Index: aboutDialog.py
===================================================================
--- aboutDialog.py	(revision 55289)
+++ aboutDialog.py	(working copy)
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 """
 
 from Tkinter import *
-import string, os
+import os
+import os.path
 import textView
 import idlever
 
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@
         tkVer[len(tkVer)-1] = str('%.3g' % (float('.'+tkVer[len(tkVer)-1])))[2:]
         if tkVer[len(tkVer)-1] == '':
             tkVer[len(tkVer)-1] = '0'
-        tkVer = string.join(tkVer,'.')
+        tkVer = '.'.join(tkVer)
         labelTkVer = Label(frameBg, text='Tk version:  '+
                            tkVer, fg=self.fg, bg=self.bg)
         labelTkVer.grid(row=9, column=1, sticky=W, padx=2, pady=0)
@@ -110,45 +111,31 @@
         idle_credits_b.pack(side=LEFT, padx=10, pady=10)
 
     def ShowLicense(self):
-        self.display_printer_text(license, 'About - License')
+        self.display_printer_text('About - License', license)
 
     def ShowCopyright(self):
-        self.display_printer_text(copyright, 'About - Copyright')
+        self.display_printer_text('About - Copyright', copyright)
 
     def ShowPythonCredits(self):
-        self.display_printer_text(credits, 'About - Python Credits')
+        self.display_printer_text('About - Python Credits', credits)
 
     def ShowIDLECredits(self):
-        self.ViewFile('About - Credits','CREDITS.txt', 'iso-8859-1')
+        self.display_file_text('About - Credits', 'CREDITS.txt', 'iso-8859-1')
 
     def ShowIDLEAbout(self):
-        self.ViewFile('About - Readme', 'README.txt')
+        self.display_file_text('About - Readme', 'README.txt')
 
     def ShowIDLENEWS(self):
-        self.ViewFile('About - NEWS', 'NEWS.txt')
+        self.display_file_text('About - NEWS', 'NEWS.txt')
 
-    def display_printer_text(self, printer, title):
+    def display_printer_text(self, title, printer):
         printer._Printer__setup()
-        data = '\n'.join(printer._Printer__lines)
-        textView.TextViewer(self, title, None, data)
+        text = '\n'.join(printer._Printer__lines)
+        textView.view_text(self, title, text)
 
-    def ViewFile(self, viewTitle, viewFile, encoding=None):
-        fn = os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), viewFile)
-        if encoding:
-            import codecs
-            try:
-                textFile = codecs.open(fn, 'r')
-            except IOError:
-                import tkMessageBox
-                tkMessageBox.showerror(title='File Load Error',
-                                       message='Unable to load file %r .' % (fn,),
-                                       parent=self)
-                return
-            else:
-                data = textFile.read()
-        else:
-            data = None
-        textView.TextViewer(self, viewTitle, fn, data=data)
+    def display_file_text(self, title, filename, encoding=None):
+        fn = os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), filename)
+        textView.view_file(self, title, fn, encoding)
 
     def Ok(self, event=None):
         self.destroy()
Index: EditorWindow.py
===================================================================
--- EditorWindow.py	(revision 55289)
+++ EditorWindow.py	(working copy)
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@
 
     def help_dialog(self, event=None):
         fn=os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)),'help.txt')
-        textView.TextViewer(self.top,'Help',fn)
+        textView.view_file(self.top,'Help',fn)
 
     def python_docs(self, event=None):
         if sys.platform[:3] == 'win':
Index: textView.py
===================================================================
--- textView.py	(revision 55289)
+++ textView.py	(working copy)
@@ -6,13 +6,12 @@
 import tkMessageBox
 
 class TextViewer(Toplevel):
+    """A simple text viewer dialog for IDLE
+
     """
-    simple text viewer dialog for idle
-    """
-    def __init__(self, parent, title, fileName, data=None):
-        """If data exists, load it into viewer, otherwise try to load file.
+    def __init__(self, parent, title, text):
+        """Show the given text in a scrollable window with a 'close' button
 
-        fileName - string, should be an absoulute filename
         """
         Toplevel.__init__(self, parent)
         self.configure(borderwidth=5)
@@ -33,23 +32,10 @@
         #key bindings for this dialog
         self.bind('<Return>',self.Ok) #dismiss dialog
         self.bind('<Escape>',self.Ok) #dismiss dialog
-        if data:
-            self.textView.insert(0.0, data)
-        else:
-            self.LoadTextFile(fileName)
+        self.textView.insert(0.0, text)
         self.textView.config(state=DISABLED)
         self.wait_window()
 
-    def LoadTextFile(self, fileName):
-        textFile = None
-        try:
-            textFile = open(fileName, 'r')
-        except IOError:
-            tkMessageBox.showerror(title='File Load Error',
-                    message='Unable to load file %r .' % (fileName,))
-        else:
-            self.textView.insert(0.0,textFile.read())
-
     def CreateWidgets(self):
         frameText = Frame(self, relief=SUNKEN, height=700)
         frameButtons = Frame(self)
@@ -70,9 +56,38 @@
     def Ok(self, event=None):
         self.destroy()
 
+
+def view_text(parent, title, text):
+    TextViewer(parent, title, text)
+
+def view_file(parent, title, filename, encoding=None):
+    try:
+        if encoding:
+            import codecs
+            textFile = codecs.open(filename, 'r')
+        else:
+            textFile = open(filename, 'r')
+    except IOError:
+        import tkMessageBox
+        tkMessageBox.showerror(title='File Load Error',
+                               message='Unable to load file %r .' % filename,
+                               parent=parent)
+    else:
+        return view_text(parent, title, textFile.read())
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     #test the dialog
     root=Tk()
-    Button(root,text='View',
-            command=lambda:TextViewer(root,'Text','./textView.py')).pack()
+    root.title('textView test')
+    filename = './textView.py'
+    text = file(filename, 'r').read()
+    btn1 = Button(root, text='view_text',
+                 command=lambda:view_text(root, 'view_text', text))
+    btn1.pack(side=LEFT)
+    btn2 = Button(root, text='view_file',
+                  command=lambda:view_file(root, 'view_file', filename))
+    btn2.pack(side=LEFT)
+    close = Button(root, text='Close', command=root.destroy)
+    close.pack(side=RIGHT)
     root.mainloop()