Forums

Is PythonAnywhere designed to work on the iPad Pro with no hardware keyboard?

I have tried this (on Safari), with all sorts of issues.

1. No syntax highlighting in editor
2. Virtual keyboard obscuring on-screen keys like arrow keys on consoles
3. Editor buttons, like Run, do not seem to work
4. Consoles too skinny (like 3 lines) to be useful

It would be fantastic if PA worked on the iPad Pro!

We try to make it work as well as we can, but it's not really possible for us to rigorously test on all the devices out there.

Of course you can’t test every device. But I am talking about the iPad. No, it doesn’t work with the virtual keyboard. But it didn’t work with Apple ‘s hardware keyboard, either. The iPad, especially the latest Pro, is a fantastic portable device - and if you want to live up to your name, shouldn’t the platform work there?

It certainly should -- the problem for us is that there are so many different iPads out there! That said, the one we test on is pretty old; we'll have to get a new one and find out what's changed.

Here are some workarounds

• You can enable syntax highlighting in the editor by requesting the desktop site (long press the refresh button), but it doesn't work so well on iPad.
• To prevent the on-screen keyboard from covering half of the bottom row of keys on a console, go to Settings > General > Keyboard and disable Shortcuts and Predictive. This hides the top part of the keyboard that shows typing suggestions and copy, undo, etc.
• To get more space in the console when using on-screen keyboard, select the blue "Tap here if you're using a Bluetooth keyboard..." at the bottom, then try to scroll down past the page so that Safari's navigation bar collapses.

thanks for the tips!

These issues do not occur in iPadOS 13 because of the new desktop-class Safari browsing. In this update, some console key combinations like Ctrl+C don't work though. But I made a solution for this problem using the Shortcuts app. It allows you to share the console webpage to the shortcut and choose a key (Esc, Ctrl V, Ctrl C, and some function keys) to send via the PythonAnywhere API.

I don't think you're gonna need to get a new test iPad anymore.

Also, I was just using a console with desktop mode disabled, and it feels tiny as f**k. I can't believe I have actually been using this tiny console for like, wait, when did I make this PA account?

I signed up on March 10th, 2019. Time flies.

I've been using that tiny console for like 6 months

I am already taking the large console size for granted. I remember when we were so excited about iOS 11. That update's new features are now essential features we take for granted.

I have calculated that this bigger console is about 2 times larger

That sounds like excellent news :-) Could you post a screenshot?

lol jk. i'm now gonna post a real screenshot

And this is the "Console Keys" shortcut I made

Your iPad-compatible consoles are now just a feature to support old iPads

That's really awesome, thanks!

I am also a python anywhere user on an iPad Pro. I find that on my Logitech Bluetooth keyboard (for Apple products) the ctrl + function works for many standard functions. The primary issue I have is copying chunks or sections of code. I can select a row and cut/copy, but can’t select 20 rows (for example) and cut. This is an issue. I can’t even drag the edges of the highlighted blue region (selection). Such a feature would be most appreciated. Such a thing exists on other online platforms, such as Overleaf (LaTeX) which is very good for selecting and managing multiple rows. Please develop if possible! Thanks.

Ok. I have raised a ticket for that.