transcrypt issue - cannot run the sample program - transcrypt

Question

Followed the instructions in transcrypt "getting started" docs, I entered the examples 'hello.html' and 'hello.py' in a separate directory.
Entering from the command line: "transcrypt -b -m hello.py" resuleds in the error message: "'transcrypt' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file."
I'm using python3.6, with transcrypt installed in: C:\program files\python36\lib\site-packages\transcrypt
Any help to activate the sample hello.html would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Could you try python -m transcrypt -b -m hello.py
and tell me what the console output is?
Also: are you on Windows, Linux or OsX?
Answer: Windows 10
[EDIT 1]
Looks like Transcrypt was installed under a different Python distro. Would be good to know what's going on, so please keep us informed. I also have several Python installs on my Windows 10 computer and it can be confusing indeed.
[EDIT 2]
Another possibility is manual installation (although it isn't elegant...). From the docs
http://www.transcrypt.org/docs/html/installation_use.html#installation-troubleshooting-checklist
Alternatively, for manual installation under Windows or Linux, follow
the steps below:
Download the Transcrypt zip and unpack it anywhere you like
Add ../Transcrypt-/transcrypt to your system path
To enable minification, additionally the Java Runtime Environment 6 or later has to be installed
Note If you install Transcrypt manually, Trancrypt is started by typing run_transcrypt rather than transcrypt. This allows a pip
installed Transcrypt and a manually installed Transcrypt to be used
side by side selectively
BTW Thanks for the suggestion on Github. We'll look into it and try to improve the docs on this point. It seems to be quite difficult to really draw up a bullet proof installation procedure for each platform.

Answer 2

You might also find it easier to use python3's built in virtual env, so that you install Transcrypt and other python modules only into one project folder at a time. It's much easier to use than it at first sounds.
Here's how you might do that on Windows 10.
mkdir mynewproject
cd mynewproject
py -3 -m venv myvirtualenv # installs venv files into myvirtualenv
myvirtualenv\Scripts\activate # activates the virtual env
The py -3 command uses the python windows launcher to use the latest version of python 3. The launcher is defined in Pep 397 and the docs are here.
Once the virtual environment is activated, the prompt will change to show that. After which any 'pip install' commands will install packages into 'myvirtualenv', instead of the system wide location. If you want to deactivate it, just type 'deactivate' or close the shell window. You can also just use 'python' to refer to python3 from within the virtual env. This has saved many people from madness.

Answer 3

In case this helps for other newbies. A few problems I encountered when setting up transcrypt.
Path issues: I had multiple versions of python, in different folders: \python26, \python27, and \Program Files\python36.
This caused all sorts of grief, despite setting the environmental path to include the python36 distro. I fixed this issue by renaming the other versions \python26x and \python27x. This left those distros intact if ever I needed to use them, but stopped the system from finding them. Thus, it only found python36
My earlier suggestion of py -3 didn't really solve the multiple distro issue completely after all.
After doing that, I reinstalled transcrypt and it seemed OK (sort of: read on)
Second issue was trying to run the sample hello.py. I tried "transcrypt -b hello.py" and got a "'transcrypt' is not recognized.." message.
But this worked: python -m transcrypt -b -m hello.py
That worked because the system had finally found the correct version of python, due to the above fix.
Similarly, trying to run the sample hello.py as recommended in the docs caused a problem. run_transcrypt -b hello.py
The reason for this was that run_transcrypt resolved to "python $(dirname $0)/main.py $*"
But, because I had python v3.6 installed in c:\Program Files, the batch file run_transcrypt caused this output:
c:\transcrypt>python C:\Program Files\Python36\Lib\site-packages\transcrypt__main__.py -b hello.py
python: can't open file 'C:\Program': [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Consequently, I had to place Program Files in quotes and run it this way:
"C:\Program Files"\Python36\Lib\site-packages\transcrypt__main__.py -b hello.py
or else, as above: python -m transcrypt -b -m hello.py
I think, with respect, the docs should raise a warning flag here for users who have python installed in \Program Files, rather than, for example, in c:\python[x]
Third issue Changing hello.py to "play around" with the code -
I found the files in transcrypt\demos\ to be read-only. To fix this:
1: I opened the command prompt as administrator
2: I ran the attrib command to change the file attributes:
"c:\Program Files\Python36\Lib\site-packages\transcrypt\demos\hello>attrib -r -s -a hello.py"
(Without doing this as administrator you get an access-denied message)
The whole exercise caused a few hours of toing and froing, but it seems that things are better now.