Plugins with System Python Module Deps Should Catch Exceptions

[Random Void User]

Plugins throwing an exception over missing modules should have error-handling. I got the errors below from cuda_css_inspector. After slogging through various GitHub pages and such, I found out that this plugin expects to find a couple of Python modules on my OS. Please write plugins to say, explicitly, what a user must install to make them work. It's just a "try-catch" clause. Many plugins need nothing special, but those that do should offer more than a raw error in the Python console. Average users think wrongly that CudaText is broken. A concise message that does not look like a bug would help. Thanks!

Code: Select all

Init: cuda_css_inspector
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/redacted/cudatext/py/cuda_css_inspector/__init__.py", line 7, in <module>
    from lxml import etree
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'lxml'
ERROR: Exception in CudaText for cuda_css_inspector.show_panel: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'lxml'
Init: cuda_css_inspector
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/redacted/cudatext/py/cuda_css_inspector/__init__.py", line 7, in <module>
    from lxml import etree
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'lxml'
ERROR: Exception in CudaText for cuda_css_inspector.show_panel: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'lxml'

[main Alexey]

1) I cannot agree that this error

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'lxml'
ERROR: Exception in CudaText for cuda_css_inspector.show_panel: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'lxml'

is blurry, it tells that 'lxml' is not found.
2) file readme.txt of CSS_Inspector tells this:

Installation on Linux and Unix'es
---------------------------------

Plugin needs additional Python libraries, install them like this:

$ pip3 install lxml
$ pip3 install cssselect


Installation on Windows
-----------------------

Plugin needs additional libraries.
a) "cssselect" from https://pypi.org/project/cssselect/#files
Get the .whl file, it is the ZIP archive. Unzip the folder "cssselect" to [CudaText]/py folder.
You must have [CudaText]/py/cssselect/__init__.py file.

b) "lxml" from https://pypi.org/project/lxml/#files
Get the .whl file, it is the ZIP archive. Unzip the folder "lxml" to [CudaText]/py folder.
You must have [CudaText]/py/lxml/__init__.py file.
Get the package according to your CudaText bitness (32- or 64-bit) and to Python version
(3.8 is the default for CudaText). For example, for 64-bit and Python 3.8 you need
"lxml-x.x.x-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl".

[main Alexey]

Ok I improved the plugin. it now shows nicer message-box if it cannot find libs.

[Random Void User]

Thanks for the improvement.

A developer can decipher tracebacks. My concern is for average users. First impressions of error gibberish may mislead them that CudaText is buggy. Hand-holding and comfort hugs let them know all is well. Thanks!