ENH: add helper for detecting any IPython zmq frontend, make in_qtconsole robuster

Author: y-p

pandas/core/common.py

@@ -1782,11 +1782,25 @@ def in_qtconsole():
     """
     try:
         ip = get_ipython()
-        if ip.config['KernelApp']['parent_appname'] == 'ipython-qtconsole':
+        front_end = (ip.config.get('KernelApp',{}).get('parent_appname',"") or
+                         ip.config.get('IPKernelApp',{}).get('parent_appname',""))
+        if 'qtconsole' in front_end.lower():
             return True
     except:
         return False
 
+def in_ipnb_frontend():
+    """
+    check if we're inside an an IPython zmq frontend
+    """
+    try:
+        ip = get_ipython()
+        return 'zmq' in str(type(ip)).lower()
+    except:
+        pass
+
+    return False
+
 # Unicode consolidation
 # ---------------------
 #

pandas/util/terminal.py

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ def get_terminal_size():
     Detect terminal size and return tuple = (width, height).
 
     Only to be used when running in a terminal. Note that the IPython notebook,
-    IPython qtconsole, or IDLE do not run in a terminal,
+    IPython zmq frontends, or IDLE do not run in a terminal,
     """
     import platform
     current_os = platform.system()