Aaron Marten : IronPython

Lang .NET Talk

aaronmar — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:03:36 GMT

A few weeks ago, Carl Brochu and I had the incredible opportunity to speak at the 2008 Lang .NET Symposium that was hosted here on the main Microsoft campus (alongside some much more well-known folks in the software industry). Our talk was titled "Integrating Languages in the Visual Studio Shell" and covered the basics of adding your own custom language to Visual Studio. We also demonstrated the array of possibilities around creating a custom-branded IDE with the Visual Studio Shell.

If you're considering adding a language to VS (or just want to know what's involved), this talk would be a great place to start.

The recordings of the talks are now available for your viewing pleasure. You will need the Silverlight 1.0 plugin in order to view them.

IronPython Studio

aaronmar — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:00:10 GMT

Ever since we first released the IronPythonIntegration sample in the Visual Studio SDK, one of the constant requests we receive is along the lines of "where can I download and install it without having to build it?".

IronPython Studio is the IronPythonIntegration sample running in an instance of the Visual Studio Shell. Very cool!

Check it out if you want to run IronPython in an IDE with debugger, colorization, console window, etc...

...and you don't need to buy Visual Studio Standard/Pro/etc to run it

...and it's free

Why can't I show the "Add New Items" dialog in a WPF flavored project?

aaronmar — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 19:04:06 GMT

If you've downloaded and tried out the IronPythonIntegration sample in the July/August 2007 CTP of the VSSDK, you may have noticed the addition of WPF project support for IronPython projects. We've had questions from folks also trying to add this support to their project systems around trouble getting the "Add New Item" dialog to appear. Indeed, you'll notice that this is also not working in the IronPythonIntegration sample. In the spirit of openness and airing dirty laundry, here's an explanation of the issue(s) as well as what you can do about it today, and when Visual Studio 2008 is released:

So, what's the story here?

In short, the IronPythonIntegration sample isn't quite correct in the implementation we shipped in the July/August CTP. When Visual Studio needs to bring up the "Add New Item" dialog, it needs to know which item templates it should show. For example, you wouldn't want to see C# specific items appear if you were working on a Visual Basic project. Before showing the dialog, VS will query the project system for the VSHPROPID_AddItemTemplatesGuid property. The GUID that gets returned tells Visual Studio which templates to show.

Since the WPF flavor doesn't know about non-Microsoft project systems that it might be flavoring, it can't possibly know what GUID in advance to return here. As such, the correct way to do this is to provide your own flavor that sits atop the WPF flavor. Doing this allows you to override GetGuidProperty and return the proper value to Visual Studio. The version of the IronPython sample in the latest CTP does not show this.

When will the IronPythonIntegration sample show this properly?

Our next release of the Visual Studio 2008 SDK will show how to do this correctly.

Can I get this working for my language in Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2?

Yes, but that depends on your definition of "working". :-) The problem here is that in Beta 2, the WPF Flavor used a deprecated version of the classes that allow you to do "flavored" projects in C#. Your language-specific WPF flavor would also need to use the old classes (FlavoredProjectFactory/FlavoredProject) in Beta 2. In the upcoming final release of VS 2008, the WPF flavor uses the new classes (FlavoredProjectFactoryBase/FlavoredProjectBase), and your language-specific flavor would need to match it.

I only mention the definition of "working" because the old classes have some known bugs around the way they handle COM-aggregation behind the scenes. The bugs could cause your product to crash Visual Studio under certain situations. The new classes which will need to be used at RTM do not have these problems.

IronPython Integration Sample and the WPF Designer

aaronmar — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 02:02:00 GMT

[Update Jan 04, 2008: Made <system.codedom> instructions more clear. Thanks to Cory Bloyd for the suggestion.]

If you've had the opportunity to work with WPF/.NET 3.0 yet, you've likely run into the x:Class attribute in XAML. If you specify a x:Class on a XAML page, during compilation the XAML compiler creates a class in code using the registered CodeDomProvider for the given language that you're compiling. This presented some challenges for getting the IronPython sample to work with the new designer. There were two major problems:

The IronPython CodeDomProvider is not registered globally on the machine. This is required for the XAML compiler to be able to instantiate a new CodeDomProvider for the langauge. We didn't need this in WinForms, since all the CodeDom manipulation happens in the WinForms designer. In WinForms at compile time, you're compiling already-generated code.
IronPython 1.1 does not support compiling to .NET-consumable types. The types that are produced are consumable from within an IronPython context, but you can't effectively use the assemblies that are produced from another .NET language (like VB/C#, etc...). The problem with WPF and IronPython 1.1 comes in at runtime when an attempt is made to instantiate the type you declared in the x:Class attribute. Since we wanted to remain on the IronPython 1.1 codebase, and the IronPython folks didn't want to add a full static type compiler (for obvious and very good reasons), we needed to work around this limitation.

For the first issue, the most simple and reliable way to do this is simply have the user of the sample manually register the IronPython CodeDomProvider in your machine.config file. Here are the instructions from the ReadMe to get this working:

When building an IronPython WPF Application, you may receive the following error message: Unknown build error, 'Object reference not set to an instance of an object'. In order for XAML compilation to succeed, a valid CodeDomProvider is required to be registered on the machine for the language being compiled. Because this is a global machine configuration setting, the IronPython sample does not attempt to register the IronPython CodeDomProvider automatically. In order to register the IronPython CodeDomProvider manually and build IronPython/WPF projects with Visual Studio or MSBuild, you can do the following:

Open %SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\CONFIG\machine.config in a text editor (such as Notepad)
Add the following to register the IronPython CodeDomProvider as a direct child of the root <configuration> node:
<system.codedom>
<compilers>
<compiler language="py;IronPython" extension=".py" type="IronPython.CodeDom.PythonProvider, IronPython, Version=1.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=4afbdc4d950a9602" />
</compilers>
</system.codedom>
Close & Save machine.config

For the second issue, we had to be a little more creative. By default, the WPF Designer (code-named Cider) will attempt to use a CodeDomProvider to do event handler generation if you have one for your language. In fact, if you have a CodeDomProvider that is good enough to work with Windows Forms and you support static .NET type compilation, you should be able to get the WPF designer working with almost no problems.

Fortunately, Cider also supports an extensibility mechanism in case you don't provide a CodeDom and wish to override the event handler generation. To do this, you need to implement a custom EventBindingProvider. The one that is included in the IronPython sample is called PythonEventBindingProvider. It should be noted that for most languages, you don't need to write your own EventBindingProvider like we did for IronPython. We only did this for Python to work around the static compilation issue.

Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 SDK Released

aaronmar — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 06:42:27 GMT

We've just released a version of the Visual Studio 2008 SDK targeting Beta 2. You can go grab it here.

One of the things that we've added to this release is limited support for the WPF Designer with IronPython. There are some interesting things we had to do to get this to function properly that I'll write more about tomorrow.

Visual Studio 2005 SDK - December 2006 (CTP)

aaronmar — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 18:46:16 GMT

Last Friday, our team shipped the December 2006 CTP of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK. You can get the CTP at http://www.vsipmembers.com/ (free registration required).

This is a CTP of our upcoming version 4 release which should be finalized around February 2007.

Some of the highlights of this CTP:

IronPython WebSite & Web Application Project improvements (especially around intellisense, inline script blocks, debugging)
Setup - While the SDK is still a ~120 MB download, the local documentation is now an optional component if you prefer using only online MSDN documentation. Keep in mind though that local documentation is updated for each CTP, but the online documentation is only published every 3-4 months when we produce a "release" version of the SDK.
DSL Tools update (mostly bug fixes from what I understand)
Toolbar ComboBox Sample
Controls Sample : Now demonstrates integration of Help 2.0 (DExplore) content with controls

IronPython for ASP.NET

aaronmar — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:33:00 GMT

Mahesh from the IronPython team has just announced the release of IronPython for ASP.NET (CTP).

I had the opportunity to see the team give a dry run of their presentation for TechEd Europe this morning along with some demos of the CTP. What they showed was nothing short of spectacular! With this release, you can create web sites in Visual Studio (or Visual Web Developer Express) which give you not only the dynamic language features of Python, but the power of the classes in the .NET Framework and ASP.NET as well.

[Just a side note to clear up any potential confusion...this release shares some source code with the IronPythonIntegration sample that ships in the Visual Studio 2005 SDK, but they are not the same product.]

A hearty congratulations to the ASP.NET and IronPython teams!

IronPython 1.0 has shipped!

aaronmar — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 20:06:00 GMT

As has been announced all over the Internet, the IronPython team shipped their 1.0 release this past week. As a big fan and user of IronPython, let simply say Congratulations to the team!

For all those times where there was some new .NET API or class that I needed to learn and experiment with, I used to fire up VS and create a simple C# WinForms or Console application. No longer! I now just fire up ipy.exe and new up some objects.

As a note about the VSSDK and IronPython 1.0...our latest CTP release (August 2006) was locked down in late July 2006, and as such, does not have the final 1.0 IronPython bits. However, for our "RTM" quality version 3 of the VS 2005 SDK, we will be shipping IronPython 1.0 inside it for the IronPythonIntegration sample. This RTM Version 3 of the SDK which includes IronPython 1.0 bits will be the September 2006 version and should hit the web sometime before the end of September. We're going through final testing and security reviews now, so the end is in sight.

In the meantime, I would highly encourage anyone working on any project related using the .NET framework to check our IronPython. As a start, I also recommend the excellent tutorial that is included in IronPython.

Visual Studio 2005 SDK - August 2006 CTP now available

aaronmar — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 03:03:00 GMT

http://affiliate.vsipmembers.com/downloads/69/UserFileDownload.ashx

Some of the new features include:

New Powertoys (Extensibility Explorer, VC++ Snippet Support, SuperDiff)
Enhancements to IronPython web integration
RDT Explorer Sample
DocView Editor Sample
Managed Language Tools / ManagedMyC Sample

I'll have some more to write about the managed language tools and ManagedMyC in a day or two. In the mean time, check out the latest CTP! This will be the last CTP before the final VSSDK V3 release which should be available in mid-September.

Visual Studio 2005 SDK Version 2 has Shipped!!!!

aaronmar — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:59:00 GMT

You can download the SDK here. This is the second release of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK (version one was in November 2005). From the download description: "The April v2 RTM is the next milestone in the VS 2005 SDK. This RTM release contains updated VS Integration sample and documentation content, including updates to the IronPython end-end integration sample with Windows Forms Designer integration, updated C# and C++ Editor Reference samples, new examples (CustomSearchProvider, RegExLanguageService, XMLDesigner, LanguageInADialog, CodeSweep, ToolboxControlsInstaller, SingleFileGenerator), addition of Shell, LanguageService, and Project MPF source code, DSL Tools extensibility, updates to VSTS content to match RTM, and signed VSTA bits."

Enjoy!

A bit more on IronPython

aaronmar — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 18:08:00 GMT

[Update 04.02.2007: Added note about running under the debugger]
[Update 03.14.2007: Updated content for Visual Studio 2005 SDK Version 4.0]
[Update 01.23.2007: Added note about needing VC++]
[Update 09.15.2006: Updated content for Visual Studio 2005 SDK Version 3.0]
[Update 07.26.2006: Soma linked to my blog :). Because of this, I've made some minor edits to bring this post a bit more up to date.]

Since there have been several mentions of this blog on the IronPython discussion alias, I thought I should mention some more about the IronPython sample in the latest release of the Visual Studio SDK.

How do I get IronPython Integration in Visual Studio 2005?

First, you'll need to go download the latest release of the Visual Studio SDK (Version 4.0). Note that the IronPythonIntegration sample will only work with Visual Studio 2005 (and higher). It is not possible to get it to work with .Net 1.1 and Visual Studio 2003.

What version of Visual Studio do I need? Can I use this with an Express edition?

Unfortunately, no. The Visual Studio Express editions do not support extensibility (addins & packages). This is a limitation of the Express products and not a limitation we are placing on the sample. You will need Visual Studio Standard or higher to build and use the sample.

Also, you will need to have Visual C++ installed in order to compile the sample. This is a current prerequisite for building any Visual Studio integration project since the C++ preprocessor is used to compile the CTC files in the sample. (CTC is the format that is used to statically describe the menu structure that a package provides in Visual Studio.)

OK, I've got this thing downloaded...now how do I get IronPython working inside Visual Studio?!?

Open Visual Studio 2005 and (assuming you installed the SDK to the default location) open the solution at "C:\Program Files\Visual Studio 2005 SDK\2007.02\VisualStudioIntegration\Samples\IronPythonIntegration". Then, it should simply be a matter of hitting CTRL+F5 for Build & Run. This will launch Visual Studio using the "Experimental hive". (Alternatively, you could run "devenv /rootsuffix Exp" or use the shortcut that is placed under VS SDK in the Start Menu.)

Note that if you run the sample via F5 (under the debugger), you may see some exceptions and MDA (managed debugging assistant) errors. These can be safely ignored.

I think I have it built and running...now what?

You can create a new IronPython project just like you would a C#/VB/J#/C++ project, from the new project command. My suggestion would be to create a console application and play around with that for a while. If you open any file with a .py extension, you'll notice that Visual Studio will do syntax coloring for you.

One other cool little item this sample includes is a tool window (like Output Window, Solution Explorer, etc...) called the IronPython Console Window. You can launch this from View-Other Windows.

Another thing to note with the console window is a variable defined in it called "dte". This is a pointer to the same DTE object that is used to automate Visual Studio via the Macros IDE. Translation: you can write mini-macros for VS with IronPython instead of Visual Basic. :-)

How does this compiler thing work anyway? I haven't been able to 'compile' IronPython binaries before...

Over the past few months, the IronPython team added some compiler interfaces to IronPython.dll which the IP project system uses to compile when you select "Build". One thing to realize about how the compiler works is that the binaries produced have a heavy dependency on the IronPython runtime (IronPython.dll). After all, it is a dynamic language. When you execute your IronPython binary, each statement is being evaluated and type-checked as you execute it.

What this means for you is that the MSIL in the binaries produced will not look like a standard .NET library you build in C#/VB. In fact, you probably won't be able to consume it from another project.

What other features are there?

This sample is primarly meant as a sample to demonstrate integrating a language into Visual Studio 2005. As such, some of the features may be incomplete or unstable. Nevertheless, the sample has limited support for the following features:

MSBuild
Windows Forms Designer
WebSite Projects (e.g. "New Website")
Web Application Projects
Intellisense (Both as inline in a aspx page and in normal code files)
Demonstrates use of MPF features

I have multiple modules (.py files) that need to interact with each other. How does that work?

Simple. In your project, just import the module like you would if you had a bunch of .py files on disk together in the same folder. For example, if I have program.py as my main file and I need to import myModule.py, I would put the following statement in program.py:

import myModule

Which version of IronPython is included in this sample?

The Visual Studio 2005 SDK Version 4.0 uses a pre-beta version of IronPython 1.1.

Is there any way to get IronPython running in Visual Studio without downloading the Visual Studio 2005 SDK?

At the present, the only method we are using for shipping the IronPython/VS integration is as a sample in the VSSDK.

However, the IronPython team has released an IronPython for ASP.NET CTP which includes a subset of the functionality included in this sample. Note that the IronPython for ASP.NET CTP is shipped in binary form only, and it does not require the Visual Studio SDK.

OK, I think I found a bug...

Please send us feedback with any problems/questions/suggestions you may have!