added color for the type column; also hide classes; some reference links

inspector.py

@@ -2,15 +2,17 @@ import inspect
 import re
 import types
 import weakref
+from types import SimpleNamespace
 
 import ipywidgets
-
+import numpy as np
+from matplotlib.colors import TABLEAU_COLORS
 
 
 HEADER = '<div class="rendered_html jp-RenderedHTMLCommon"><table><thead><tr><th>Name</th><th>Type</th><th>Size</th><th>Value</th></tr></thead><tr><td>'
 FOOTER = '</td></tr></table></div>'
 SEP    = '</td></tr><tr><td>'
-LINE   = '{0}</td><td>{1}</td><td>{2}</td><td>{3}'
+LINE   = '{0}</td><td style="background-color:{4};color:{5};">{1}</td><td>{2}</td><td>{3}'
 
 IGNORE_NAMES = ("In", "Out", "exit", "quit", "get_ipython")
 
@@ -19,9 +21,32 @@ SNIP = " ...✀... "
 RE_DIGITS = re.compile("([0-9]+)")
 
 
+colors = SimpleNamespace(**{
+    name.split(":")[1]: color for name, color in TABLEAU_COLORS.items()
+})
+
+
+cmap = {
+    bool:  colors.pink, # bool must be tested first, otherwise it's treated as int
+    int:   colors.purple,
+    float: colors.cyan,
+
+    str:   colors.red,
+
+    list:  colors.green,
+    tuple: colors.olive,
+    set:   colors.orange,
+    dict:  colors.blue,
+
+    np.ndarray: colors.brown
+}
+
+
 
 class Singleton(type):
 
+    # inspired by https://stackoverflow.com/a/6798042/655404
+
     def __init__(cls, name, bases, namespace):
         super().__init__(name, bases, namespace) # creates the class
         cls.__signature__ = inspect.signature(cls.__init__) # restore the constructor signature (instead of that of __call__ below)
@@ -38,6 +63,8 @@ class Singleton(type):
 
 class VariableInspector(object, metaclass=Singleton):
 
+    # inspired by https://github.com/jupyter-widgets/ipywidgets/blob/7.x/docs/source/examples/Variable%20Inspector.ipynb
+
     def __init__(self, ipython=None):
         self._box = ipywidgets.Box()
         self._box.layout.overflow_y = "scroll"
@@ -82,14 +109,14 @@ class VariableInspector(object, metaclass=Singleton):
 
 
 def format_line(k, v):
-    return LINE.format(k, format_type(v), format_size(v), format_value(v))
+    return LINE.format(k, format_type(v), format_size(v), format_value(v), *format_colors(v))
 
 def sorted_naturally(iterable, reverse=False):
     natural = lambda item: [int(c) if c.isdigit() else c.casefold() for c in RE_DIGITS.split(str(item))]
     return sorted(iterable, key=natural, reverse=reverse)
 
 def is_good_entry(k, v):
-    ignore_types = (VariableInspector, types.ModuleType)
+    ignore_types = (VariableInspector, types.ModuleType, type) # hide modules and classes
     return not k.startswith("_") and k not in IGNORE_NAMES and not isinstance(v, ignore_types)
 
 def format_type(obj):
@@ -122,6 +149,18 @@ def format_value(obj): #TODO: make magic numbers configurable
     res = res[:50] + SNIP + res[-50:]
     return res
 
+def format_colors(obj):
+    bkg = format_bkg_color(obj)
+    if bkg:
+        return bkg, "black" # use black font on colored background
+    return "", "" # use the default colors
+
+def format_bkg_color(obj):
+    for typ, col in cmap.items():
+        if isinstance(obj, typ):
+            return col
+    return None
+
 def typename(obj):
     return type(obj).__name__