenv_prompt()
    clink.prompt.value = "format the prompt here..."
end

[gtalarico]

Here is what I was describing.
It was def. caused by the space in path to cmder.
As I mentioned, #2115 hopefully fixes this.

As for issue #2, did you modify your clink.lua file?

[uranusjr]

Yes the space problem is a bug. There haven’t been a fix yet (the one I mentioned in #2115 does not work).

For the second issue, yes I modified my clink.lua. This is probably not the best solution, but the most practical to me because BAT is way too limiting for this task. I wish Cmder would support loading a user-space Lua file like user-profile.bat. OMG wait it totally does support Lua init files I’m migrating everything now…

[techalchemy]

@gtalarico feel free to PR documentation updates or wiki updates at your discretion for this, I am not sure where you would prefer to direct people as you encounter more of this but I'm happy to expedite reviews (and you can find me on slack/irc if you have questions)

[gtalarico]

Thanks @techalchemy !

I am going to be optimistic here... I am hoping I can help fix both of those issues instead of documenting my workarounds :)

I have spent some time testing solutions and I have a fix for both issues listed above.
I feel good about #2167, since that's similar to how the issue is handled by virtualenvwrapper.
#2168 feels patchy, but it does fix the error.

#2167
#2168

[techalchemy]

Both of those seem appropriate and will just need to get worked into whatever the rewrite looks like too. No big deal there. And I always try to make sure we open relevant PRs upstream so the dependencies themselves reap the benefits. Granted I pew still hasn’t accepted my PR to remove psutil so some changes may not apply.

[uranusjr]

This is largely resolved after PROMPT is now modified for subshells on Windows. Do raise additional contributions on documentation and/or better prompt modification if you can provide any!