Figure.coast: No output of "+l|L" of "dcw" parameter ("E") when using an IDE

[yvonnefroehlich]

Description of the problem

First mentioned in #2428 (comment).

In the docstring for the dcw parameter of pygmt.Figure.coast we say:

Append +l|+L to =continent to only list countries in that continent; repeat if more than one continent is requested.

I tried this, but so far I am not sure how it should work. I only get an output when running the python script or code directly in a terminal. When using an IDE (e.g., Spyder, JupyterLab) there is no output neither in the console nor in the terminal.
Further, this part of the docstring is not precise, as +l gives the codes for the countries, but +L gives the codes for the states/territories.

Minimal Complete Verifiable Example

import pygmt

fig = pygmt.Figure()
fig.coast(dcw="=NA+l")
fig.coast(dcw="=NA+L")

Full error message

No error message occurs. 
No output occurs when running the code within an IDE (e.g., Spyder, JupyterLab).

System information

PyGMT information:
  version: v0.9.1.dev132
System information:
  python: 3.11.4 | packaged by conda-forge | (main, Jun 10 2023, 17:59:51) [MSC v.1935 64 bit (AMD64)]
  executable: C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\envs\pygmt_env_dev\python.exe
  machine: Windows-10-10.0.19045-SP0
Dependency information:
  numpy: 1.24.3
  pandas: 2.0.2
  xarray: 2023.1.1.dev17
  netCDF4: 1.6.2
  packaging: 23.1
  contextily: 1.3.0
  geopandas: 0.13.2
  IPython: 8.14.0
  rioxarray: 0.14.1
  ghostscript: 9.54.0
GMT library information:
  binary version: 6.4.0
  cores: 4
  grid layout: rows
  image layout: 
  library path: C:/ProgramData/Anaconda3/envs/pygmt_env_dev/Library/bin/gmt.dll
  padding: 2
  plugin dir: C:/ProgramData/Anaconda3/envs/pygmt_env_dev/Library/bin/gmt_plugins
  share dir: C:/Program Files (x86)/gmt6/share
  version: 6.4.0

[seisman]

Here are some quick ideas about my expected functionality for the dcw data.

>>> from pygmt import dcw

>>> dcw.path 
/path/to/gmt/share/dcw  # path to the dcw directory
>>> dcw.version
2.1.2
>>> north_america = dcw(continent="NA") # A DCW_Continent object
>>> print(north_america) # print something about the North America continent
north_america.code = "=NA"  # GMT's internal code
north_america.countries = ["AO", "BF", ...]  # list of country codes
# Or maybe it should be dict of DCW_Country object, then we can have the following syntax:
>>> north_america["US"]  # A DCW_Country object

>>> north_america.to_file("na.txt")  # save data to a file
>>> gdf = north_america.to_geopandas() # save data into a geopandas object
>>> north_america.region  # region: [xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax]

# Here is another way to have a DCW_Country object
>>> usa = dcw(country="US")  # returns a DCW_Country object
>>> usa.code
"US"
>>> usa.to_file("usa.txt")
>>> gdf = usa.to_geopandas()
>>> usa.region
[xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx]
>>> usa.states   # List of DCW_State object
["CI", "MI", ...]
>>> usa["CI"]  # A DCW_State object

# Here is another way to have a DCW_State object
>>> california = dcw(country="US", state="CI")
>>> california.code
"US.CI"
>>> california.to_file("ci.txt")
>>> california.to_geopandas()
>>> california.region
[xxx, xxxx, xxx, xxx]