Develop Reference

Combining React compiled output with pip install and GitHub

I develop a python library that also includes a server as a feature. Currently, the server is written in pure javascript, but I'd like to migrate to using React with TypeScript.
What I am not sure of is how I can set up my library structure so that I can use React+TypeScript for development but have only the compiled output included in my python application so pip install can work.
I'm assuming I have to make sure the React public folder is included in the python library, but I am new to using React, so I'd appreciate some feedback or pointers to libraries that may already implement such a workflow that I can use as a template.

How to build/deploy a Python Azure Function App using an internal pypi

I'm using the command func azure functionapp publish to publish my python function app to Azure. As best I can tell, the command only packages up the source code and transfers it to Azure, then on a remote machine in Azure, the function app is "built" and deployed. The build phase includes the collection of dependencies from pypi. Is there a way to override where it looks for these dependencies? I'd like to point it to my ow pypi server, or alternatively, provide the wheels locally in my source tree and have it use those. I have a few questions/problems:
Are my assumptions correct?
Assuming they are, is this possible, and how?
I've tried a few things, read some docs, looked at the various --help options in the CLI tool, I've set up a pip.conf file that I've verified works for local pip usage, then on purpose "broken it" and tried to see if the publish would fail (it did not, so this leads me to believe it ignores pip.conf, or the build (and collection of dependencies happens on the remote end). I'm at a loss and any tips, pointers, or answers are appreciated!

You can add additional pip source to point to your own pypi server. Check https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-reference-python#remote-build-with-extra-index-url
Remote build with extra index URL:
When your packages are available from an accessible custom package index, use a remote build. Before publishing, make sure to create an app setting named PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL. The value for this setting is the URL of your custom package index. Using this setting tells the remote build to run pip install using the --extra-index-url option. To learn more, see the Python pip install documentation.
You can also use basic authentication credentials with your extra package index URLs. To learn more, see Basic authentication credentials in Python documentation.
And regarding referring local packages, that is also possible. Check https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-reference-python#install-local-packages
I hope both of your questions are answered now.

Watson Retrieve and Rank: Python Bluemix runtime

I am trying to run through the following tutorial on Bluemix:
https://www.ibm.com/watson/developercloud/doc/retrieve-rank/get_start.shtml
However, I am not able to install Python locally onto my system due to security policies. Is there a way I can run this tutorial through hosting my code in IBM DevOps Services using the Python runtime on Bluemix?
I am not sure if the Bluemix Python runtime can be leveraged like a natively installed Python and accept the command line instructions from:
Stage 4: Create and train the ranker.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

An alternative to the manual Python and curl commands in that tutorial is to use the web interface.
I've written about it in some detail on my blog which also includes a video walkthrough of how the web tool works. (You can also find the official documentation on ibm.com).
But to sum up, it'd mean you could do everything through a web browser and not have to install or run anything locally - including training a ranker.
There is a small wrinkle in this plan right now, unfortunately. The Solr schema used in the Python/curl tutorial you've followed isn't compatible with the web tool, but we're working on that. This means that if you use the web tool, you'll need to start again with a new cluster and collection. But this means that you could start again using your own documents, content and training questions, instead of having to use the cranfield test data - so hopefully this is a good thing!

How to create plugins for a web application

I am developing web applications in python using Django framework. I would like to develop some plugins to extend the functionality of the app. Can anybody tell me how to start about it as i have found nothing specific for web apps in python.
And also can the plugins be developed in any language or should they be in python as well??
Plugin: Suppose I am writing a parser to parse different forms of data, then i want each plugin to take care of each type of data. They should be included only if required by the user. The user has to download the plugin and be able to work on it.
Thanks,
Harsha

If you're talking about how to create a package that other Python developers can import into their application, whether it be a Django project or not, and have it installable via easy_install or pip, you need to register for an account on PyPi and follow the tutorial to get started.
If you want to write your "plugin" in a language other than Python, and offer that functionality on the web, regardless of language or platform, you need to create a Web Service to accept input and return output, usually in XML or JSON format.
Working with a Web Service is NOT like working with a Python package. There is nothing to download or install, there are simply URL endpoints that respond to HTTP verbs.

If you would like to make scripts that parse data and then fill your database with it then check Django documentation on how to write custom django-admin commands: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.5/howto/custom-management-commands/
Such commands will use django env and will have access to your models.

Installing Sphinx on App Engine - possible?

Following up on my last year's question on documentation, I now want to get started and try out Python-based Sphinx for putting together the developer documentation for a PHP CMS I've been working on.
Instead of setting up Python locally on my workstation, I would like to run it on a publicly accessible web server from the start. All the web hosting packages I have access to run on the LAMP stack, and I'm reluctant to buy Python-based hosting. I am very interested in the Google App Engine, the free quotas they provide will do for me a hundred times over, and even if not, their pricing looks very reasonable.
Now I have zero knowledge of Python - getting Sphinx to work would be my first contact with it - and very little time. As far as I understand, the platform and python libraries the App Engine provides are very compatible to a standard Python library but not identical.
So my question is:
Can Sphinx run on App Engine at all?
Is installing Sphinx on the App Engine as straightforward as if I would install it on top of a normal Python installation? Or will the App Engine's environment require tweaking of the source code that I can't perform in reasonable time with my current level of Python?
Should I be installing Sphinx on a local server and a "normal" Python stack instead first?
Does anybody know any helpful How-to's, tutorials or other resources for this?

You do not need to install Sphinx on GAE at all.
You use Sphinx to create a directory of static HTML, CSS and JS. When this step is finished, you simply upload the output from Sphinx -- in it's entirety.
The output from Sphinx (HTML, CSS and JS) is simply served from one place. You upload the documentation from where you created it to GAE as static files and serve them. Done.
There's no "install on a web server" aspect to Sphinx at all. Sphinx is not a web application; it does not run on your web server. You run it in development briefly to publish the documentation to HTML, LaTeX or whatever. Once you've created the static HTML files, you no longer need any part of Sphinx anywhere.
Can Sphinx run on App Engine at all?
I suppose it can, but you never need to.
Is installing Sphinx on the App Engine
as straightforward as...
It doesn't matter, because you don't install it there. You install it on your workstation and use it on your workstation.
Should I be installing Sphinx on a
local server and a "normal" Python
stack instead first?
Don't install it on a server. Install it on your workstation.
Does anybody know any helpful
How-to's, tutorials or other resources
for this?
If by "this" you mean "installing on a web server", then then answer is "no". One does not install it on a web server. So there are no how-to's, tutorials or resources for "installing on a web server".
If by "this" you mean "creating documentation with Sphinx", then the answer is "what's wrong with https://www.sphinx-doc.org? What do they lack?
I would like Sphinx's "engine" that
turns the input (consisting of reST
files) into HTML/CSS/JS to be
accessible from anywhere to make me
(and possible other contributors)
independent from a specific
workstation.
Sphinx is like a compiler. Everyone has their own copy on their workstation. They download the document source, make changes, commit the source changes, and upload the resulting document.
serve the generated documentation from
the same place.
Correct. After you download the source, make changes, regenerate the document and commit the changes, you upload the resulting document so it will be served from one -- and only one -- place.
Sphinx is a compiler. It is not a "web engine". It's a simple compiler that simply compiles your documentation into HTML so it can be served.

Interesting project! The main issue you're going to run into is that of filesystem access: The filesystem on App Engine is read-only, and based on looking at the source, Sphinx is fairly hard-coded to use the filesystem for output. It also expects to read the configuration file and input files from the local filesystem, which would make building docs for anything other than projects bundled with the app tricky.
It is possible to work around this, but it would require writing a simple virtual filesystem that uses the App Engine datastore, and using monkeypatching to make it work with the regular Python file interface. That's rather advanced for a "new to Python" project!
One other thing you might want to consider if you were pondering allowing users to upload projects to be documented: The Sphinx configuration file is in Python, so executing it could be dangerous - a user could do nasty things to your app with a malicious configuration file!

The difference between deployment locally via dev_appserver and remotely via appcfg has been - in my experience - limited to which of the two commands I execute. That said, I've no experience with Sphinx.

Sphinx compiles documentation, running it on a webserver makes as much sense as running gcc on a webserver.