Pythonista 1.6 Beta

omz

So, with Apple's new TestFlight, I can finally have a lot more beta testers, and won't have to worry about device limits so much.

If you'd like to play with the next version of Pythonista before it hits the App Store, please send me an email with your Apple ID, and I'll see what I can do. I don't plan to use up all the slots yet (I might need some later), but if you've been posting here, there's a very good chance that I can give you access to the beta.

As for what to expect, here's a list of the new features in the current beta:

Improved support for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus screen sizes
Removing files from the library moves them to a trash folder instead of deleting them immediately.
URLs in console output are 'linkified' automatically
New reminders module for accessing the iOS Reminders database (read/write)
New cb module for connecting to Bluetooth LE peripherals (experimental)
New dialogs module as an easy-to-use alternative to the ui module when you just need simple data entry. This also contains functions to import files from the iCloud Drive document picker (iOS 8 only). – note: this is broken in the current beta, but will be fixed in the next few days

Anyone?

Gerzer

I just sent you an email!

Can't wait for the release version!

Gerzer

Bluetooth support sounds awesome!

wradcliffe

I have a couple of interesting Bluetooth LE peripherals in hand right now.

A general purpose Arduino based microcontroller.
https://punchthrough.com/bean/

Part of the big Internet of Things development push. Would be cool to be able to access it from Pythonista.

MIDI interface
http://www.quicco.co.jp/archives/shop_menu/wireless-midi-interface-mi-1-2

I could test accessing these things using your module if that would help. I was just about to ask you if you would consider adding simple support for Core MIDI using this ...

https://github.com/sixohsix/simplecoremidi

I know that Apple just added official support for Bluetooth LE wireless MIDI in IOS8 so accessing this type of peripheral via CoreMIDI may still be the best approach.

wradcliffe

Curious to know what the Bluetooth LE support is for. I have a couple of very interesting peripherals that each require a speciall app to be installed on iOS in order to function. One is for MIDI and the other is a general purpose Arduino style computer.

JonB

How does testflight work ... Does the overwrite existing pythonista install? Or it creates a special version?
Presumably this rewuire ios8? Iirc testflight only works with 8+?

J

LawAbidingCactus

Hi @Omz. Just sent you an email. The reminders module definitely looks interesting!

LawAbidingCactus

@JonB, to my knowledge, it simply installs a provisioning profile separate from the official Pythonista install.

omz

I've just sent out invites to everyone who's asked so far, and I have plenty of slots left.

@JonB When you install the beta, it overwrites the App Store version, but it should keep your data, just like a regular update.

tomkirn

Hi @Omz,

just reading the release notes is awesome. I immediately tried some of the stuff and just have to say WOW. Just one question about the beta testing: Open comments about the the beta here or where to sent my remarks?

Tom

omz

As long as you make it clear that a thread is beta-related, it's totally fine with me to discuss it here.

I've just submitted a new build with a few fixes – most importantly, the dialogs module should actually work now. It'll be available in a few hours (it takes a while for iTunes Connect to process new uploads).

There's also a new twitter module that allows you to access iOS Twitter accounts from Python. This makes it a lot easier to use the Twitter API because authentication is handled automatically. There are some easy-to-use functions to do API requests directly with this module, but you can also use it just for generating Authorization headers that you can then pass to your favorite HTTP library (e.g. requests or urllib), if you want more control.

userista

Bug: passing variables into console.login_alert doesn't work and causes the command to hang (was working in stable).

omz

@hyshai Thanks, I'll look into that. So far, I can't reproduce the hanging, but it definitely doesn't work correctly (it always behaves as if it was cancelled).

techteej

Just started playing with it, truly great. Also noticed that sheet view doesn't have a fixed width and height now, and it responds to the views set size. Wasn't in the release notes so I'm not sure if this was meant to be there.

userista

@omz I narrowed it down. It has nothing to do with a variable. Multiple prompts are the issue e.g.

import console, keychain
keychain.get_password('test', 'test') #requires keychain.master_password which has a prompt
console.login_alert('hello') # this will never be called and the script hangs

another example

import console
console.login_alert('hello')
console.login_alert('goodbye') # this will never be called but the script exits silently

Is this possibly related to the bug of not showing the keyboard automatically when there's an input prompt (specifically the keychain.master_password prompt)?

dgelessus

This sounds interesting, looking forward to the update. Sent you an e-mail.

Does TestFlight require iOS 8? I have an oldish iPhone that can only run iOS 7 that I might be able to test with as well.

omz

I think TestFlight requires iOS 8.

techteej

@omz TestFlight does require iOS 8. How do you get the text entered into a text dialog?

omz

How do you get the text entered into a text dialog?

It's the return value of the text_dialog function.

briarfox

Just mailed you my apple id. Would love to test out BTLE.