16.8.7.6 Reloading a python file in GPS

After you have made modification to a python file, you might want to reload it in GPS. This requires careful use of python commands.

Here is an example. Lets assume you have a python file ("mymod.py") which contains the following:

     GPS.parse_xml ("""
        <action name="my_action">
           <shell lang="python">mymod.myfunc()</shell>
        </action>""")
     
     def myfunc():
        print "In myfunc\n"

As you can guess from this file, it defines an action "my_action", that you can for instance associate with a keybinding through the Edit->Key shortcuts menu.

If this file has been copied in one of the plug-ins directories, it will be automatically loaded at startup.

Notice that the function myfunc is thus found in a separate namespace, with the name mymod, same as the file.

If you decide, during your GPS session, to edit this file and have the function print "In myfunc2" instead, you then have to reload the file by typing the following command in the Python console:

     > execfile ("HOME/.gps/plug-ins/mymod.py", mymod.__dict__)

The first parameter is the full path to the file that you want to reload. The second argument is less obvious, but indicates that the file should be reloaded in the namespace mymod.

If you omit the optional second parameter, Python will load the file, but the function myfunc will be defined in the global namespace, and thus the new definition is accessible through

     > myfunc()

Thus, the key shortcut you had set, which still executes mymod.myfunc() will keep executing the old definition.

By default, GPS provides a contextual menu when you are editing a Python file. This contextual menu (Python->Reload module) will take care of all the above details.