Using JupyterLab components

JupyterLab is built with many re-usable components that are independently published on npm. JupyterLab itself assembles these components together to provide a full, IDE-like experience. However, developers are encouraged to use these to bring to life their own visions of what a computational environment should look like.

The JupyterLab repository has many examples to get you started.

The examples directory contains:

• several stand-alone examples (console, filebrowser, notebook, terminal)

• a more complex example (app).

Installation instructions for the examples are found in the project’s README.

After installing the jupyter notebook server 4.2+, follow the steps for installing the development version of JupyterLab. To build the examples, enter from the jupyterlab repo root directory:

jlpm run build:examples

To run a particular example, navigate to the example’s subdirectory in the examples directory and enter:

python main.py

Dissecting the ‘filebrowser’ example

The filebrowser example provides a stand-alone implementation of a filebrowser. Here’s what the filebrowser’s user interface looks like:

Let’s take a closer look at the source code in examples/filebrowser.

Directory structure of ‘filebrowser’ example

The filebrowser in examples/filebrowser is comprised by a handful of files and the src directory:

The filebrowser example has two key source files:

• src/index.ts: the TypeScript file that defines the functionality

• main.py: the Python file that enables the example to be run

Reviewing the source code of each file will help you see the role that each file plays in the stand-alone filebrowser example.