Merge pull request #9735 from pavoljuhas/define_magic-obituary

Inform in the docs about removal of define_magic.

docs/source/config/custommagics.rst

@@ -1,133 +1,125 b''
 .. _defining_magics:
 
 Defining custom magics
 ======================
 
 There are two main ways to define your own magic functions: from standalone
 functions and by inheriting from a base class provided by IPython:
 :class:`IPython.core.magic.Magics`. Below we show code you can place in a file
 that you load from your configuration, such as any file in the ``startup``
 subdirectory of your default IPython profile.
 
 First, let us see the simplest case. The following shows how to create a line
 magic, a cell one and one that works in both modes, using just plain functions:
 
 .. sourcecode:: python
 
     from IPython.core.magic import (register_line_magic, register_cell_magic,
                                     register_line_cell_magic)
 
     @register_line_magic
     def lmagic(line):
         "my line magic"
         return line
 
     @register_cell_magic
     def cmagic(line, cell):
         "my cell magic"
         return line, cell
 
     @register_line_cell_magic
     def lcmagic(line, cell=None):
         "Magic that works both as %lcmagic and as %%lcmagic"
         if cell is None:
             print("Called as line magic")
             return line
         else:
             print("Called as cell magic")
             return line, cell
 
     # In an interactive session, we need to delete these to avoid
     # name conflicts for automagic to work on line magics.
     del lmagic, lcmagic
 
 
 You can also create magics of all three kinds by inheriting from the
 :class:`IPython.core.magic.Magics` class.  This lets you create magics that can
 potentially hold state in between calls, and that have full access to the main
 IPython object:
     
 .. sourcecode:: python
 
     # This code can be put in any Python module, it does not require IPython
     # itself to be running already.  It only creates the magics subclass but
     # doesn't instantiate it yet.
     from __future__ import print_function
     from IPython.core.magic import (Magics, magics_class, line_magic,
                                     cell_magic, line_cell_magic)
 
     # The class MUST call this class decorator at creation time
     @magics_class
     class MyMagics(Magics):
 
         @line_magic
         def lmagic(self, line):
             "my line magic"
             print("Full access to the main IPython object:", self.shell)
             print("Variables in the user namespace:", list(self.shell.user_ns.keys()))
             return line
 
         @cell_magic
         def cmagic(self, line, cell):
             "my cell magic"
             return line, cell
 
         @line_cell_magic
         def lcmagic(self, line, cell=None):
             "Magic that works both as %lcmagic and as %%lcmagic"
             if cell is None:
                 print("Called as line magic")
                 return line
             else:
                 print("Called as cell magic")
                 return line, cell
 
 
     # In order to actually use these magics, you must register them with a
     # running IPython.  This code must be placed in a file that is loaded once
     # IPython is up and running:
     ip = get_ipython()
     # You can register the class itself without instantiating it.  IPython will
     # call the default constructor on it.
     ip.register_magics(MyMagics)
 
 If you want to create a class with a different constructor that holds
 additional state, then you should always call the parent constructor and
 instantiate the class yourself before registration:
 
 .. sourcecode:: python
 
     @magics_class
     class StatefulMagics(Magics):
         "Magics that hold additional state"
 
         def __init__(self, shell, data):
             # You must call the parent constructor
             super(StatefulMagics, self).__init__(shell)
             self.data = data
         
         # etc...
 
     # This class must then be registered with a manually created instance,
     # since its constructor has different arguments from the default:
     ip = get_ipython()
     magics = StatefulMagics(ip, some_data)
     ip.register_magics(magics)
     
 
-In earlier versions, IPython had an API for the creation of line magics (cell
-magics did not exist at the time) that required you to create functions with a
-method-looking signature and to manually pass both the function and the name.
-While this API is no longer recommended, it remains indefinitely supported for
-backwards compatibility purposes.  With the old API, you'd create a magic as
-follows:
-
-.. sourcecode:: python
-
-    def func(self, line):
-        print("Line magic called with line:", line)
-        print("IPython object:", self.shell)
-
-    ip = get_ipython()
-    # Declare this function as the magic %mycommand
-    ip.define_magic('mycommand', func)
+.. note::
+
+   In early IPython versions 0.12 and before the line magics were
+   created using a :func:`define_magic` API function.  This API has been
+   replaced with the above in IPython 0.13 and then completely removed
+   in IPython 5.  Maintainers of IPython extensions that still use the
+   :func:`define_magic` function are advised to adjust their code
+   for the current API.