data explorer: update comms with copy to code messages #873

isabelizimm · 2025-07-15T19:51:10Z

This PR implements 2 comm message types:

get_code_syntaxes: for a particular data explorer instance, decide what options a user has for generating code. I would expect the return value of this to be ['base-r', 'dplyr'] or something to that effect. The first item in the array will be the default, which means it will be the first option in the modal and what users will see generated code for without making a different selection.
translate_to_code: for a particular data explorer instance, this message sends over the filters and sorts applied to the data and the desired syntax. The expectation is that this will return a code snippet string. The front end will (eventually) apply code highlighting, but the formatting responsibility is TBD.

Below is a diagram of the general flow through comms. Note that these comm messages will not call each other; they will be triggered by a modal in Positron core.

flowchart TD
    A["Modal opens"] --> B["Get all potential syntaxes from language pack  with **_get_code_syntaxes_**"] 
    B--> C[Use default syntax]
    C --> D["Translate data view (filters, sorts) to code with **_translate_to_code_**"]
    D --> E[Display code for user to copy]
    E -->|user chooses another syntax from modal dropdown| D

Copilot

Pull Request Overview

This PR extends the data explorer communication layer to support exporting the current view as code and retrieving available code syntaxes, and stubs out the corresponding backend handlers.

Added new comm structs and enum variants for translate_to_code and get_code_syntaxes
Introduced unimplemented match arms in the RDataExplorer backend for handling the new requests

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
crates/ark/src/data_explorer/r_data_explorer.rs	Added match arm stubs for `TranslateToCode` and `GetCodeSyntaxes` requests in backend dispatch
crates/amalthea/src/comm/data_explorer_comm.rs	Defined `ExportedCode`, `CodeSyntaxOptions`, `TranslateToCodeParams`, and updated request/reply enums

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

crates/amalthea/src/comm/data_explorer_comm.rs:1090

Add unit tests for the new TranslateToCode and GetCodeSyntaxes communication messages to verify serialization, deserialization, and correct request/reply handling.

/// Parameters for the TranslateToCode method.

Copilot · 2025-07-15T22:02:02Z

crates/ark/src/data_explorer/r_data_explorer.rs

@@ -556,6 +556,7 @@ impl RDataExplorer {
                    format,
                },
            )),
+            DataExplorerBackendRequest::TranslateToCode(_) | DataExplorerBackendRequest::GetCodeSyntaxes => todo!(),


Avoid using todo!() for unimplemented request handlers; implement the TranslateToCode and GetCodeSyntaxes logic to translate filters into code and retrieve available syntaxes, returning the appropriate reply variants instead of panicking.

Suggested change

DataExplorerBackendRequest::TranslateToCode(_) | DataExplorerBackendRequest::GetCodeSyntaxes => todo!(),

DataExplorerBackendRequest::TranslateToCode(filters) => {

let translated_code = self.translate_filters_to_code(filters)?;

Ok(DataExplorerBackendReply::TranslateToCodeReply(translated_code))

},

DataExplorerBackendRequest::GetCodeSyntaxes => {

let syntaxes = self.get_available_code_syntaxes()?;

Ok(DataExplorerBackendReply::GetCodeSyntaxesReply(syntaxes))

},

Due to my unfamiliarity with Rust, I'm honestly not sure if this will break if those methods don't exist 😅

jennybc · 2025-07-15T23:45:49Z

I started with an early review of posit-dev/positron#8536. So I'll let this age a bit, while we converse over there.

related issue: #8531 related pr for Ark: posit-dev/ark#873 I'm not exactly sure of the flow of these PRs with Ark, but I believe we'll want to merge that PR, release Ark, and then pick up the new release in this PR before this PR is merged. This PR implements makes 3 major changes to the comms: - **add `convert_to_code` as a supported feature:** there are other supported features, such as row filters and column filters. This structure includes if it is supported as well as supported syntaxes, as an array of values. - **`suggest_code_syntax` message:** for a particular data explorer instance, decide what options a user has for generating code. I would expect the return value of this to be `base-r` or something to that effect. - **`convert_to_code` message:** for a particular data explorer instance, this message sends over the filters and sorts applied to the data and the desired syntax. The expectation is that this will return a code snippet string. The front end will (eventually) apply code highlighting and formatting. Below is a diagram of the general flow through comms. Note that these comm messages will not call each other; they will be triggered by a modal in Positron core. ```mermaid flowchart TD A["Data explorer instance is created"] --> B["Get all potential syntaxes from language pack via the **supported_features**." ] B --> C["Also set suggested syntax with **suggest_code_syntax**"] C --> D[Open modal] D --> E["Use **dataExplorerInstance.suggestedSyntax**"] E --> F["Translate data view (filters, sorts) to code with **_translate_to_code_**"] F --> G[Display code for user to copy] G -->|user chooses another syntax from modal dropdown| F ``` There is an open PR that builds off this branch to use these comms, so you can actually fire them off/interact with them #8537 ### Release Notes  #### New Features - N/A #### Bug Fixes - N/A ### QA Notes It doesn't look like we have much testing for comms, but open to ideas! Currently I plan on adding unit tests on each language runtime and then e2e tests for the UI pieces. --------- Signed-off-by: Isabel Zimmerman <54685329+isabelizimm@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Jennifer (Jenny) Bryan <jenny.f.bryan@gmail.com>

jennybc

As far as a stub goes, LGTM.
Will you make sure that the main PR description gets any updates to reflect what actually went in? That might already be the case, this is just a reminder to double check. We went through a lot of renaming and reframing on the comms.

jennybc · 2025-07-22T18:42:56Z

crates/ark/src/data_explorer/r_data_explorer.rs

+                    support_status: SupportStatus::Supported,
+                    code_syntaxes: Some(vec![
+                        CodeSyntaxName {
+                            code_syntax_name: "base r".into(),


Suggested change

code_syntax_name: "base r".into(),

code_syntax_name: "base".into(),

jennybc · 2025-07-22T18:43:12Z

crates/ark/src/data_explorer/r_data_explorer.rs

+                            code_syntax_name: "base r".into(),
+                        },
+                        CodeSyntaxName {
+                            code_syntax_name: "data table".into(),


Suggested change

code_syntax_name: "data table".into(),

code_syntax_name: "data.table".into(),

update comms with copy to code messages

d2a351f

This was referenced Jul 15, 2025

WIP: copy as code comms posit-dev/positron#8492

Closed

data explorer: "Copy as Code" comms posit-dev/positron#8536

Merged

add todo for new comms

c557239

isabelizimm requested a review from Copilot July 15, 2025 22:01

Copilot AI reviewed Jul 15, 2025

View reviewed changes

isabelizimm marked this pull request as ready for review July 15, 2025 22:06

isabelizimm requested a review from jennybc July 15, 2025 22:14

isabelizimm added 2 commits July 18, 2025 14:25

sync with other comms

9130181

add convert to code features

9a640b6

jennybc approved these changes Jul 22, 2025

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data explorer: update comms with copy to code messages #873

data explorer: update comms with copy to code messages #873

isabelizimm commented Jul 15, 2025 •

edited

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-            DataExplorerBackendRequest::TranslateToCode(_) | DataExplorerBackendRequest::GetCodeSyntaxes => todo!(),
+            DataExplorerBackendRequest::TranslateToCode(filters) => {
+                let translated_code = self.translate_filters_to_code(filters)?;
+                Ok(DataExplorerBackendReply::TranslateToCodeReply(translated_code))
+            },
+            DataExplorerBackendRequest::GetCodeSyntaxes => {
+                let syntaxes = self.get_available_code_syntaxes()?;
+                Ok(DataExplorerBackendReply::GetCodeSyntaxesReply(syntaxes))
+            },

	code_syntax_name: "base r".into(),
	code_syntax_name: "base".into(),

	code_syntax_name: "data table".into(),
	code_syntax_name: "data.table".into(),

data explorer: update comms with copy to code messages #873

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data explorer: update comms with copy to code messages #873

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Pull Request Overview

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jennybc commented Jul 15, 2025

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isabelizimm commented Jul 15, 2025 •

edited

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