Preview (VSCode) spins forever when NativeFileDialog.jl is used.

[nathanrboyer]

This .qmd file works if I "Run Cell" sequentially, but it spins forever (>2 days) if I try to render the document using the VSCode Preview button. Sometimes the file dialog will appear and let me select a file (usually after a computer restart), but in either case, there is no activity in terminal or on screen after:

$ quarto preview "s:/Julia/Design Report Pages/test.qmd" --no-browser --no-watch-inputs
Starting julia control server process. This might take a while...
Julia server process started.
Running [1/3] at line 8:  using NativeFileDialog
Running [2/3] at line 12:  file = pick_file()

---
title: "Test"
engine: julia
execute:
    echo: false
---

\```{julia}
using NativeFileDialog
\```

\```{julia}
file = pick_file()
\```

\```{julia}
basename(file)
\```

[jkrumbiegel]

The render workflow is not meant for interaction so I'm not surprised if things break. When you do Run Cell, you're executing code in some REPL, that's quite different. But in principle, we are not doing anything in particular on the QuartoNotebookRunner side that would prohibit this. Can you reproduce the issue in a normal julia process running a .jl file (not interactive via REPL)?

[nathanrboyer]

Sorry for the delay. The test worked fine for me in a script.

using NativeFileDialog
file = pick_file()
println(basename(file))

$ julia --project=. test.jl
  Activating project at `S:\Julia\Design Report Pages`
VectorPrincipalStress.xls

I'm looking for a way to load data from file for a Quarto report without having to manually type the paths. (I will have other users making reports, and paths are tricky on Windows, where you have to escape the \ or use a raw string.) I typically use NativeFileDialog.jl for my data loading functions.

[MichaelHatherly]

The test worked fine for me in a script.

All cells run within an IOCapture.capture call, so that might be interfering with pick_file somehow.

[MichaelHatherly]

On macOS for me NativeFileDialog seems to be working alright. Perhaps this is a Windows-specific problem, if that is what you're using @nathanrboyer? (Based on those paths you provided.)