Can pip be used with Python Tools in Visual Studio?
Question:
I’m collaborating with some fellow students to build a python app, and was hoping to use the ‘training wheels’ of Visual Studio intelli-sense. They use python on mac and linux, so ideally our source control repo would consist of just *.py source files that we wrote, and a requirements.txt export of pip dependancies (using the pip freeze method).
I would love to be able to create a new Visual Studio project, then be able to run the following commands (for instance) within that project:
pip install boto
pip install fabric
pip install cuisine
pip freeze > requirements.txt
And after that, be able to write some code that references these libraries and be able to run it from within Visual Studio.
Is there any way to do this? Is Python within Visual Studio even able to handle modules in the format they are available within pip, or do all python libraries used in VS have to have been pre-compiled for Windows?
Answers:
Yes you can, here is a simple guide taken from here https://zignar.net/2012/06/17/install-python-on-windows/
Before you can install Pip, you’ll need setuptools or distribute. If you’re using Python3, you must use distribute as setuptools doesn’t support Python 3.x
To install distribute download the setup file here https://pypi.python.org/pypi/distribute/0.6.27 and invoke it using python.
python.exe C:Pathtodistribute_setup.py
Now that distribute is installed, Pip can also be installed. Download get-pip.py here https://raw.github.com/pypa/pip/master/contrib/get-pip.py and invoke it in the same way you invoked distribute_setup:
python.exe c:Pathtoget-pip.py
After that Pip is installed. But you might want to add C:Python32Scripts to the Path Systemvariable too (see step 1). So you can execute pip.exe from any location.
From the mention of Visual Studio, it sounds like you’re using Python Tools for Visual Studio. If so, then support for pip, easy_install and virtualenv is one of the new features in PTVS 2.0 beta – get it and give it a try. Once you add an interpreter reference to your project, you’ll find commands to install a package in context menu for that interpreter in Solution Explorer.
This way, you also do not have to set up pip yourself, since PTVS will do it for you the first time you try to install a package.
Yep! Go to Tools -> Python Tools -> Python Environments.
This will open a new pane where you can select pip (VS 2015) or Packages (VS 2017) from the menu (it will say Overview by default) and then you can enter your module and double click to install.
Some packages have complex dependencies, and you might need to install them manually from these links:
On VS 2017, switch to the “solution explorer” and right click as indicated:
and you can set your path to pip like this:
Open cmd prompt
Run set PATH="C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual StudioSharedPython36_64"
When you install Python support with Visual Studio, the PIP executable can be found in
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual StudioSharedPython36_64Scripts
If it isnt there, type the following at a command prompt to find out Pythons install location
py --location
Then either add the location to path, or run pip with the full path from powershell
. "C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual StudioSharedPython36_64Scriptspip.exe" install pillow
I’m collaborating with some fellow students to build a python app, and was hoping to use the ‘training wheels’ of Visual Studio intelli-sense. They use python on mac and linux, so ideally our source control repo would consist of just *.py source files that we wrote, and a requirements.txt export of pip dependancies (using the pip freeze method).
I would love to be able to create a new Visual Studio project, then be able to run the following commands (for instance) within that project:
pip install boto
pip install fabric
pip install cuisine
pip freeze > requirements.txt
And after that, be able to write some code that references these libraries and be able to run it from within Visual Studio.
Is there any way to do this? Is Python within Visual Studio even able to handle modules in the format they are available within pip, or do all python libraries used in VS have to have been pre-compiled for Windows?
Yes you can, here is a simple guide taken from here https://zignar.net/2012/06/17/install-python-on-windows/
Before you can install Pip, you’ll need setuptools or distribute. If you’re using Python3, you must use distribute as setuptools doesn’t support Python 3.x
To install distribute download the setup file here https://pypi.python.org/pypi/distribute/0.6.27 and invoke it using python.
python.exe C:Pathtodistribute_setup.py
Now that distribute is installed, Pip can also be installed. Download get-pip.py here https://raw.github.com/pypa/pip/master/contrib/get-pip.py and invoke it in the same way you invoked distribute_setup:
python.exe c:Pathtoget-pip.py
After that Pip is installed. But you might want to add C:Python32Scripts to the Path Systemvariable too (see step 1). So you can execute pip.exe from any location.
From the mention of Visual Studio, it sounds like you’re using Python Tools for Visual Studio. If so, then support for pip, easy_install and virtualenv is one of the new features in PTVS 2.0 beta – get it and give it a try. Once you add an interpreter reference to your project, you’ll find commands to install a package in context menu for that interpreter in Solution Explorer.
This way, you also do not have to set up pip yourself, since PTVS will do it for you the first time you try to install a package.
Yep! Go to Tools -> Python Tools -> Python Environments.
This will open a new pane where you can select pip (VS 2015) or Packages (VS 2017) from the menu (it will say Overview by default) and then you can enter your module and double click to install.
Some packages have complex dependencies, and you might need to install them manually from these links:
On VS 2017, switch to the “solution explorer” and right click as indicated:
and you can set your path to pip like this:
Open cmd prompt
Run set PATH="C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual StudioSharedPython36_64"
When you install Python support with Visual Studio, the PIP executable can be found in
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual StudioSharedPython36_64Scripts
If it isnt there, type the following at a command prompt to find out Pythons install location
py --location
Then either add the location to path, or run pip with the full path from powershell
. "C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual StudioSharedPython36_64Scriptspip.exe" install pillow