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      1 Original IDLE todo, much of it now outdated:
      2 ============================================
      3 TO DO:
      4 
      5 - improve debugger:
      6     - manage breakpoints globally, allow bp deletion, tbreak, cbreak etc.
      7     - real object browser
      8     - help on how to use it (a simple help button will do wonders)
      9     - performance?  (updates of large sets of locals are slow)
     10     - better integration of "debug module"
     11     - debugger should be global resource (attached to flist, not to shell)
     12     - fix the stupid bug where you need to step twice
     13     - display class name in stack viewer entries for methods
     14     - suppress tracing through IDLE internals (e.g. print) DONE
     15     - add a button to suppress through a specific module or class or method
     16     - more object inspection to stack viewer, e.g. to view all array items
     17 - insert the initial current directory into sys.path DONE
     18 - default directory attribute for each window instead of only for windows
     19   that have an associated filename
     20 - command expansion from keywords, module contents, other buffers, etc.
     21 - "Recent documents" menu item DONE
     22 - Filter region command
     23 - Optional horizontal scroll bar
     24 - more Emacsisms:
     25     - ^K should cut to buffer
     26     - M-[, M-] to move by paragraphs
     27     - incremental search?
     28 - search should indicate wrap-around in some way
     29 - restructure state sensitive code to avoid testing flags all the time
     30 - persistent user state (e.g. window and cursor positions, bindings)
     31 - make backups when saving
     32 - check file mtimes at various points
     33 - Pluggable interface with RCS/CVS/Perforce/Clearcase
     34 - better help?
     35 - don't open second class browser on same module (nor second path browser)
     36 - unify class and path browsers
     37 - Need to define a standard way whereby one can determine one is running
     38   inside IDLE (needed for Tk mainloop, also handy for $PYTHONSTARTUP)
     39 - Add more utility methods for use by extensions (a la get_selection)
     40 - Way to run command in totally separate interpreter (fork+os.system?) DONE
     41 - Way to find definition of fully-qualified name:
     42   In other words, select "UserDict.UserDict", hit some magic key and
     43   it loads up UserDict.py and finds the first def or class for UserDict.
     44 - need a way to force colorization on/off
     45 - need a way to force auto-indent on/off
     46 
     47 Details:
     48 
     49 - ^O (on Unix -- open-line) should honor autoindent
     50 - after paste, show end of pasted text
     51 - on Windows, should turn short filename to long filename (not only in argv!)
     52   (shouldn't this be done -- or undone -- by ntpath.normpath?)
     53 - new autoindent after colon even indents when the colon is in a comment!
     54 - sometimes forward slashes in pathname remain
     55 - sometimes star in window name remains in Windows menu
     56 - With unix bindings, ESC by itself is ignored
     57 - Sometimes for no apparent reason a selection from the cursor to the
     58   end of the command buffer appears, which is hard to get rid of
     59   because it stays when you are typing!
     60 - The Line/Col in the status bar can be wrong initially in PyShell DONE
     61 
     62 Structural problems:
     63 
     64 - too much knowledge in FileList about EditorWindow (for example)
     65 - should add some primitives for accessing the selection etc.
     66   to repeat cumbersome code over and over
     67 
     68 ======================================================================
     69 
     70 Jeff Bauer suggests:
     71 
     72 - Open Module doesn't appear to handle hierarchical packages.
     73 - Class browser should also allow hierarchical packages.
     74 - Open and Open Module could benefit from a history, DONE
     75   either command line style, or Microsoft recent-file
     76   style.
     77 - Add a Smalltalk-style inspector  (i.e. Tkinspect)
     78 
     79 The last suggestion is already a reality, but not yet
     80 integrated into IDLE.  I use a module called inspector.py,
     81 that used to be available from python.org(?)  It no longer
     82 appears to be in the contributed section, and the source
     83 has no author attribution.
     84 
     85 In any case, the code is useful for visually navigating
     86 an object's attributes, including its container hierarchy.
     87 
     88     >>> from inspector import Tkinspect
     89     >>> Tkinspect(None, myObject)
     90 
     91 Tkinspect could probably be extended and refined to
     92 integrate better into IDLE.
     93 
     94 ======================================================================
     95 
     96 Comparison to PTUI
     97 ------------------
     98 
     99 + PTUI's help is better (HTML!)
    100 
    101 + PTUI can attach a shell to any module
    102 
    103 + PTUI has some more I/O commands:
    104   open multiple
    105   append
    106   examine (what's that?)
    107 
    108 ======================================================================
    109 
    110 Notes after trying to run Grail
    111 -------------------------------
    112 
    113 - Grail does stuff to sys.path based on sys.argv[0]; you must set
    114 sys.argv[0] to something decent first (it is normally set to the path of
    115 the idle script).
    116 
    117 - Grail must be exec'ed in __main__ because that's imported by some
    118 other parts of Grail.
    119 
    120 - Grail uses a module called History and so does idle :-(
    121 
    122 ======================================================================
    123 
    124 Robin Friedrich's items:
    125 
    126 Things I'd like to see:
    127     - I'd like support for shift-click extending the selection. There's a
    128       bug now that it doesn't work the first time you try it.
    129     - Printing is needed. How hard can that be on Windows? FIRST CUT DONE
    130     - The python-mode trick of autoindenting a line with <tab> is neat and
    131       very handy.
    132     - (someday) a spellchecker for docstrings and comments.
    133     - a pagedown/up command key which moves to next class/def statement (top
    134       level)
    135     - split window capability
    136     - DnD text relocation/copying
    137 
    138 Things I don't want to see.
    139     - line numbers...  will probably slow things down way too much.
    140     - Please use another icon for the tree browser leaf. The small snake
    141       isn't cutting it.
    142 
    143 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    144 
    145 - Customizable views (multi-window or multi-pane).  (Markus Gritsch)
    146 
    147 - Being able to double click (maybe double right click) on a callable
    148 object in the editor which shows the source of the object, if
    149 possible.  (Gerrit Holl)
    150 
    151 - Hooks into the guts, like in Emacs.  (Mike Romberg)
    152 
    153 - Sharing the editor with a remote tutor.  (Martijn Faassen)
    154 
    155 - Multiple views on the same file.  (Tony J Ibbs)
    156 
    157 - Store breakpoints in a global (per-project) database (GvR); Dirk
    158 Heise adds: save some space-trimmed context and search around when
    159 reopening a file that might have been edited by someone else.
    160 
    161 - Capture menu events in extensions without changing the IDLE source.
    162 (Matthias Barmeier)
    163 
    164 - Use overlapping panels (a "notebook" in MFC terms I think) for info
    165 that doesn't need to be accessible simultaneously (e.g. HTML source
    166 and output).  Use multi-pane windows for info that does need to be
    167 shown together (e.g. class browser and source).  (Albert Brandl)
    168 
    169 - A project should invisibly track all symbols, for instant search,
    170 replace and cross-ref.  Projects should be allowed to span multiple
    171 directories, hosts, etc.  Project management files are placed in a
    172 directory you specify.  A global mapping between project names and
    173 project directories should exist [not so sure --GvR].  (Tim Peters)
    174 
    175 - Merge attr-tips and auto-expand.  (Mark Hammond, Tim Peters)
    176 
    177 - Python Shell should behave more like a "shell window" as users know
    178 it -- i.e. you can only edit the current command, and the cursor can't
    179 escape from the command area.  (Albert Brandl)
    180 
    181 - Set X11 class to "idle/Idle", set icon and title to something
    182 beginning with "idle" -- for window manangers.  (Randall Hopper)
    183 
    184 - Config files editable through a preferences dialog.  (me) DONE
    185 
    186 - Config files still editable outside the preferences dialog.
    187 (Randall Hopper) DONE
    188 
    189 - When you're editing a command in PyShell, and there are only blank
    190 lines below the cursor, hitting Return should ignore or delete those
    191 blank lines rather than deciding you're not on the last line.  (me)
    192 
    193 - Run command (F5 c.s.) should be more like Pythonwin's Run -- a
    194 dialog with options to give command line arguments, run the debugger,
    195 etc.  (me)
    196 
    197 - Shouldn't be able to delete part of the prompt (or any text before
    198 it) in the PyShell.  (Martijn Faassen)   DONE
    199 
    200 - Emacs style auto-fill (also smart about comments and strings).
    201 (Jeremy Hylton)
    202 
    203 - Output of Run Script should go to a separate output window, not to
    204 the shell window.  Output of separate runs should all go to the same
    205 window but clearly delimited.  (David Scherer) REJECT FIRST, LATTER DONE
    206 
    207 - GUI form designer to kick VB's butt.  (Robert Geiger) THAT'S NOT IDLE
    208 
    209 - Printing!  Possibly via generation of PDF files which the user must
    210 then send to the printer separately.  (Dinu Gherman)  FIRST CUT
    211