Ability to customize retrolab interface

[holzschu]

Problem

I'm running retrolab on a computer where the user cannot run terminals (it's an iPad). To avoid user confusion, I would like the ability to remove the "New Terminal" button (and "New Console", too). In Jupyterlab, setting terminals_enabled to False will remove the "New Terminal" button in the Launcher tab. I haven't found a similar feature in retrolab (I think it's because the buttons are generated directly in Javascript, which makes a very compact system, at the expanse of customization).

Proposed Solution

I would like to suggest introducing a way to disable individual buttons in the interface. Possibly through a variable, that the user could set in a configuration file?

Additional context

Current user interface:

Desired user interface (after customization):

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[jtpio]

Thanks @holzschu for opening this.

These two buttons are defined in separate plugins here:

retrolab/packages/tree-extension/src/index.ts

Lines 67 to 133 in de683b6

	/**
	* Plugin to add a "New Console" button to the file browser toolbar.
	*/
	const newConsole: JupyterFrontEndPlugin<void> = {
	id: '@retrolab/tree-extension:new-console',
	requires: [IFileBrowserFactory, ITranslator],
	autoStart: true,
	activate: (
	app: JupyterFrontEnd,
	filebrowser: IFileBrowserFactory,
	translator: ITranslator
	) => {
	const { commands } = app;
	const browser = filebrowser.defaultBrowser;
	const trans = translator.load('retrolab');
	const newConsoleCommand = 'tree:new-console';
	commands.addCommand(newConsoleCommand, {
	label: trans.__('New Console'),
	icon: consoleIcon,
	execute: () => {
	return commands.execute('console:create');
	}
	});
	const newConsole = new CommandToolbarButton({
	commands,
	id: newConsoleCommand
	});
	browser.toolbar.insertItem(2, 'new-console', newConsole);
	}
	};
	/**
	* Plugin to add a "New Terminal" button to the file browser toolbar.
	*/
	const newTerminal: JupyterFrontEndPlugin<void> = {
	id: '@retrolab/tree-extension:new-terminal',
	requires: [IFileBrowserFactory, ITranslator],
	autoStart: true,
	activate: (
	app: JupyterFrontEnd,
	filebrowser: IFileBrowserFactory,
	translator: ITranslator
	) => {
	const { commands } = app;
	const browser = filebrowser.defaultBrowser;
	const trans = translator.load('retrolab');
	const newTerminalCommand = 'tree:new-terminal';
	commands.addCommand(newTerminalCommand, {
	label: trans.__('New Terminal'),
	icon: terminalIcon,
	execute: () => {
	return commands.execute('terminal:create-new');
	}
	});
	const newTerminal = new CommandToolbarButton({
	commands,
	id: newTerminalCommand
	});
	browser.toolbar.insertItem(3, 'new-terminal', newTerminal);
	}
	};

So it should be possible to disable them with:

jupyter labextension disable @retrolab/tree-extension:new-console
jupyter labextension disable @retrolab/tree-extension:new-terminal

[holzschu]

Well I'll be damned! It works! I'm in awe.
For a more permanent solution, I ended up creating the config file Library/etc/jupyter/labconfig/page_config.json, which contains:

{
  "disabledExtensions": {
    "@retrolab/tree-extension:new-console": true,
    "@retrolab/tree-extension:new-terminal": true
  }
}

(which is the same, but stored as settings). Thank you so much!

While we're on the topic of customization, is there a way to add extra buttons to the top toolbar for a notebook? I would need two extra buttons to account for the specificities of iOS.

[jtpio]

which is the same, but stored as settings

Yes that also works.

While we're on the topic of customization, is there a way to add extra buttons to the top toolbar for a notebook? I would need two extra buttons to account for the specificities of iOS.

Yes this is possible via an extension: https://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/latest/extension/notebook.html#adding-a-button-to-the-toolbar. There is an example in the extension examples repo: https://github.com/jupyterlab/extension-examples/tree/master/toolbar-button

[jtpio]

Closing as fixed by jupyter/notebook#6336

In the next Notebook v7 pre-release it will be possible to more easily customize the file browser toolbar items via the settings system, just like in JupyterLab.

@holzschu feel free to open new issues in the notebook directly if you think this needs to be iterated on more. Thanks!