New Beta for Pythonista 3.3

[omz]

There's now a public beta for the upcoming Pythonista 3.3. If you signed up for a Pythonista 3 beta previously, you should have received a notification from TestFlight. If you're not a beta tester yet, but would be interested in testing, you can just use this link to sign up (I no longer need to collect your email address for this):

https://testflight.apple.com/join/qDkBu2ur

It's a beta, and I wanted to have it out before the holidays, so some things aren't quite done yet, others aren't polished yet, but it should overall be quite usable and not worse than the App Store version in any significant way. If you're new to this: If you install the beta, it replaces the App Store version on your device, but you won't lose data. It works like a regular App Store update in that regard.

I'm really curious what you'll create with the custom keyboard extension!

Full release notes below:

New Features

• New scriptable keyboard extension and associated keyboard module:

  • First off, this is not intended to replace the system keyboard or your preferred third-party keyboard for most of your typing. It's much more like the emoji picker, i.e. you'd typically switch to it just for specific tasks. The keyboard does not support any kind of AutoCorrect or QuickType suggestions. Just switch to the system keyboard if you need those (hold the 'globe' key).
  • You can enable the keyboard in the Settings app (General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard). It already includes various script shortcuts from the examples folder that you can try right away. If you want to add your own scripts, use the new "Shortcuts..." option from the 'wrench' menu.
  • You can use the keyboard for simple things, like quickly inserting the current date/time in your favorite format, or even show a custom UI, like a calculator, in the keyboard view (or above a standard QWERTY keyboard). Have a look at the included examples to get an idea of what's possible.
  • The keyboard module includes keyboard-specific functionality for inserting text, modifying the cursor position, showing user interfaces in the keyboard, and more.
  • Generally, the Pythonista keyboard does not require that you enable 'Full Access', but you can't use some functionality in your scripts then (e.g. clipboard or network access).
  • Note: If you have a hardware keyboard connected to your iPad, and the Pythonista keyboard does not show up on screen when you select it, please tap and hold the ˅ button in the bottom-right corner of the screen. This should normally not happen when you set the Pythonista keyboard's primary language to 'Emoji'.

• Support for Siri & Search shortcuts:

  • This allows you to integrate Python scripts in various places on iOS. You can invoke shortcuts using Siri with custom voice commands, run them from Spotlight Search, or add them to larger automation workflows in the iOS 12 Shortcuts app.
  • Please note that "background" shortcuts (i.e. those that don't launch the Pythonista app) have very limited resources (RAM) available to them, so you're somewhat limited in what you can do without launching the full app. Also, you cannot implement any interaction within Siri, except for reacting to a tap on the Siri result.
  • The shortcuts module provides useful utilities for shortcut scripts, but you can also just use the print function and e.g. ui.Image.show to produce simple output, as you would in a script that runs in the app.

• Improved and unified UI for creating shortcuts and Pythonista URLs -- This allows you to create script shortcuts for Siri & Search, the new Pythonista keyboard, the share sheet extension, editor actions, and home screen icons, all from one place: The new "Shortcuts..." option in the 'wrench' menu. This also contains a new Pythonista URL generator for creating various kinds of pythonista3://... URLs more easily.

• Revamped notification module with support for custom actions (buttons), location-based and repeating notifications, and more. The module also works in Pythonista's app extensions now (it was previously main app only).

• The console's history is now persistent (i.e. saved when you quit the app). You can also delete the console history by tapping and holding the '^' button now.

• Scripts stored in iCloud are now compatible with the built-in "Run Script" and "Edit Script" actions of the (Apple) Shortcuts app. Just prefix the script name/path with "iCloud/", e.g. use "iCloud/MyScript.py" (without quotes).

Built-in Modules

• Added location.render_map_snapshot function to the location module for generating map images (using Apple Maps data).

• Improved photos.capture_image function with the option to use the selfie camera by default.

• Added cb.Peripheral.manufacturer_data in cb (CoreBluetooth) module.

• Added ui.Label.scales_font and ui.Label.min_font_scale attributes to ui.Label.

• Added reminders.Reminder.priority and reminders.Reminder.url attributes in the reminders module.

• Changed the default file type for dialogs.pick_document to 'public.item' (instead of 'public.data', this works better for unknown file types).

• Added (third-party) emoji module.

• Added documentation for ui.TextField.begin_editing, ui.TextField.end_editing, and ui.TextField.secure.

Bugfixes

• Fixed a crash when saving images from the console when access to the photo library has not been granted yet.

• Fixed an issue with the extra key row hiding console input on 2018 iPad Pros.

• Fixed a crash when using arrow keys on an external keyboard while the on-screen keyboard is visible.

• Fixed problems with using iCloud scripts in the share sheet extension.

• Fixed triple-quoted byte strings and f-strings not being syntax-highlighted correctly.

• Fixed 'wrench' actions not being saved when invoked from the script library.

• Fixed broken turtle.pen function.

Miscellaneous

• Selecting Python 2.7 as the default interpreter shows an "end of life" warning now (Python 2.7 will cease to be officially supported by the Python Software Foundation in 2020).

Have fun testing!

[Guest]

"There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip"

Please everyone continue to be patient and compassionate - Ole has publicly said that recent delays are due to his mental health and other personal reasons. It takes time to come back from that kind of thing and the path is rarely linear so his recent progress with feature development and his high levels of communication on Twitter should not be seen as guarantees.

Love to all

[Zoot]

Ole just tweeted that he plans to submit 3.3 to the app store over the weekend, with a new Test Flight version also being available at that time too! Release notes shown in his tweet as well.

Super exciting! Looking forward to official 3.3 next week hopefully!

Congrats Ole!

[ltddev]

@Zoot can you clarify the meaning of, "...a new Test Flight version also being available at that time too!"?

My understanding would be once the code goes golden in the app store, it means the release is no longer "in beta" and if that is the case, beta testing for this release is effectively wrapped up and Ole does not need beta testing any more and a beta build would cease. If that is the case, what is the purpose of a "new Testflight version"?

[Zoot]

Ole wrote: "Here are the App Store release notes I've prepared for Pythonista 3.3. I intend to submit over the weekend, a pre-release version will be on TestFlight as soon as it's finished processing on Apple's servers."

So the implication seems to be that TF will allow access as a "prerelease" between the time it's submitted and whenever it's (hopefully) approved, but that's purely a guess.

[mikael]

Now available for testing.

[mikael]

In the Testflight version, under External files, Open..., I can choose between ”Python/Text file” and ”Folder”. If I select folder, I still only see iCloud and ”On this Phone” folders, but no Working Copy repositories.

Am I missing something obvious?

[shaun-h]

I can see Working Copy and access folders in it (note: I use the Working Copy test flight version), so unsure as to why but I assume you can see Working Copy in the files app.

[cvp]

I don't use WorkingCopy but I see iCloud, On My iPad, my NAS ip and my Mac ip

[mikael]

@shaun-h, thanks. I had somehow lost Working Copy in Files. After I enabled it again there I can now open the repos directly in Pythonista – excellent!

[cvp]

Now, the open external folder also shows an usb Drive connected, and that is a very good news...

[omz]

The idea is that I still need to finish a few things for the release (mostly app preview video etc.), but I wanted to ensure that users get access to the update a bit earlier because I can’t really foresee how smoothly app review etc. goes, and some people relied on features that were in previous betas, but not in 3.2.

[cvp]

@omz Welcome back and thanks for the future version. I'm sincerely more than happy that you feel better.

[omz]

@cvp Thank you!

[jmv38]

@omz welcome back sir. Thank you for the update.

[omz]

@jmv38 Thanks to you as well! :)

[shinyformica]

@omz thanks for the update!

Pythonista has been unbelievably helpful at my work, and continues to impress every day.

[mikael]

@omz, my sincere thanks to you, as well.

Pythonista and this incredible community have enabled me to keep up and develop my Python knowledge, squeezed in between a non-coding job and a busy family life.

I am not exaggerating when I say that that was the primary thing that enabled me to get a new job, starting a new career next month as a full-time senior Python developer.

[Olaf]

Happy to see you @omz and the update!

[bennr01]

@omz Glad to see you in the forums again :)

BTW, in the current beta, the keyboard.set_view() method still has TODO (also document custom view callbacks like kb_should_insert) as the documentation.

[omz]

@bennr01 said:

BTW, in the current beta, the keyboard.set_view() method still has TODO (also document custom view callbacks like kb_should_insert) as the documentation.

Oops, thanks!