Calltips are now working.

IPython/frontend/wx/console_widget.py

@@ -289,16 +289,15 b' class ConsoleWidget(editwindow.EditWindow):'
             self.new_prompt(self.prompt % (self.last_result['number'] + 1))
             self.replace_current_edit_buffer(current_buffer)
         else:
-            #possibilities.sort()  # Python sorts are case sensitive
             self.AutoCompSetIgnoreCase(False)
             self.AutoCompSetAutoHide(False)
-            #let compute the length ot text)last word
-            splitter = [' ', '(', '[', '{']
-            last_word = self.get_current_edit_buffer()
-            for breaker in splitter:
-                last_word = last_word.split(breaker)[-1]
+            # compute the length ot the last word
+            separators = [' ', '(', '[', '{', '\n', '\t', '.']
+            symbol = self.get_current_edit_buffer()
+            for separator in separators:
+                symbol = symbol.split(separator)[-1]
             self.AutoCompSetMaxHeight(len(possibilities))
-            self.AutoCompShow(len(last_word), " ".join(possibilities))
+            self.AutoCompShow(len(symbol), " ".join(possibilities))
 
     
     def scroll_to_bottom(self):

IPython/frontend/wx/wx_frontend.py

@@ -25,11 +25,12 b' import wx'
 import re
 from wx import stc
 from console_widget import ConsoleWidget
+import __builtin__
 
 from IPython.frontend.prefilterfrontend import PrefilterFrontEnd
 
 #_COMMAND_BG = '#FAFAF1' # Nice green
-_RUNNING_BUFFER_BG = '#FDFFBE' # Nice yellow
+_RUNNING_BUFFER_BG = '#FDFFD3' # Nice yellow
 
 _RUNNING_BUFFER_MARKER = 31
 
@@ -73,6 +74,25 b' class IPythonWxController(PrefilterFrontEnd, ConsoleWidget):'
             self.write_completion(completions, mode=mode)
 
 
+    def do_calltip(self):
+        # compute the length ot the last word
+        separators = [' ', '(', '[', '{', '\n', '\t']
+        symbol = self.get_current_edit_buffer()
+        for separator in separators:
+            symbol_string = symbol.split(separator)[-1]
+        base_symbol_string = symbol_string.split('.')[0]
+        if base_symbol_string in self.shell.user_ns:
+            symbol = self.shell.user_ns[base_symbol_string]
+        elif base_symbol_string in self.shell.user_global_ns:
+            symbol = self.shell.user_global_ns[base_symbol_string]
+        elif base_symbol_string in __builtin__.__dict__:
+            symbol = __builtin__.__dict__[base_symbol_string]
+        else:
+            return False
+        for name in base_symbol_string.split('.')[1:] + ['__doc__']:
+            symbol = getattr(symbol, name)
+        self.CallTipShow(self.GetCurrentPos(), symbol)
+
     def update_completion(self):
         line = self.get_current_edit_buffer()
         if self.AutoCompActive() and not line[-1] == '.':
@@ -144,6 +164,9 b' class IPythonWxController(PrefilterFrontEnd, ConsoleWidget):'
                     self.do_completion(mode='text')
                 else:
                     event.Skip()
+            elif event.KeyCode == ord('('):
+                event.Skip()
+                self.do_calltip()
             else:
                 ConsoleWidget._on_key_down(self, event, skip=skip)