[Suggestion] Display Console on Error

[Yaron10]

When testing a script, you want to know if there's any error and what it is.
You manually open the Console.

I think it would be very helpful if the Console should be automatically displayed on error.

Thank you.

[sasumner]

Maybe some interesting related links? :

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/13277/pythonscript-show-console-on-error

posting by me here:
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/14130/hide-or-toggle-find-results-panel-with-keyboard-command

[Yaron10]

@sasumner,

Thank you for the links.

So I'm not the first user addressing this issue.
I think it would be good to integrate this option in PS (with or w/o a user preference).

[sasumner]

I fully support this issue. In addition, I would like to see the PS Console opened (if not already) and its tab activated (if not already, in a multitab situation--I have the Find-result panel and PS Console as multi-tab in a single window) when PS code writes something to the console. This is typically in the form of a "print" statement but could be any console write. I'm not sure if this kind of thing "burdens" the plugin too much at runtime...

[Yaron10]

and its tab activated (if not already, in a multitab situation--I have the Find-result panel and PS Console as multi-tab in a single window) when PS code writes something to the console.

Good point.
👍

[Yaron10]

but could be any console write

If you mean any console.write() in a script, I think it should depend on a (separate) user-preference.

[sasumner]

@Yaron10 , maybe so...maybe so... :)
As always, with software things get complicated fast...deserves some well-thought-out design!

[Yaron10]

Opening/activating the console on error can be implemented even without a user-preference IMO.
console.write() in a script is fundamentally different and should therefore depend on a user-preference.

Anther option: console.write() can have another parameter activateConsloe defaulted to false.

But what is an error? Traceback messages only? Python syntax errors? Errors from a external process?
Messages written with writeError function? Raise calls might be or might be not an error ... ?

[Yaron10]

Any error message not initiated directly by the user.

If implemented, flashing NPP window can be a nice addition.
And console.writeError() (like console.write()) can have another parameter activateConsloe defaulted to false.

I wasn't clear - if you start a subprocess and try to do something with it, it might return an
output like "not supported with this version". How should a program know this?
What I can think of is that PS treats all messages which are send to stderr as error messages,
but messages sent to stdout should be treated as non-error messages which would mean
if someone is redirecting stdout to stderr it would be seen as error.

[Yaron10]

I've never tried starting a sub-process nor am I fully familiar with redirecting stdout to stderr.
So I believe your suggestion is clever as always. :)

Thank you.

[sasumner]

Maybe the low-hanging fruit is best dealt with first. Many times I run a script and something unexpected happens, and my editor tab text doesn't change as I expect, and I am left wondering...because the PS Console is not currently being shown. When I then show the PS console I see something like this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 1, in
NameError: name 'a' is not defined

So as a first pass, I would think that anytime a "traceback" is generated, the PS console should be shown to the user if not currently visible.

I think trying to catch things like this example with this kind of feature is a bit ambitious: ...start a subprocess ...it might return an output like "not supported with this version".