Repository: spyder-ide/spyder
Pull request: PR: Handle `TypeError` when loading a `.spydata` file (Variable Explorer)
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## Description of Changes

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Catch `TypeError` errors when trying to load a } .spydata}  file and leave as message a possible reason for the error (having incompatible versions for the packages used to create and load the data/variables)

### Issue(s) Resolved

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Fixes #22972


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Problem statement:
Impossible to load .spydata file
## Description

### What steps will reproduce the problem?

<!--- You can use Markdown here --->

Impossible to load a .spydata file

Exception in comms call load_data:

  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 359, in _handle_remote_call
    return_value = self._remote_callback(

  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/frontendcomm.py", line 213, in _remote_callback
    return super(FrontendComm, self)._remote_callback(

  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 373, in _remote_callback
    return self._remote_call_handlers[call_name](

  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/console/kernel.py", line 416, in load_data
    data, error_message = load_func(filename)

  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/utils/iofuncs.py", line 408, in load_dictionary
    data = pickle.loads(fdesc.read())

  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/matplotlib/cbook.py", line 213, in __setstate__
    self._cid_gen = itertools.count(cid_count)

TypeError: a number is required

### Traceback
```python-traceback
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/main_widget.py", line 154, in <lambda>
    triggered=lambda x: self.import_data(),
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/main_widget.py", line 556, in import_data
    nsb.import_data(filenames=filenames)
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/namespacebrowser.py", line 334, in import_data
    error_message = self.load_data(self.filename, extension)
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/namespacebrowser.py", line 360, in load_data
    return self.shellwidget.call_kernel(
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 611, in __call__
    return self._comms_wrapper._get_call_return_value(
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder/plugins/ipythonconsole/comms/kernelcomm.py", line 171, in _get_call_return_value
    return super(KernelComm, self)._get_call_return_value(
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 470, in _get_call_return_value
    return self._sync_error(return_value)
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 530, in _sync_error
    error_wrapper.raise_error()
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 135, in raise_error
    raise self.etype(self)
Error in sys.excepthook:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 172, in comm_excepthook
    value.args[0].print_error()
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 153, in print_error
    for line in self.format_error():
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 143, in format_error
    + traceback.format_list(self.tb)
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/traceback.py", line 39, in format_list
    return StackSummary.from_list(extracted_list).format()
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/traceback.py", line 380, in from_list
    for frame in a_list:
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not iterable

Original exception was:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/main_widget.py", line 154, in <lambda>
    triggered=lambda x: self.import_data(),
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/main_widget.py", line 556, in import_data
    nsb.import_data(filenames=filenames)
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/namespacebrowser.py", line 334, in import_data
    error_message = self.load_data(self.filename, extension)
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/namespacebrowser.py", line 360, in load_data
    return self.shellwidget.call_kernel(
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 611, in __call__
    return self._comms_wrapper._get_call_return_value(
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder/plugins/ipythonconsole/comms/kernelcomm.py", line 171, in _get_call_return_value
    return super(KernelComm, self)._get_call_return_value(
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 470, in _get_call_return_value
    return self._sync_error(return_value)
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 530, in _sync_error
    error_wrapper.raise_error()
  File "/Users/Fred/miniconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/spyder_kernels/comms/commbase.py", line 135, in raise_error
    raise self.etype(self)
TypeError: a number is required
```

## Versions

* Spyder version: 6.0.2  (conda)
* Python version: 3.9.20 64-bit
* Qt version: 5.15.8
* PyQt5 version: 5.15.9
* Operating System: macOS-14.5-arm64-arm-64bit

### Dependencies

```
# Mandatory:
aiohttp >=3.9.3                  :  3.10.10 (OK)
applaunchservices >=0.3.0        :  0.3.0 (OK)
asyncssh >=2.14.0,<3.0.0         :  2.17.0 (OK)
atomicwrites >=1.2.0             :  1.4.1 (OK)
chardet >=2.0.0                  :  5.2.0 (OK)
cloudpickle >=0.5.0              :  3.1.0 (OK)
cookiecutter >=1.6.0             :  2.6.0 (OK)
diff_match_patch >=20181111      :  20230430 (OK)
github >=2.3.0                   :  2.4.0 (OK)
importlib_metadata >=4.6.0       :  8.5.0 (OK)
intervaltree >=3.0.2             :  3.1.0 (OK)
IPython >=8.13.0,<9.0.0,!=8.17.1 :  8.18.1 (OK)
jedi >=0.17.2,<0.20.0            :  0.19.1 (OK)
jellyfish >=0.7                  :  1.1.0 (OK)
jsonschema >=3.2.0               :  4.23.0 (OK)
keyring >=17.0.0                 :  25.4.1 (OK)
nbconvert >=4.0                  :  7.16.4 (OK)
numpydoc >=0.6.0                 :  1.8.0 (OK)
parso >=0.7.0,<0.9.0             :  0.8.4 (OK)
pexpect >=4.4.0                  :  4.9.0 (OK)
pickleshare >=0.4                :  0.7.5 (OK)
psutil >=5.3                     :  6.0.0 (OK)
pygments >=2.0                   :  2.18.0 (OK)
pylint >=3.1,<4                  :  3.3.1 (OK)
pylint_venv >=3.0.2              :  3.0.3 (OK)
pyls_spyder >=0.4.0              :  0.4.0 (OK)
pylsp >=1.12.0,<1.13.0           :  1.12.0 (OK)
pylsp_black >=2.0.0,<3.0.0       :  2.0.0 (OK)
pyuca >=1.2                      :  1.2 (OK)
qdarkstyle >=3.2.0,<3.3.0        :  3.2.3 (OK)
qstylizer >=0.2.2                :  0.2.3 (OK)
qtawesome >=1.3.1,<1.4.0         :  1.3.1 (OK)
qtconsole >=5.6.1,<5.7.0         :  5.6.1 (OK)
qtpy >=2.4.0                     :  2.4.1 (OK)
rtree >=0.9.7                    :  1.3.0 (OK)
setuptools >=49.6.0              :  75.1.0 (OK)
sphinx >=0.6.6                   :  7.4.7 (OK)
spyder_kernels >=3.0.1,<3.1.0    :  3.0.1 (OK)
superqt >=0.6.2,<1.0.0           :  0.6.7 (OK)
textdistance >=4.2.0             :  4.6.2 (OK)
three_merge >=0.1.1              :  0.1.1 (OK)
watchdog >=0.10.3                :  5.0.3 (OK)
yarl >=1.9.4                     :  1.15.3 (OK)
zmq >=24.0.0                     :  26.2.0 (OK)

# Optional:
cython >=0.21                    :  3.0.11 (OK)
matplotlib >=3.0.0               :  3.9.2 (OK)
numpy >=1.7                      :  1.23.5 (OK)
pandas >=1.1.1                   :  2.2.3 (OK)
scipy >=0.17.0                   :  1.13.1 (OK)
sympy >=0.7.3                    :  1.13.3 (OK)
```

Hints from issue discussion:
Hi @blancfrederic thank you for the report! I think this can happen if you try to load variables while your current setup has a different version of the packages used to create such variables :thinking:

Some similar issues: https://github.com/spyder-ide/spyder/issues?q=is%3Aissue+TypeError%3A+a+number+is+required+is%3Aclosed

Also, maybe this kind of error should be catch and some sort of error dialog should be shown explaining what is happening when an error like this occurs @ccordoba12 ?
Thanks for your answer ... yes you're right. I succeed in loading the file in another conda env ... 
> Also, maybe this kind of error should be catch and some sort of error dialog should be shown explaining what is happening when an error like this occurs @ccordoba12?

That's a good idea. Perhaps we should catch any error when trying to load a spydata file and tell users what are the possible causes for it: missing packages in the Spyder env, different Python versions or incompatible package versions (e.g. Numpy 1 vs. 2). I can't think of any other possible cause.

Commit message: Variable Explorer: Catch TypeError when loading a .spydata file

Patch to review:
diff --git a/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/namespacebrowser.py b/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/namespacebrowser.py
index 18e60bacaf8..68659817e1a 100644
--- a/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/namespacebrowser.py
+++ b/spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/namespacebrowser.py
@@ -381,6 +381,14 @@ def load_data(self, filename, ext):
                     "<br><br><tt>{extensions}</tt>").format(
                         extensions=', '.join(IMPORT_EXT))
             return msg
+        except TypeError:
+            msg = _("Spyder is unable to open the file "
+                    "you're trying to load. This could be caused due to a "
+                    "difference between the packages versions used to create "
+                    "the data and the versions installed with the currently "
+                    "selected interpreter. Please check the packages versions "
+                    "used to create the data and their compatibility with the "
+                    "packages versions installed.<br>")
         except (UnpicklingError, RuntimeError, CommError):
             return None
 


Code review comments:
diff_hunk: @@ -381,6 +381,14 @@ def load_data(self, filename, ext):
                     "<br><br><tt>{extensions}</tt>").format(
                         extensions=', '.join(IMPORT_EXT))
             return msg
+        except TypeError:
+            msg = _("Spyder is unable to open the file "
+                    "you're trying to load. This could be caused due to a "
+                    "difference between the packages versions used to create "
+                    "the data and the versions installed with the currently "
+                    "selected interpreter. Please check the packages versions "
+                    "used to create the data and their compatibility with the "
+                    "packages versions installed.<br>")
path: spyder/plugins/variableexplorer/widgets/namespacebrowser.py
text: @user1:
```suggestion
            msg = _(
                "Spyder is unable to open the file you're trying to load. "
                "This could be caused due to a difference between the package "
                "versions used when you saved this spydata file and the ones "
                "installed in the current environment. Please check the "
                "compatibility between them (e.g. that you're using Numpy 2.x "
                "in both environments).<br>"
            )
```