Gamapad widget is broken

[DerThorsten]

Description

Connecting to gamepad seems to be broken.
When connecting to the gamepad I see many errors in the log and the widget does not work.

• I tried with various gamepads (Nintendo switch, 8BitDo Gamepad). All of them work on https://gamepad-tester.com/
• I tried on MacOS and Ubuntu
• I tried with ipywidgets 7,8 and the master

With all combinations I see the same errors.

Reproduce

run this code:

from ipywidgets import Controller
Controller()

the Log shows:

No such comm: 37c4b136-efef-477f-8dd9-63168b87adba
No such comm: 1e50c672-e195-427e-8e15-9e7b0dbbc14c
No such comm: 6cf01a0b-e72f-409a-965c-b0c1d63c6375
No such comm: 4e82d5d2-3caf-46a1-871b-3da1a4caa97c
No such comm: ec086860-993f-422f-b1c4-1e0ef2d0cc0d
No such comm: 9106956d-658e-4a38-aa82-008e7a995172
No such comm: cd9a1d26-4291-4a30-9622-ff24853204fe
No such comm: d8492c75-955d-44cd-9b00-a417bdb9dd85
No such comm: a6eb0e56-cf54-4a85-b438-0a46c2639535
No such comm: e6506a3b-fa4d-4246-bf04-a2587ebe0926
No such comm: 28b1fa3b-0086-4c82-aa15-dfc4a279b20b
No such comm: bc06d562-e0b8-46d2-a59d-ba643c627593
No such comm: 06bccf25-ca7e-469d-a68c-e2d566b8248a
No such comm: 7dfa4e3e-9907-4f25-8ea6-f8a06b8ed10d
No such comm: 4d38e7c7-387f-4dca-87f3-39010868aff6
No such comm: 17cd5388-31ed-42e1-a963-6adc246a4c0d
No such comm: 2627e4ee-fcaa-4409-8305-e10645b95445
No such comm: b41988dd-cd4d-44fa-8366-2d56bd818911
No such comm: ff524705-6aed-4e1d-bcb6-9151571143f4
No such comm: fdf2ec52-173b-4158-8e78-b0701509c6ab
No such comm: 6828c827-1c4a-4f9f-acd5-f808a403a8a3
No such comm: 30ccb20f-1cd7-4c0c-92fe-26c290b93842
No such comm: e955cc47-9114-412f-a4eb-fd789bd91874
No such comm: 2fe1a238-8539-4a2d-8b4d-7dc21898d4ab
No such comm: ff28d2a3-b4ad-47c4-b26e-dc0a9fecdd6d
12:35:31
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TraitError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
File ~/src/ipywidgets/python/ipywidgets/ipywidgets/widgets/widget.py:766, in Widget._handle_msg(self, msg)
    764         if 'buffer_paths' in data:
    765             _put_buffers(state, data['buffer_paths'], msg['buffers'])
--> 766         self.set_state(state)
    768 # Handle a state request.
    769 elif method == 'request_state':

File ~/src/ipywidgets/python/ipywidgets/ipywidgets/widgets/widget.py:648, in Widget.set_state(self, sync_data)
    645 if name in self.keys:
    646     from_json = self.trait_metadata(name, 'from_json',
    647                                     self._trait_from_json)
--> 648     self.set_trait(name, from_json(sync_data[name], self))

File ~/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/lib/python3.11/site-packages/traitlets/traitlets.py:1742, in HasTraits.set_trait(self, name, value)
   1740     raise TraitError(f"Class {cls.__name__} does not have a trait named {name}")
   1741 else:
-> 1742     getattr(cls, name).set(self, value)

File ~/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/lib/python3.11/site-packages/traitlets/traitlets.py:706, in TraitType.set(self, obj, value)
    705 def set(self, obj, value):
--> 706     new_value = self._validate(obj, value)
    707     try:
    708         old_value = obj._trait_values[self.name]

File ~/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/lib/python3.11/site-packages/traitlets/traitlets.py:738, in TraitType._validate(self, obj, value)
    736     return value
    737 if hasattr(self, "validate"):
--> 738     value = self.validate(obj, value)
    739 if obj._cross_validation_lock is False:
    740     value = self._cross_validate(obj, value)

File ~/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/lib/python3.11/site-packages/traitlets/traitlets.py:2871, in Container.validate(self, obj, value)
   2868 if value is None:
   2869     return value
-> 2871 value = self.validate_elements(obj, value)
   2873 return value

File ~/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/lib/python3.11/site-packages/traitlets/traitlets.py:2883, in Container.validate_elements(self, obj, value)
   2881     v = self._trait._validate(obj, v)
   2882 except TraitError as error:
-> 2883     self.error(obj, v, error)
   2884 else:
   2885     validated.append(v)

File ~/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/lib/python3.11/site-packages/traitlets/traitlets.py:823, in TraitType.error(self, obj, value, error, info)
    812         else:
    813             error.args = (
    814                 "The '%s' trait contains %s which "
    815                 "expected %s, not %s."
   (...)
    821                 ),
    822             )
--> 823     raise error
    824 else:
    825     # this trait caused an error
    826     if self.name is None:
    827         # this is not the root trait

File ~/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/lib/python3.11/site-packages/traitlets/traitlets.py:2881, in Container.validate_elements(self, obj, value)
   2879 for v in value:
   2880     try:
-> 2881         v = self._trait._validate(obj, v)
   2882     except TraitError as error:
   2883         self.error(obj, v, error)

File ~/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/lib/python3.11/site-packages/traitlets/traitlets.py:738, in TraitType._validate(self, obj, value)
    736     return value
    737 if hasattr(self, "validate"):
--> 738     value = self.validate(obj, value)
    739 if obj._cross_validation_lock is False:
    740     value = self._cross_validate(obj, value)

File ~/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/lib/python3.11/site-packages/traitlets/traitlets.py:2151, in Instance.validate(self, obj, value)
   2149     return value
   2150 else:
-> 2151     self.error(obj, value)

File ~/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/lib/python3.11/site-packages/traitlets/traitlets.py:828, in TraitType.error(self, obj, value, error, info)
    824 else:
    825     # this trait caused an error
    826     if self.name is None:
    827         # this is not the root trait
--> 828         raise TraitError(value, info or self.info(), self)
    829     else:
    830         # this is the root trait
    831         if obj is not None:

TraitError: The 'buttons' trait of a Controller instance contains an Instance of a TypedTuple which expected a Button, not the str 'IPY_MODEL_37c4b136-efef-477f-8dd9-63168b87adba'.

Expected behavior

A working Controller() widget

Context

• ipywidgets version: 8.0.4 but 7 has the same bug
• Operating System and version: MacOS 13.11 but also Ubuntu 22
• Browser and version: Version 111.0.5563.64 (Official Build) (arm64)

If using JupyterLab

• JupyterLab version: JupyterLab v3.6.1

Installed Labextensions

jupyter labextension list                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ✔  ipywidgets   at 12:47:55 
JupyterLab v3.6.1
/Users/thorstenbeier/micromamba/envs/ipywidgets/share/jupyter/labextensions
        jupyterlab_pygments v0.2.2 enabled OK (python, jupyterlab_pygments)
        @jupyter-widgets/jupyterlab-manager v5.0.5 enabled OK (python, jupyterlab_widgets)

adding all the outputs: ie terminal,browser, etc.. made the issue to long to submit so I removed it

[maartenbreddels]

I wouldn't be surprised if https://github.com/jupyter-widgets/ipywidgets/pull/3533/files#diff-522bb5e7695975cba0199c6a3d6df5be827035f4dc18ed6da22ac216b5615c77R482
fixes this.
I think if a widget is created from the frontend, it is broken, see also ipython/ipykernel#1090

[DerThorsten]

this indeed fixes it.

[martinRenou]

Closing as fixed