[windows] VisiData must be run using WSL

[wcheek]

Small description
visidata doesn't work. I'm running Windows 10 Pro Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045. I'm on a Japanese laptop, so maybe encoding is throwing things off.

Expected result
visidata <file> would open a file.

Actual result with screenshot
When I try to run eg visidata faa-wildlife-strikes.csv, it hangs for a moment and then returns me to the command prompt without displaying anything:

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>visidata faa-wildlife-strikes.csv

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>

When I run visidata -h I get a UnicodeDecodeError:

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>visidata -h
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 88, in _run_code
  File "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python312\Scripts\visidata.exe\__main__.py", line 7, in <module>
  File "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python312\site-packages\visidata\main.py", line 395, in vd_cli
    rc = main_vd()
         ^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python312\site-packages\visidata\main.py", line 116, in main_vd
    print(fp.read())
          ^^^^^^^^^
UnicodeDecodeError: 'cp932' codec can't decode byte 0x94 in position 101: illegal multibyte sequence

Steps to reproduce with sample data and a .vd
When I run

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>echo "abc" | visidata -f faa-wildlife-strikes.csv -N

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>

Nothing happens.

Additional context

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>visidata --version
saul.pw/VisiData v2.11.1

Python 3.12.0

I was able to fix the visidata -h UnicodeDecodeError by explicitly specifying encoding="utf-8" in line 113 of main.py, but so far unable to figure out how to actually get files opening.

[saulpw]

Hey @wcheek, what happens if you use vd instead of visidata? Also does it work on the develop branch?

[wcheek]

vd isn't a recognized command even though I have a vd file in site-packages in the same place that I have the visidata.exe file that is currently failing. I'll check the develop branch.

[wcheek]

I get a few more notifications at least but the file still doesn't open and vd is still not working. However, visidata -h works now.

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>visidata --version
saul.pw/VisiData v3.0dev

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>visidata faa-wildlife-strikes.csv
saul.pw/VisiData v3.0dev
opening faa-wildlife-strikes.csv as csv

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>vd faa-wildlife-strikes.csv
'vd' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

[saulpw]

Try running with --debug, does that show anything for you?

[wcheek]

@saulpw same behavior with a small stack trace?

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>visidata --debug faa-wildlife-strikes.csv
saul.pw/VisiData v3.0dev
opening faa-wildlife-strikes.csv as csv [visidata\_open.py:137:openPath]

D:\Projects\RiceMiller\RawData>

In openSource(), vd.openPath() is getting called:

        else:
            print("Here!")
            vs = vd.openPath(
                Path(p), filetype=filetype, create=create
            )  # convert to Path and recurse

openSource() returns vs = "faa_wildlife-strikes" and then the only place I see openSource() getting referenced is in these BaseSheet and TableSheet. Interestingly, the only one that seems to actually be present in the visidata module is BaseSheet:

[saulpw]

How did you install VisiData, @wcheek? You said you're running on Windows, is this with WSL?

[wcheek]

I installed it using the recommended way: pip3 install visidata.

I have WSL installed, but I am running visidata with the Windows shell. I've tried it on both wezterm and powershell to no avail.

[saulpw]

Try installing it inside WSL and running it there. Or, you could try installing from the unreleased develop branch. v2.11.1 definitely works for other users under WSL.

[wcheek]

@saulpw confirmed v2.11.1 works in WSL.

No offense, but it seems like a serious problem if it's not working on Windows, even the v.3.0dev version. Let me know if you need more information from my system.

[saulpw]

None of us on the dev team use Windows, so I don't believe it's ever worked on Windows outside of WSL. I think the correct fix here is to remove any hint from https://visidata.org/install that it might work without WSL.

If anyone is interested in getting VisiData to work on Windows apart from WSL, please get in touch!