python access functions in ipython notebook [duplicate]

I have a function stored in a .py file, call it my_methods.

def print_text(myText):
    print myText

I'm using ipython notebook to do my development (local server), and the my_methods file is frequently changing.

I'd like to use runipy to run other ipython notebooks via a shell script that reference the functions within my_methods. For example, one ipython notebook being launched from a shell script would look like this:

import my_methods as mm

mm.print_text("print me")

How do I set this up so that the import my_methods line can get the print_text function from the ipython notebook (.ipynb), instead of the .py version? Currently, I'd have to download the my_methods notebook as a .py file, which is causing version control issues (the .ipynb version of my_methods is different than the downloaded .py version)

Thanks for the help!

EDIT

So after reading through the blog post that was shown as the answer I made a slight modification to the find_notebook function. If a path for the ipython notebook isn't supplied,I just had it read through sys.path, rather than the current directory. I'm also not running on a linux machine like they were, so it made it easier for me to maintain all of my added python files in a separate directory, which is included in my path variable. I saved the following code in a module called iPyLoader, and then import it first in my other modules:

import io, os, sys, types
from IPython import get_ipython
from IPython.nbformat import current
from IPython.core.interactiveshell import InteractiveShell

def find_notebook(fullname, path=None):
    """find a notebook, given its fully qualified name and an optional path

    This turns "foo.bar" into "foo/bar.ipynb"
    and tries turning "Foo_Bar" into "Foo Bar" if Foo_Bar
    does not exist.
    """
    name = fullname.rsplit('.', 1)[-1]
    if not path:
        path = sys.path #EDITED HERE RATHER THAN CURRENT DIRECTORY
    for d in path:
        nb_path = os.path.join(d, name + ".ipynb")
        if os.path.isfile(nb_path):
            return nb_path
        # let import Notebook_Name find "Notebook Name.ipynb"
        nb_path = nb_path.replace("_", " ")
        if os.path.isfile(nb_path):
            return nb_path

class NotebookLoader(object):
    """Module Loader for IPython Notebooks"""
    def __init__(self, path=None):
        self.shell = InteractiveShell.instance()
        self.path = path

    def load_module(self, fullname):
        """import a notebook as a module"""
        path = find_notebook(fullname)

        print ("importing IPython notebook from %s" % path)

        # load the notebook object
        with io.open(path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
            nb = current.read(f, 'json')


        # create the module and add it to sys.modules
        # if name in sys.modules:
        #    return sys.modules[name]
        mod = types.ModuleType(fullname)
        mod.__file__ = path
        mod.__loader__ = self
        mod.__dict__['get_ipython'] = get_ipython
        sys.modules[fullname] = mod

        # extra work to ensure that magics that would affect the user_ns
        # actually affect the notebook module's ns
        save_user_ns = self.shell.user_ns
        self.shell.user_ns = mod.__dict__

        try:
          for cell in nb.worksheets[0].cells:
            if cell.cell_type == 'code' and cell.language == 'python':
                # transform the input to executable Python
                code = self.shell.input_transformer_manager.transform_cell(cell.input)
                # run the code in themodule
                exec(code, mod.__dict__)
        finally:
            self.shell.user_ns = save_user_ns
        return mod

class NotebookFinder(object):
    """Module finder that locates IPython Notebooks"""
    def __init__(self):
        self.loaders = {}

    def find_module(self, fullname, path=None):
        nb_path = find_notebook(fullname, path)
        if not nb_path:
            return

        key = path
        if path:
            # lists aren't hashable
            key = os.path.sep.join(path)

        if key not in self.loaders:
            self.loaders[key] = NotebookLoader(path)
        return self.loaders[key]

sys.meta_path.append(NotebookFinder())

then my sample file might run something like this

import iPyLoader
import testnotebook as printer #this is an .ipynb file
printer.myprinter("test")

and the output would be:

importing IPython notebook from C:\Python27\lib\testnotebook.ipynb
test