CodeProject: IronTextBox - a TextBox and UserControl based console that may be used with IronPython.. Free source code and programming help

Report Article

Discuss

Send to a friend

7 votes for this Article.

Popularity: 2.87 Rating: 3.40 out of 5

Note: This is an unedited contribution. If this article is inappropriate, needs attention or copies someone else's work without reference then please Report This Article

Sample Image - irontextbox.jpg

Introduction

Microsoft's IronPython 1.0 (or try IronPython's main website for the latest release) is a release of the Python programming language for the .NET platform. Below are some of the most important of IronPython's 1.0 namespaces and counting:

namespace IronPython.Compiler;
namespace IronPython.Compiler.Ast;
namespace IronPython.Hosting;
namespace IronPython.Modules;
namespace IronPython.Runtime;
namespace IronPython.Runtime.Exceptions;
namespace IronPython.Runtime.Calls;
namespace IronPython.Runtime.Types;
namespace IronPython.Runtime.Operations;
namespace IronPython.CodeDom;

Please keep in mind that IronPython is written for a CLI platform. I became interested in it after learning about ConceptNet: A Practical Commonsense Reasoning Toolkit written in Python. I started a C# library class for ConceptNet and needed to trace though it. So I then found myself sidetracked by writing this IronTextBox control for myself. It may be useful to others and it may not. However, it is another small introduction into Microsoft's IronPython.

IronTextBox for IronPython 2

This article's IronTextBox is for IronPython 1.1. For the latest version please see http://www.codeproject.com/KB/miscctrl/irontextbox2.aspx

IronTextBox

The TextBox control that I developed to help me understand some unfamiliar python code is IronTextbox. I find it useful to see what IronPython's limits are since it is still in its beta stage. Plus IronPython is staged on a CLI platform and this TextBox control creates more of a non-CLI platform. It currently has three namespaces
UIIronTextBox //(the main IronTextBox and IronTextBoxControl namespace) UIIronTextBox.Paths //(a class to store common paths for the "paths" command) UIIronTextBox.Utils //(a misc namespace) UIIronTextBox.IPEWrapper //(a class to handle PythonEngine stream output

Here is a screen capture of the help menu for IronTextBox 1.1.5.0b
IronTextBox Command Help Menu

The Demo

This demo uses a TextBox and UserControl based control that I named IronTextBox. It is to be used with Microsoft's IronPython. There is a bunch of useful methods in Python and IronPython 1.0 does a great job of implementing all of the common ones. Let the record state that I am not an expert at Python nor IronPython but am just learning both at the same time and it is amazing to me the work the IronPython team has done. I created this control to help me evaluate some Python scripts and learn IronPython.
IronPython 1.0 comes with several Console classes but I decided not to use them in this demo because I would have to distribute the classes within the project. Besides, what fun would that be. Also, the IronTextBox can be used as a COM object so anyone may use it to help test their applications. At least that's what I use it for.
I first started out with a TextBox based control then thought a nice color control would be outstanding. I have a very rough draft RichTextBox control still in active development. I may post the project with this article but as I am typing this I have not decided. I had to quit developing the control because I was having coloring problems with strings. I am not that up on my Rtf knowledge so due to me spinning my wheels for a couple of days I decided I was sidetracked and bailed because learning Rtf was not my main goal. So that is why the control in black and white.
I have tried to make the code easy to follow and included as many comments as I could. Therefore, I am time pressed and will not go into depth in this article. Microsoft has plenty of outstanding demos to use, although I understand that it is beta and still does not have much documentation.
Probably the most important thing to know about IronPython's PythonEngine is that it handles Python script by Executing it or Evaluating it. As long as you understand that then learning the rest of IronPython is not that difficult.

In myIronPythonDemo 1.2 try stepping thru some Python code. If you have installed ConceptNet 2.1 (please see my ConceptNet article) click on the "MontyLemmatiser commands" button and this imports MontyREChunker (if your UIIronTextBox.Paths are set correctly) and runs its python method. THIS DEMO WILL ERROR OUT. Set a breakpoint on line 92 in MontyREChunker.py. (you may need to run this first for proper results, as of this writing I am not sure why it does not like to run behind one of the other click events)

Here is a screen shot of Microsoft Visual C# Express 2005 debugging a Python module:

If you download the latest release of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK you may run VS 2005 under it's Experimental Hive which supports IronPython integration. In this mode, it will do Python syntax coloring for you and also auto-indentation.

Below is an incomplete custom MessageBox I wrote to help me debug. It is now located in the UIIronTextBox.Utils namespace.

        /// <summary>
        /// Custom MessageBox call. Excepts some random objects 
        /// from IronPython and converts to string.
        /// </summary>
        /// Output object from IronPython.
        public void MessageBoxIronPy(Object inobject)
        {
            Type itstype = inobject.GetType();

            switch (itstype.FullName)
            {
                case "IronPython.Runtime.Tuple":
                    Tuple IPTuple = new Tuple((Tuple)inobject);
                    MessageBox.Show(IPTuple.ToString());
                    break;
                case "IronPython.Runtime.Dict":
                    Dict IPDict = new Dict();
                    IPDict = (Dict)inobject;
                    MessageBox.Show(IPDict.ToString());
                    break;
                case "IronPython.Runtime.List":
                    List IPList = new List();
                    IPList = (List)inobject;
                    MessageBox.Show(IPList.ToCodeString());
                    break;
                case "System.String":
                    MessageBox.Show(inobject.ToString());
                    break;
                case "System.Int32":
                    MessageBox.Show(Convert.ToString(inobject));
                    break;
                case "System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection":
                    StringCollection IPSC = new StringCollection();
                    IPSC = (StringCollection)inobject;
                    StringEnumerator SCE = IPSC.GetEnumerator();
                    string output = "";
                    while (SCE.MoveNext())
                        output += SCE.Current.ToString();
                    MessageBox.Show(output);
                    break;
                default:
                    MessageBox.Show
                    (inobject.GetType().ToString() + " not yet implemented.");
                    break;
            }
        }

Try using the IronTextBox console after running the first.py demo. When it has completed type "first.hi" at the prompt and then press enter. That executes first's hi method and displays its return value in the IronTextBox.

How to Compile and Execute the Demo Application

Make Sure you have downloaded and extracted IronPython 1.0 (or try IronPython's main website for the latest release). FYI: I have hardcoded the IronPython script folder to "Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments + @"\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\IronPython-1.0-RC1\Tutorial"" in the project. However, I have implementated an OpenFileDialog to correct any incorrect paths.
Download and unzip this article's .Net Solution and project files.
From MS VC# 2005 Solution Explorer, Add a Reference by browsing to IronPython.dll and IronMath.dll located where you extracted the IronPython download.
ReBuild both projects in the solution by right-clicking on each project (IronTextBox,myIronPythonDemo)and select ReBuild. The demo should now be able to execute.

Conclusion

IronPython is Microsoft's answer to handling Python script. It is a great resource to use. It lead me to develop this control for myself. I didn't put too much time into it, but feel free to build upon it or use it to test your own IronPython applications. I envisioned version 1.0.0.0b to include a method for browsing to a Python module and running each line through the IronTextBox but I simply ran out of time. I will be implementing this feature and I will update the article at a later date. IronTextBox 1.1.5.0b currently has "btwfi" command to walk thru a python module to see if any errors occur in IronPython.

References

Updates

3/14/06

Article and IronTextBox version 1.0.0.0b posted.

3/16/06

Organized namespace UIIronTextBox and made the control Visual Studio ToolBox friendly. Now actually acts like an IronPython console after dropping the control into a Form.
UIIronTextBox.ConsoleControl is now named UIIronTextBox.IronTextBoxControl
Transfered irontextboxControl_CommandEntered and GelpHelpText() from the project demo to the IronTextBox control.
UIIronTextBoxControl now accesses public UIIronTextBox.ConsoleEngine global_eng by calling irontextboxControl_CommandEntered.
Article project and IronTextBox version 1.1.0.0b uploaded.

3/19/06

Some cool new IronTextBox commands added like btaf and btwfi added along with 2 new namespaces(see below).
Added Support for loading a Python .py file line-by-line. eg. WalkPythonFile(string fullpathfilename)
Added UIIronTextBox.Paths class to store common paths.
Added UIIronTextBox.Utils for misc use. eg. MessageBoxIronPy(Object inobject)
Added btaf to IronTextBox's internal commands. Appends a folder by first calling FolderBrowserDialog.
Added btwfi to IronTextBox's internal commands. Reads a .py line-by-line into IronTextBox by first calling OpenFileDialog.
Added paths [-arg] - args: -misc, -python24, -ironpython, -all. Appends all hardcoded common paths stored in UIIronTextBox.Paths
IronTextBox.dll version 1.1.4.0b uploaded.

3/26/06

Updated the demo application. Now myIronPythonDemo 1.2, supports IronTextBox.dll version 1.1.x
Added IronTextBox menu screen shot and screen shot of Python file debugging.
Improved IronTextBox: WalkPythonFile(string fullpathfilename) handles """ and # comments properly.
Added IronTextBox: DelStmt catch for misc Evaluatations.
Added IronTextBox command: rew - Re-Write a Python file into a StringBuilder.(for testing).
Added IronTextBox command: runfile - Run a .Py file. Calls OpenFileDialog to run the module by calling PythonEngine.RunFile.
BugFix IronTextBox: Misc. IronPython.Compiler.ExprStmt calls getting Evaluated and Executed twice fixed.
IronTextBox.dll version 1.1.5.0b uploaded.
Added IronTextBox section to the article.

6/22/06

Updated the demo application to version 1.3.0.0b.
Updated IronTextBox.dll to version 1.2.0.0b.
Updated misc support for IronPython beta8. Many changes to IronPython forced these updates. Previous versions of IronPython are not supported.

7/16/06

Updated the demo application to version 1.4.0.0b.

Updated IronTextBox.dll to version 1.3.0.0b.

Updated misc support for IronPython beta9. Previous versions of IronPython are not supported.

Now uses UIIronTextBox.IPEWrapper namespace to handle output from the PythonEngine

In IronPython Beta9: PythonEngine.GetGlobal now PythonEngine.Globals (IDictionary)

Added new link to IronPython's main website
Added link to latest Visual Studio 2005 SDK which includes IronPython integration for VS 2005.

7/25/06

BugFix: IPEStreamWrapper.sbOutput not clearing. submitted by slide_o_mix. Now IPEStreamWrapper.sbOutput clears directly after displaying if it is a misc command in irontextboxControl_CommandEntered().
Uploaded the demo application with new version of IronTextBox 1.3.1.0b.
Uploaded IronTextBox.dll to version 1.3.1.0b.

8/10/06

Updated the demo application to version 1.5.0.0b.
Updated IronTextBox.dll to version 1.4.1.0b.
Updated support for IronPython RC1.
IronTextBox BugFix: 'IronPython.Hosting.EngineModule' does not contain a definition for 'CallerContext'.

5/26/08

IronTextBox version 2 article posted for IronPython 2.0B2 support.http://www.codeproject.com/KB/miscctrl/irontextbox2.aspx

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

About the Author

JoeSox

Born in Bristol PA, just north of Philadelphia. Joe has been programming since he was ten. He is entirely self-taught programmer, and he is currently working as a Network Administrator in Seattle WA. He is currently US Navy Active Reservist for (SPAWAR)
In '98 was honorably discharged from the USN. He served onboard the USS Carl Vinson (94-98) He was lucky enough to drink President Clinton's leftover wine, promoted by his Captain, and flew in a plane off the flightdeck but not all at the same time. His interests, when time allows, are developing Major League Sports Simulators on www.joeswammi.com[^] and Artificial Intelligence that specifically exhibits human behavior. He is a true sports-a-holic, needs plenty of caffeine, and a coding junkie. He also enjoys alternative music and a big Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and new alternative music fan.

Joe has owns the url www.humanaiproject.org[^]. He has submitted an abstract to DARPA in Dec 03 proposing his proposed HAI framework and will soon be pursuing funding for a small software company to get it a product developed. Joe is an INTP[^] personality type. Joe "sees everything in terms of how it could be improved, or what it could be turned into. INTP's live primarily inside their own minds." INTPs also can have the "greatest precision in thought and language. Can readily discern contradictions and inconsistencies. The world exists primarily to be understood. 1% of the total population" [

Occupation:	Network Administrator
Location:	United States

Other popular Miscellaneous articles:

MFC Grid control 2.26
A fully featured MFC grid control for displaying tabular data. The grid is a custom control derived from CWnd
Themed Windows XP style Explorer Bar
A fully customizable Windows XP style Explorer Bar that supports Windows XP themes and animated expand/collapse with transparency.
TaskbarNotifier, a skinnable MSN Messenger-like popup in C# and now in VB.NET too
The TaskbarNotifier class allows to display an MSN Messenger-like animated popup with a skinned background
CPPToolTip v2.1
A class that allows you to display your data for a control as tooltip
Formula Editor
Formula-editor for editing and exporting mathematical content

Article Top

You must Sign In to use this message board.

Msgs 1 to 17 of 17 (Total in Forum: 17) (Refresh)

FirstPrevNext

Installing Iron Python

carlos chavarriaga

8:58 13 Aug '08

I have adcquired visual studio 2008 and want to install ironpython to work with python and using visual as ide, could anyone please help me and teach me how to use this fabulous group of tools.(Step by step) Thanks a million.
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Re: Installing Iron Python

JoeSox

11:00 13 Aug '08

carlos chavarriaga wrote:
I have adcquired visual studio 2008 and want to install ironpython to work with python and using visual as ide,

If you can't use the SDK link above with 3.5 .Net the only option is to try
IronPython Studio[^]

Also, if you are really interested and have more questions, I recommend signing up onto the IronPython Discussion group. Smile

http://lists.ironpython.com/listinfo.cgi/users-ironpython.com[^]

Later, JoeSox
CPMCv1.0 - humanaiproject.org - Last.fm - pswrdgen - PPokemon

Tab completion

withak30

9:04 27 Feb '07

Is there a way to enable tab completion for the control? You can use "-X:TabCompletion" with the regular ironpython console.
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Re: Tab completion

JoeSox

16:11 27 Feb '07

withak30 wrote:
Is there a way to enable tab completion for the control? You can use "-X:TabCompletion" with the regular ironpython console.

I will place this on the feature request list. I am not sure if there is a usable
–X:TabCompletion interface that will work but I will certainly look into it. If you beat me to it, please feel free to share your findings.

Later, JoeSox
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work."
-Aristotle
CPMCv1.0 ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ Last.fm

Re: Tab completion

adamhill

21:17 3 Mar '07

Here is the sample in the SDK that implements tab and syntax coloring. But it is tied to talking to the VS console system, so it will require some finagling for ITB. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb166165(VS.80).aspx adam...
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Re: Tab completion

JoeSox

4:46 5 Mar '07

Thanks. I am looking into the possibilities of using IronPythonConsoleWindow.dll and some of the other possible hooks I maybe able to use in other dlls as well. I'll post more after I have gone through everything. Later, JoeSox "Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." -Aristotle CPMCv1.0 ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ Last.fm
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Printing in for loop

zmask

8:55 22 Jan '07

When I type in the following python script for i in range(5): print i I get as a result: 4 But I should get: 1 2 3 4 Any ideas on how to fix this issue? Hans
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Re: Printing in for loop

JoeSox

15:16 22 Jan '07

Thanks for the bug report. It appears that commenting out line 103 in IPEWrapper.cs will fix the bug.
I don't know if this breaks anything else and I haven't had enough time to test it yet.
Hopefully, that is the permanent fix for the bug.

Later, JoeSox
"Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel."-
Leonardo da Vinci
CPMCv1.0 ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ Last.fm

Nice Work !

Martin Gagne

3:52 9 Aug '06

A new version of IronPython is out now... It's the RC1.

Could you please update your project for this new version.

I have this error on the following line

Error	1	'IronPython.Hosting.EngineModule' does not contain a definition for 'CallerContext'	C:\Documents and Settings\Desktop\myIronPythonDemo1_4\IronTextBox\IronTextBox\IronTextBox.cs	910	82	IronTextBox

s = ParsetheText(consoleTextBox.global_eng.Sys, consoleTextBox.global_eng.DefaultModule.CallerContext.CreateCompilerContext(), defBuilder.ToString(), endOfInput,out parsingMultiLineString, out isMultiLine);

Re: Nice Work !

JoeSox

4:23 9 Aug '06

Martin Gagne wrote: Could you please update your project for this new version. I certainly will. I am traveling now and will when I return. Thanks. Later, JoeSox "Football is a game of cliches, and I believe in every one of them." -Vincent Lombardi CPMCv1.0 ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ Last.fm
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Re: IronTextBox v1.4.1.0b posted

JoeSox

16:31 10 Aug '06

Just FYI, IronTextBox v1.4.1.0b posted. Just changed "consoleTextBox.global_eng.DefaultModule.CallerContext.CreateCompilerContext()" to "new CompilerContext()" Thanks. Later, JoeSox "Football is a game of cliches, and I believe in every one of them." -Vincent Lombardi CPMCv1.0 ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ Last.fm
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Bug?

slide_o_mix

12:52 25 Jul '06

I noticed something with the code, try the following: print "Hello, world" x = 5 When I did this it printed "Hello, world" again after the x = 5, from what it looks like, it is because the StringBuilder is not cleared after each command is executed.
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Re: Bug Fixed[modified]

JoeSox

16:35 25 Jul '06

slide_o_mix wrote:
When I did this it printed "Hello, world" again after the x = 5, from what it looks like, it is because the StringBuilder is not cleared after each command is executed.

Thanks for the bug report slide_o_mix!

Now IPEStreamWrapper.sbOutput clears directly after displaying its contents if it is a misc command in irontextboxControl_CommandEntered().

-- modified at 21:35 Tuesday 25th July, 2006

Alternative to IronPython...

Christian Birkl

9:06 20 Mar '06

...is http://boo.codehaus.org/[^]. I haven't tried it myself, but its description speaks for itself: " Boo is a new object oriented statically typed programming language for the Common Language Infrastructure with a python inspired syntax and a special focus on language and compiler extensibility. " -- modified at 14:07 Monday 20th March, 2006
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

You might be interested in... leppie 22:04 14 Mar '06

LSharp[^] xacc.ide-0.1.3.2
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Re: You might be interested in...

JoeSox

22:18 14 Mar '06

leppie wrote: LSharp[^] Thanks leppie. I'll check that out. I'm normally not into scripting but I have been interested in Python lately trying to translate ConceptNet. Does LSharp handle Python script? Later, JoeSox "Football is a game of cliches, and I believe in every one of them." -Vincent Lombardi CPMCv1.0 ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ Last.fm
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Re: You might be interested in... leppie 4:32 15 Mar '06

JoeSox wrote: I'm normally not into scripting LSharp is LISP derivative, and wont handle python, thought you mite be interested in another scripting language. xacc.ide-0.1.3.2
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink	2.00/5 (1 vote)

Last Visit: Monday, December 1, 2008 5:18 PM Last Update:Monday, December 1, 2008 5:18 PM

General News Question Answer Joke Rant Admin