removing DirectoryLink class (which was an alias for FileLink) and modifying FileLink to raise an error if a directory is provided. @ellisonbg pointed out that these give a 404. I think removing this for now is the way to go as we don't have an immediate use case for DirectoryLink - FileLinks is what we would want users to call for linking to a directory.

IPython/lib/display.py

@@ -85,6 +85,10 b' class FileLink(object):'
             result_html_suffix : text to append at the end of link
              [default: '<br>']
         """
+        if isdir(path):
+            raise ValueError,\
+             ("Cannot display a directory as a FileLink object. "
+              "Use FileLinks to display '%s'." % path)
         self.path = path
         self.url_prefix = url_prefix
         self.result_html_prefix = result_html_prefix
@@ -111,12 +115,6 b' class FileLink(object):'
         """return absolute path to file
         """
         return abspath(self.path)
-        
-# Create an alias for formatting a single directory name as a link.
-# Right now this is the same as a formatting for a single file, but 
-# we'll encourage users to reference these with a different class in
-# case we want to change this in the future.
-DirectoryLink = FileLink
 
 class FileLinks(FileLink):
     """Class for embedding local file links in an IPython session, based on path
@@ -176,11 +174,11 b' class FileLinks(FileLink):'
         self.included_suffixes = included_suffixes
         # remove trailing slashs for more consistent output formatting
         path = path.rstrip('/')
-        FileLink.__init__(self,
-                           path,
-                           url_prefix,
-                           result_html_prefix,
-                           result_html_suffix)
+        
+        self.path = path
+        self.url_prefix = url_prefix
+        self.result_html_prefix = result_html_prefix
+        self.result_html_suffix = result_html_suffix
         
         self.notebook_display_formatter = \
              notebook_display_formatter or self._get_notebook_display_formatter()

IPython/lib/tests/test_display.py

@@ -31,16 +31,18 b' from IPython.lib import display'
 #--------------------------
 
 def test_instantiation_FileLink():
-    """Test classes can be instantiated"""
+    """FileLink: Test class can be instantiated"""
     fl = display.FileLink('example.txt')
 
 def test_warning_on_non_existant_path_FileLink():
-    """Calling _repr_html_ on non-existant files returns a warning"""
+    """FileLink: Calling _repr_html_ on non-existant files returns a warning
+    """
     fl = display.FileLink('example.txt')
     nt.assert_true(fl._repr_html_().startswith('Path (<tt>example.txt</tt>)'))
 
 def test_existing_path_FileLink():
-    """ Calling _repr_html_ functions as expected on existing filepath """
+    """FileLink: Calling _repr_html_ functions as expected on existing filepath
+    """
     tf = NamedTemporaryFile()
     fl = display.FileLink(tf.name)
     actual = fl._repr_html_()
@@ -48,7 +50,8 b' def test_existing_path_FileLink():'
     nt.assert_equal(actual,expected)
 
 def test_existing_path_FileLink_repr():
-    """ Calling repr() functions as expected on existing filepath """
+    """FileLink: Calling repr() functions as expected on existing filepath
+    """
     tf = NamedTemporaryFile()
     fl = display.FileLink(tf.name)
     actual = repr(fl)
@@ -60,16 +63,19 b' def test_existing_path_FileLink_repr():'
 #--------------------------
 
 def test_instantiation_FileLinks():
-    """Test classes can be instantiated"""
+    """FileLinks: Test class can be instantiated
+    """
     fls = display.FileLinks('example')
 
 def test_warning_on_non_existant_path_FileLinks():
-    """Calling _repr_html_ on non-existant files returns a warning"""
+    """FileLinks: Calling _repr_html_ on non-existant files returns a warning
+    """
     fls = display.FileLinks('example')
     nt.assert_true(fls._repr_html_().startswith('Path (<tt>example</tt>)'))
 
 def test_existing_path_FileLinks():
-    """ Calling _repr_html_ functions as expected on existing directory """
+    """FileLinks: Calling _repr_html_ functions as expected on existing dir
+    """
     td = mkdtemp()
     tf1 = NamedTemporaryFile(dir=td)
     tf2 = NamedTemporaryFile(dir=td)
@@ -85,7 +91,7 b' def test_existing_path_FileLinks():'
     nt.assert_equal(actual,expected)
 
 def test_existing_path_FileLinks_alt_formatter():
-    """ Calling _repr_html_ functions as expected with an alternative formatter
+    """FileLinks: Calling _repr_html_ functions as expected w/ an alt formatter
     """
     td = mkdtemp()
     tf1 = NamedTemporaryFile(dir=td)
@@ -102,7 +108,7 b' def test_existing_path_FileLinks_alt_formatter():'
     nt.assert_equal(actual,expected)
 
 def test_existing_path_FileLinks_repr():
-    """ Calling repr() functions as expected on existing directory """
+    """FileLinks: Calling repr() functions as expected on existing directory """
     td = mkdtemp()
     tf1 = NamedTemporaryFile(dir=td)
     tf2 = NamedTemporaryFile(dir=td)
@@ -116,7 +122,7 b' def test_existing_path_FileLinks_repr():'
     nt.assert_equal(actual,expected)
     
 def test_existing_path_FileLinks_repr_alt_formatter():
-    """ Calling repr() functions as expected with an alternative formatter
+    """FileLinks: Calling repr() functions as expected w/ alt formatter
     """
     td = mkdtemp()
     tf1 = NamedTemporaryFile(dir=td)
@@ -132,23 +138,3 b' def test_existing_path_FileLinks_repr_alt_formatter():'
     # We compare the sorted list of links here as that's more reliable
     nt.assert_equal(actual,expected)
 
-#--------------------------
-# DirectoryLink tests
-#--------------------------
-
-def test_instantiation_DirectoryLink():
-    """Test classes can be instantiated"""
-    dl = display.DirectoryLink('example')
-
-def test_warning_on_non_existant_path_DirectoryLink():
-    """Calling _repr_html_ on non-existant files returns a warning"""
-    dl = display.DirectoryLink('example')
-    nt.assert_true(dl._repr_html_().startswith('Path (<tt>example</tt>)'))
-
-def test_existing_path_DirectoryLink():
-    """ Calling _repr_html_ functions as expected on existing directory """
-    td = mkdtemp()
-    dl = display.DirectoryLink(td)
-    actual = dl._repr_html_()
-    expected = "<a href='files/%s' target='_blank'>%s</a><br>" % (td,td)
-    nt.assert_equal(actual,expected)