How to use FileUpload widget in jupyter lab?

I want to use the FileUpload widget in jupyter lab. I have the following lines of code in my notebook cell:

uploader = widgets.FileUpload()
uploader

In jupyter notebook, the output of the cell is a clickable button that I can use to upload a file. In jupyter lab, the output is the following :

FileUpload(value={}, description='Upload')

Here’s the info on the uploader object :

Type:           FileUpload
String form:    FileUpload(value={}, description='Upload')
File:           ~/miniconda3/envs/fastai2/lib/python3.7/site-packages/ipywidgets/widgets/widget_upload.py

Is it possible to make this widget work on jupyter lab? And if so how should I proceed ?

Answer

If you’re using jupyterlab out the box, it doesn’t have ipywidgets enabled by default, you need to rebuild it after enabling the extension. Follow the steps from here:

1. Install nodeJS
2. pip install ipywidgets
3. jupyter nbextension enable --py widgetsnbextension
4. jupyter labextension install @jupyter-widgets/jupyterlab-manager
5. (may need to restart your lab)

It says that newer Jupyterlab has it enabled, but I still had troubles with it, depending on the platform. Manual install is usually the way to go.