[Python] Help viewer displays function docstrings as unreadable single block

[louhao1129]

Description:

When viewing Python function documentation in Positron (e.g., ?sc.pp.normalize_total from the Scanpy package), the help viewer displays all parameter descriptions as a single block of text. This makes it very hard to read, especially for functions with many arguments.

Example of current display:

Params
adata The annotated data matrix of shape n_obs × n_vars. Rows correspond to cells and columns to genes. target_sum If None, after normalization, each observation (cell) has a total count equal to the median of total counts...

All parameters are concatenated without line breaks, indentation, or clear separation.

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Expected Behavior:

Ideally, the help viewer should format the docstrings with each parameter on a separate line or paragraph, for example:

adata: The annotated data matrix of shape n_obs × n_vars. Rows correspond to cells and columns to genes.

target_sum: If None, after normalization, each observation (cell) has a total count equal to the median...

exclude_highly_expressed: Exclude highly expressed genes...

This would greatly improve readability, especially when working with scientific Python packages like Scanpy, scikit-learn, or pandas.

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Notes:

• This issue only affects Python function docstrings.
• R documentation (e.g., ?normalizePath) displays as expected with proper structure and indentation.

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Reproduction Steps:

1. Open Positron

2. Run the following in a Python script or console:

   import scanpy as sc
   ?sc.pp.normalize_total

3. Observe the help output formatting in the right panel.

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Environment:

Positron Version: 2025.07.0 (user setup) build 204
Code - OSS Version: 1.100.3
Commit: 03ae7a5
Date: 2025-06-30T16:48:57.049Z
Electron: 34.5.1
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.0
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

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Thank you for building Positron—this is a small but meaningful improvement that would help users working with complex scientific Python APIs.

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[louhao1129]

By the way, the help content displays correctly when I hover my mouse over the function name

[softwarenerd]

I am able to reproduce this for scanpy help. It does not appear to be a problem with all help topics. For example, ?pd.read_parquet displays properly formatted help:

Examining the HTLM that was returned seems to indicate that it's all in one p tag:

So that's why it looks like it does in the Positron Help viewer.

[juliasilge]

Thanks for the report, @louhao1129! I added this to #5247 (comment) where we are tracking further improvements to Python Help.

I'll highlight that scanpy uses pretty atypical formatting for its docstrings (see for example) so this one may be tougher to deal with.