serve_slides.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
"""A script to generate and serve the slides from a ipython notebook
that auto updates the slides. It would be nice to include something like
this in IPython. Usage:

>>> python serve_slides.py presentation.ipynb

"""

import sys
import subprocess
import pyinotify

infile = sys.argv[1]
# It would be better to  use IPython's API but...
serve = 'ipython nbconvert --to slides --post serve ' +  infile
export = 'ipython nbconvert --to slides ' + infile

def onChange(ev):
    """Regenerate slides from the notebook."""
    subprocess.call(export.split(' '))

# Setup pyinotify to watch the notebook.
wm = pyinotify.WatchManager()
wm.add_watch(infile, pyinotify.IN_MODIFY, onChange)
notifier = pyinotify.Notifier(wm)

# generate and serve the slides.
serve = subprocess.Popen(serve.split(' '))

while True:
    try:
        # Start watching the notebook for changes.
        notifier.loop()
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        # Clean up
        serve.kill()
        notifier.stop()
        break