Debug Console throws errors on correct code

[regularuser123]

Table of contents

• The context
• Minimal working examples
  • Minimal working example 1
  • Minimal working example 2
• The questions

The context

I’ve noticed that the output of some Python code is different in the built-in “Debug Console” than when it is run in a terminal. Let me show you some minimal working examples.

Minimal working examples

Minimal working example 1

The following code block contains a minimal working Python example that shows how to search a dictionary in a list of dictionaries. It was retrieved from this answer at Stack Overflow.

dicts = [
  {"name": "Tom",  "age": 10},
  {"name": "Mark", "age": 5},
  {"name": "Pam",  "age": 7},
  {"name": "Dick", "age": 12}
]

name_to_search = "Pam"

print(next(item for item in dicts if item["name"] == name_to_search))

The following is the result of running it in a terminal

$ python3 minimal-working-example-1.py
{'name': 'Pam', 'age': 7}
$ echo $?
0

The following is the result of running it in the “Debug Console”

>>> dicts = [
...   {"name": "Tom",  "age": 10},
...   {"name": "Mark", "age": 5},
...   {"name": "Pam",  "age": 7},
...   {"name": "Dick", "age": 12}
... ]
... 
... name_to_search = "Pam"
... 
... print(next(item for item in dicts if item["name"] == name_to_search))
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "aqt.debug_console", line 292, in onDebugRet
  File "<string>", line 10, in <module>
  File "<string>", line 10, in <genexpr>
NameError: name 'name_to_search' is not defined

Minimal working example 2

The following code block contains a minimal working Python example that shows how to search =a= in the string =abc=.

import re

def my_function():
    print(re.search('a', 'abc'))

my_function()

The following is the result of running it in a terminal

$ python3 minimal-working-example-2.py 
<re.Match object; span=(0, 1), match='a'>
$ echo $?
0

The following is the result of running it in the “Debug Console”

>>> import re
... 
... def my_function():
...     print(re.search('a', 'abc'))
... 
... my_function()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "aqt.debug_console", line 292, in onDebugRet
  File "<string>", line 6, in <module>
  File "<string>", line 4, in my_function
NameError: name 're' is not defined

The questions

1. From the two aforementioned minimal working examples, I conclude that Anki’s “Debug Console” misbehave in some scenarios, so my question is: What are more consistent ways to execute arbitrary Python code in Anki?
2. Is it possible to send a Python script that exists in a file so that it is run inside Anki? (something like this `$ python3 execute-in-anki.py my-script.py`. By doing this, we avoid using the “Debug Console”)

[dae]

The debug console is intended for quick snippets. For non-trivial code, you can already put it in a file by either modifying Anki’s source code, placing the code in an add-on, or by importing a file via the debug console.

The issues you’ve described here look to be some quirk related to the way exec() works, and simple assignments like like ‘a=5; print(a)’ do appear to work. If you figure out a way to solve the issue that does not introduce much complexity, a PR would be welcome.

[Rumo]

Meant to look into this a while ago. As it turns out, it’s a quick fix.

Improve namespacing for debug console