Can a .Display() method similar to that in Polyglot Notebooks be added into Verso Notebook?

[sheng-jie]

Just like this :

docs/formatting.md
docs/display-output-csharp.md

[TorreyBetts]

Thanks for the feature request. Most of the building blocks that would support this are implemented, we'll look at that for an upcoming release.

[sheng-jie]

Great, looking forward to the release of this feature.

[TorreyBetts]

Can you share a bit more detail about what you're trying to accomplish, include pseudo code snippets if necessary? We may have different ideas in mind, along with the architecture differences with Polyglot and I want to make sure if I support functionality like this it's consistent across the app.

[sheng-jie]

Don't overthink it, it's just for printing object information, which is equivalent to an extension method.

[TorreyBetts]

This feature request will be included in the next release. Here's how to use it across the languages:

C#

The Display() extension method is available on any object during cell execution. It runs the value through the formatter pipeline and renders the output inline, and for example if you register a formatter for your type, Display() will use it automatically.

var data = new { Name = "Verso", Version = 1, Features = new[] { "notebooks", "extensions" } };                                                                                 
data.Display();
                                                                                                                                                                                
// With an explicit MIME type                                                                                                                                                   
data.Display("application/json");
                                                                                                                                                                                  
// Multiple outputs in a single cell                                                                                                                                            
foreach (var item in collection)
{                                                                                                                                                                               
    item.Display("text/html");                               
}

Python

Python has a display() function (to matching language conventions) with an optional MIME type hint:

cities = {"Tokyo": 13.96, "Delhi": 16.78, "Shanghai": 24.87}                                                                                                       
display(cities)                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                                                  
# Explicit MIME type                                         
display(cities, "application/json")

# Works with libraries like pandas/matplotlib                                                                                                                                   
import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame({"City": list(cities.keys()), "Population": list(cities.values())})                                                                                           
display(df)  # Renders as an HTML table 

F#

let data = {| Name = "Verso"; Version = 1 |}                                                                                                                                    
display data                                                                                                                                                             
   
// With MIME type                                                                                                                                                               
displayAs "application/json" data

JavaScript/TypeScript

Uses a display() function:

const data = { name: "Verso", version: 1 };                                                                                                                                     
display(data);                                               

// With MIME type
display(data, "application/json");

PowerShell

PowerShell has a Display function that supports both positional arguments and pipeline input:

$data = @{ Name = "Verso"; Version = 1; Features = @("notebooks", "extensions") }                                                                                               
Display $data                                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                                                  
# With MIME type                                                                                                                                                                
Display $data "application/json"                                                                                                                                                
                                                               
# Pipeline support
Get-Process | Select-Object -First 5 | Display

All languages support the formatter, custom IDataFormatter extensions will automatically enhance Display() output for those types.

[sheng-jie]

Great job!