IDLE interactive window doesn't display unsaved-indicator

[rhettinger]

BPO	21937
Nosy	@rhettinger, @terryjreedy
PRs	gh-66136: IDLE: Fix use of unsaved indicator in titlebar of shell window #3701

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2014-07-08.04:42:03.557>
labels = ['expert-IDLE', 'type-bug', '3.9']
title = "IDLE interactive window doesn't display unsaved-indicator"
updated_at = <Date 2019-09-19.18:46:46.512>
user = 'https://github.com/rhettinger'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2019-09-19.18:46:46.512>
actor = 'terry.reedy'
assignee = 'none'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['IDLE']
creation = <Date 2014-07-08.04:42:03.557>
creator = 'rhettinger'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 21937
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 5.0
messages = ['222542', '222792', '228242', '248159', '302501']
nosy_count = 3.0
nosy_names = ['rhettinger', 'terry.reedy', 'Saimadhav.Heblikar']
pr_nums = ['3701']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'patch review'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue21937'
versions = ['Python 3.9']

[rhettinger]

• Open a Python Shell
• Save as session_log.txt
• Type a line of code
• Notice that the asterisk for "unsaved" does not appear

[terryjreedy]

In installed 3.4.1 on Win 7, I *do* get the unsaved * back when typing. It disappears again when I hit return. So on this system, the meaning seems to be 'unsubmitted code'.

Saving in the middle of a line inserts '\n' before saving (but does not submit for execution) and also removes *.

[terryjreedy]

Further experiments reveal that the **s mean 'the undo buffer is not empty'.  Enter
>>> import time; time.sleep(2)
and ** do not disappear until sleep finishes and a new prompt is displayed. Enter a character at the prompt and ** appear. Delete the char and ** stay. Hit ^z (undo) twice and ** disappear. For the final proof, recall the sleep statement and increase the sleep time to at least 5. Hit enter and ^Z enough times during the sleep and the statement and ** both disappear before sleep ends and the new prompt displayded.  The behavior is the same after saving Shell, which adds the name of the file to the title.

Using ** on the title bar to indicate the status of the undo buffer is undocumented as far as I know. I would agree that this is surprising, not very useful, and that having ** mean 'unsaved' for Shell as well as for other windows might be more useful.

[terryjreedy]

A follow-on issue would be to have an option to prompt to save (as with editor windows) or autosave when closing the shell. A default path might be .idlerc/shellsave.txt.

[terryjreedy]

The 'follow-on' issue is bpo-23666.