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Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:04:14 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: Re: webbrowser.open("./documentation/help.html")-- No Go in Windows
From: llanitedave <llanitedave@veawb.coop>
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On Sunday, February 24, 2013 12:48:40 PM UTC-8, Chris Rebert wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 12:28 PM, llanitedave <llanitedave@veawb.coop> wr=
ote:
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> > On Sunday, February 24, 2013 1:35:31 AM UTC-8, Chris Rebert wrote:
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> >> On Feb 24, 2013 1:21 AM, "llanitedave" <llani...@veawb.coop> wrote:
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> >> > I created an html help page for my Python 2.7.3 application and put =
it in a documentation folder.  I used webbrowser.open() to fetch the page.
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> >> > On linux -- KDE specifically, the command opens the local file on my=
 default browser with no issues.  However, on Windows 7, it opens Internet =
Explorer, which doesn't even search the local folder, but goes straight to =
the web and does a Google search, returning nothing but useless noise.
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> >> > My default browser on Windows is Chrome, so my intention is getting =
undermined right from the start.
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> >> > How do I get a local html file to open properly from Python in Windo=
ws?
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> >>
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> >> Sounds like this might be your problem:
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> >> http://bugs.python.org/issue8936
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> >>
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> >> The fix would seem to be ensuring that the URL you pass includes the s=
cheme (in your case, "file:").
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> >
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> > Holy Toledo!  That's a two-year-old bug spanning two versions of the la=
nguage!
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> >
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> > BTW, Chris, the snippet I showed in the title essentially WAS the exact=
 code.
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>=20
>=20
> Sorry, my bad. This is why I dislike messages that put critical info
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> *only* in the subject line; I tend not to reread the subject line once
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> I've opened the message.
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Nah, my bad.  I didn't realize that the title was the only place I'd put th=
e actual command.  I don't like it when other people do that either.

>=20
>=20
> >  It's a method with that single line called from a wxPython Help menu. =
 I can't really put an absolute pathname into the argument, because the app=
lication is going to be distributed to a variety of computers at my workpla=
ce, and there's no assurance that it will go into (or remain in)a particula=
r folder.
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>=20
>=20
> As Demian demonstrated, you can simply compute the absolute path from
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> the relative path at runtime; although I would probably toss an
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> abspath() call in for good measure
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> (http://docs.python.org/2/library/os.path.html#os.path.abspath ).
>=20
>=20

OK, I'm going to have to study that one a bit.  It looks like a new concept=
 for my feeble brain.

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> > This to me illustrates the downside of the Python philosophy of "There =
should be only one obvious way to do things".  If that one obvious way has =
a fatal bug, you're pretty much SOL.
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>=20
>=20
> On the other hand, you don't have to investigate which of N APIs is
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> the "fixed"/"correct" one (Which PHP MySQL function is safe from SQL
>=20
> injection again?), and you only have wait for 1 fix instead of N. But
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> yes, some of Python's included batteries are due for some recharging.
>=20
>=20
>=20
> Cheers,
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> Chris

You're right.  It's one thing to have a persistent bug, it's another thing =
to offer the function in the documentation as if the bug doesn't exist.

The bug report from October 2010 indicated that someone was working on a fi=
x at that time.  The fact that it's still not fixed implies that it might b=
e something that's really hard to pin down.  In a case like that, it's prob=
ably better to simply withdraw the feature, or tag it as "Non-windows only"