Dictionary Logic in Python class - python

I was clear how dictionaries work in Python until I found this logic.
class Sample:
__test = {}
def __init__(self):
self.__dict__ = self.__test
self.key = "answer"
self.count = "numbers"
def print_test(self):
print(self.__test)
s = Sample()
s.print_test()
In the above code a dictionary is initialized and then same variable is assigned to the class dict. In the next line we are initializing 2 more variables to the class.
In the end we are initializing Sample class to an "s object"
As per my understanding this should be following output and __test dictionary should be empty
s.count = "numbers"
s.key = "answers"
But to my surprise the print_test functions returns
{'count': 'numbers', 'key': 'answer'}
Can anyone explain how the __test dictionary got these items as key value pairs.

The __init__ function runs sequentially. When you set self.__dict__ = self.__test, you assign the object's internal state dictionary to be empty. However, when you next set the values of self.key and self.count, those attributes are added to the now empty self.__dict__, and by mutual assignment, to self.__test
You can see the difference you assign the empty dict at the end of the __init__ method.
class Sample:
__test = {}
def __init__(self):
self.key = "answer"
self.count = "numbers"
self.__dict__ = self.__test
def print_test(self):
print(self.__test)
s = Sample()
s.print_test()
# prints:
{}

Related

simple class as data container: Howto?

I want a class with static attributes that can be stored using one or more get methods from outside and the stored values can be retrieved using one or more get methods
class contract_data:
contract_header = dict()
contract_item = dict()
contract_schedule = dict()
# #staticmethod
def put_header(line:list,findex:dict):
contract_header[line[findex['VBELN_VA']]] = {'KNKLI':[line[findex['KNKLI']]],
'VTWEG':[line[findex['VTWEG']]],
'SPART':[line[findex['SPART']]],
'VKBUR':[line[findex['VKBUR']]],
'VKGRP':[line[findex['VKGRP']]],
'BSTKD':[line[findex['BSTKD']]]
}
def get_header(keyval:str)->dict:
return contract_header[keyval]
# #staticmethod
def put_item(line: list, findex: dict):
return
#staticmethod
def put_schedule(line: list, findex: dict):
return
I expected that calling contract_data.put_header(line,findex) I could store values in contract_data attribute contract_header. But it fails with runtime error
in put_header:
contract_header[line[findex['VBELN_VA']]] = {'KNKLI':[line[findex['KNKLI']]],
NameError: name 'contract_header' is not defined. Did you mean: 'contract_data'?
I played around with #staticmethod and .self or self. with no success.
I expect the class attributes, the dictionaries can be used within the class but not outside.
Your dicts are not global variables; they're class attributes, and as such need to be accessed from the class. That means your static methods need to be defined as class methods.
class contract_data:
contract_header = dict()
contract_item = dict()
contract_schedule = dict()
#classmethod
def put_header(cls, line: list, findex: dict):
cls.contract_header[line[findex['VBELN_VA']]] = {
k: [line[findex[k]]]
for k in ['KNKLI', 'VTWEB', 'SPART', 'VKBUR', 'VKGRP', 'BSTKD']}
#classmethod
def get_header(cls, keyval: str)->dict:
return cls.contract_header[keyval]
...

How to access class instance attributes indirectly?

If I have a class instance with some attributes defined, how do I access them indirectly? My first thought was to put them in a dict and then access them with the keywords but that doesn't work as I expect - example below:
class Test:
def __init__(self):
self.testval=0
test=Test()
testfuncs={'A':test.testval}
print(test.testval)
testfuncs['A']=1
print(test.testval)
This prints '0' and then '0' as I have not modified the class variable, I've just altered the dictionary value to be the integer '1'.
So I want to be able to access and modify the attribute testval. The reason for this is that in a larger program there are some defined class instance variables that I want to assign once and then reuse throughout. Then by just updating the dict they will change everywhere (they are voltage channels that may change as application changes).
Use the getattr() function to get an attribute of an object if you have its name in a variable, and setattr() to set it in similar circumstances.
class Test:
def __init__(self):
self.testval = 0
test=Test()
A = "testval"
print(test.testval)
setattr(test, A, 1)
print(test.testval)
You can also define your class to have a __setitem__ method; then you can use dictionary-like syntax to set attributes.
class Test:
def __init__(self):
self.testval = 0
def __setitem__(self, key, value):
setattr(self, key, value)
test=Test()
A = "testval"
print(test.testval)
test[A] = 1
print(test.testval)
Finally (well, there are other ways you can handle this, but I'm only going to mention one more)... finally, you could make a class that holds a reference to an object and an attribute name. This is convenient when you want to pass around such references.
class Test:
def __init__(self):
self.testval = 0
class IndirectAttribute:
def __init__(self, obj, attr):
self.obj = obj
self.attr = attr
def set(self, value):
setattr(self.obj, self.attr, value)
test = Test()
A = IndirectAttribute(test, "testval")
print(test.testval)
A.set(1)
print(test.testval)
You can set the value of the dictionary to be your test object
class Test:
def __init__(self):
self.testval = 0
test = Test()
testfuncs = {'A': test}
print(test.testval) # prints 0
testfuncs['A'].testval = 1
print(test.testval) # prints 1

Python constructor copy

I try to test my program to create a copy of an object and I get this error:
TypeError: __init__() takes 1 positional argument but 2 were given
I tried to check existing questions but I can't correct this error. Any suggestions?
This is my class:
class ordred_dict:
#"""
#This class is an ordred dictionary
#composed of 2 listes: key list and value list as a dictionary
#"""
def __init__(self, orig):
#"""
#Constructur to initiate an empty key and value list
#"""
self.key_list=list(orig.key_list)
self.value_list=list(orig.value_list)
def __init__(self, **Tuplekeysvalues):
#"""
#Create a new dict using a liste of (keys:values)
#"""
self.key_list=list()
self.value_list=list()
for key in Tuplekeysvalues:
self.key_list.append(key)
self.value_list.append(Tuplekeysvalues[key])
#print("({}:{}) ".format(key, Tuplekeysvalues[key]))
#Main program
dict3=ordred_dict(p1="1",p2="2",p4="4",p3="3",p0="0")
dict2=ordred_dict(dict3)
You can't overload constructors in Python like you can in some other languages. A better way of doing this would be something like:
class MyOrderedDict:
def __init__(self, *args):
self.key_list = []
self.value_list = []
for key,val in args:
self.key_list.append(key)
self.value_list.append(val)
#classmethod
def from_ordered_dict(cls, other):
return cls(*zip(other.key_list, other.value_list))
Then call it with:
d = MyOrderedDict(('key1', 'value1'), ('key2', 'value2'))
e = MyOrderedDict.from_ordered_dict(d)

Problems when converting a dictionary to object

I am using a technique discussed here before, to turn a dictionary into an object, so that I can access the elements of the dictionary with the dot (.) notion, as instance variables.
This is what I am doing:
# Initial dictionary
myData = {'apple':'1', 'banana':'2', 'house':'3', 'car':'4', 'hippopotamus':'5'}
# Create the container class
class Struct:
def __init__(self, **entries):
self.__dict__.update(entries)
# Finally create the instance and bind the dictionary to it
k = Struct(**myData)
So now, I can do:
print k.apple
and the result is:
1
This works, however the issues start if I try to add some other methods to the "Struct" class. For example lets say that I am adding a simple method that just creates an variable:
class Struct:
def __init__(self, **entries):
self.__dict__.update(entries)
def testMe(self):
self.myVariable = 67
If I do:
k.testMe()
My dictionary object is broken, "myVariable" is inserted as a key with the value "67". So If I do:
print k.__dict__
I am getting:
{'apple': '1', 'house': '3', 'myVariable': 67, 'car': '4', 'banana': '2', 'hippopotamus': '5'}
Is there a way to fix this? I kind of understand what is happening, but not sure If I need to entirely change my approach and build a class with internal methods to handle the dictionary object or is there a simpler way to fix this problem?
Here is the original link:
Convert Python dict to object?
Thanks.
For your needs, don't store you variables in __dict__. Use your own dictionary instead, and override .__getattr__ (for print k.apple) and __setattr__ (for k.apple=2):
# Initial dictionary
myData = {'apple':'1', 'banana':'2', 'house':'3', 'car':'4', 'hippopotamus':'5'}
# Create the container class
class Struct:
_dict = {}
def __init__(self, **entries):
self._dict = entries
def __getattr__(self, name):
try:
return self._dict[name]
except KeyError:
raise AttributeError(
"'{}' object has no attribute or key '{}'".format(
self.__class__.__name__, name))
def __setattr__(self, name, value):
if name in self._dict:
self._dict[name] = value
else:
self.__dict__[name] = value
def testMe(self):
self.myVariable = 67
def FormattedDump(self):
return str(self._dict)
# Finally create the instance and bind the dictionary to it
k = Struct(**myData)
print k.apple
print k.FormattedDump()
k.testMe()
k.apple = '2'
print k.FormattedDump()
In the alternative, if your FormattedDump() routine is bothering you, you could just fix it:
# Initial dictionary
myData = {'apple':'1', 'banana':'2', 'house':'3', 'car':'4', 'hippopotamus':'5'}
# Create the container class
class Struct:
def __init__(self, **entries):
self.__dict__.update(entries)
self.public_names = entries.keys()
def testMe(self):
self.myVariable = 67
def GetPublicDict(self):
return {key:getattr(self, key) for key in self.public_names}
def FormattedDump(self):
return str(self.GetPublicDict())
# Finally create the instance and bind the dictionary to it
k = Struct(**myData)
print k.apple
print k.FormattedDump()
k.testMe()
k.apple = '2'
print k.FormattedDump()

Python data structure for a collection of objects with random access based on an attribute

I need a collection of objects which can be looked up by a certain (unique) attribute common to each of the objects. Right now I am using a dicitionary assigning the dictionary key to the attribute.
Here is an example of what I have now:
class Item():
def __init__(self, uniq_key, title=None):
self.key = uniq_key
self.title = title
item_instance_1 = Item("unique_key1", title="foo")
item_instance_2 = Item("unique_key3", title="foo")
item_instance_3 = Item("unique_key2", title="foo")
item_collection = {
item_instance_1.key: item_instance_1,
item_instance_2.key: item_instance_2,
item_instance_3.key: item_instance_3
}
item_instance_1.key = "new_key"
Now this seems a rather cumbersome solution, as the key is not a reference to the attribute but takes the value of the key-attribute on assignment, meaning that:
the keys of the dictionary duplicate information already present in form of the object attribute and
when the object attribute is changed the dictionary key is not updated.
Using a list and iterating through the object seems even more inefficient.
So, is there more fitting data structure than dict for this particular case, a collection of objects giving me random access based on a certain object attribute?
This would need to work with Python 2.4 as that's what I am stuck with (at work).
If it hasn't been obvious, I'm new to Python.
There is actually no duplication of information as you fear: the dict's key, and the object's .key attribute, are just two references to exactly the same object.
The only real problem is "what if the .key gets reassigned". Well then, clearly you must use a property that updates all the relevant dicts as well as the instance's attribute; so each object must know all the dicts in which it may be enregistered. Ideally one would want to use weak references for the purpose, to avoid circular dependencies, but, alas, you can't take a weakref.ref (or proxy) to a dict. So, I'm using normal references here, instead (the alternative is not to use dict instances but e.g. some special subclass -- not handy).
def enregister(d, obj):
obj.ds.append(d)
d[obj.key] = obj
class Item(object):
def __init__(self, uniq_key, title=None):
self._key = uniq_key
self.title = title
self.ds = []
def adjust_key(self, newkey):
newds = [d for d in self.ds if self._key in d]
for d in newds:
del d[self._key]
d[newkey] = self
self.ds = newds
self._key = newkey
def get_key(self):
return self._key
key = property(get_key, adjust_key)
Edit: if you want a single collection with ALL the instances of Item, that's even easier, as you can make the collection a class-level attribute; indeed it can be a WeakValueDictionary to avoid erroneously keeping items alive, if that's what you need. I.e.:
class Item(object):
all = weakref.WeakValueDictionary()
def __init__(self, uniq_key, title=None):
self._key = uniq_key
self.title = title
# here, if needed, you could check that the key
# is not ALREADY present in self.all
self.all[self._key] = self
def adjust_key(self, newkey):
# "key non-uniqueness" could be checked here too
del self.all[self._key]
self.all[newkey] = self
self._key = newkey
def get_key(self):
return self._key
key = property(get_key, adjust_key)
Now you can use Item.all['akey'], Item.all.get('akey'), for akey in Item.all:, and so forth -- all the rich functionality of dicts.
There are a number of great things you can do here. One example would be to let the class keep track of everything:
class Item():
_member_dict = {}
#classmethod
def get_by_key(cls,key):
return cls._member_dict[key]
def __init__(self, uniq_key, title=None):
self.key = uniq_key
self.__class__._member_dict[key] = self
self.title = title
>>> i = Item('foo')
>>> i == Item.get_by_key('foo')
True
Note you will retain the update problem: if key changes, the _member_dict falls out of sync. This is where encapsulation will come in handy: make it (practically) impossible to change key without updating the dictionary. For a good tutorial on how to do that, see this tutorial.
Well, dict really is what you want. What may be cumbersome is not the dict itself, but the way you are building it. Here is a slight enhancement to your example, showing how to use a list expression and the dict constructor to easily create your lookup dict. This also shows how to create a multimap kind of dict, to look up matching items given a field value that might be duplicated across items:
class Item(object):
def __init__(self, **kwargs):
self.__dict__.update(kwargs)
def __str__(self):
return str(self.__dict__)
def __repr__(self):
return str(self)
allitems = [
Item(key="red", title="foo"),
Item(key="green", title="foo"),
Item(key="blue", title="foofoo"),
]
# if fields are unique
itemByKey = dict([(i.key,i) for i in allitems])
# if field value can be duplicated across items
# (for Python 2.5 and higher, you could use a defaultdict from
# the collections module)
itemsByTitle = {}
for i in allitems:
if i.title in itemsByTitle:
itemsByTitle[i.title].append(i)
else:
itemsByTitle[i.title] = [i]
print itemByKey["red"]
print itemsByTitle["foo"]
Prints:
{'key': 'red', 'title': 'foo'}
[{'key': 'red', 'title': 'foo'}, {'key': 'green', 'title': 'foo'}]
Editing to correct the problem I had - which was due to my "collection = dict()" default parameter (*bonk*). Now, each call to the function will return a class with its own collection as intended - this for convenience in case more than one such collection should be needed. Also am putting the collection in the class and just returning the class instead of the two separately in a tuple as before. (Leaving the default container here as dict(), but that could be changed to Alex's WeakValueDictionary, which is of course very cool.)
def make_item_collection(container = None):
''' Create a class designed to be collected in a specific collection. '''
container = dict() if container is None else container
class CollectedItem(object):
collection = container
def __init__(self, key, title=None):
self.key = key
CollectedItem.collection[key] = self
self.title = title
def update_key(self, new_key):
CollectedItem.collection[
new_key] = CollectedItem.collection.pop(self.key)
self.key = new_key
return CollectedItem
# Usage Demo...
Item = make_item_collection()
my_collection = Item.collection
item_instance_1 = Item("unique_key1", title="foo1")
item_instance_2 = Item("unique_key2", title="foo2")
item_instance_3 = Item("unique_key3", title="foo3")
for k,v in my_collection.iteritems():
print k, v.title
item_instance_1.update_key("new_unique_key")
print '****'
for k,v in my_collection.iteritems():
print k, v.title
And here's the output in Python 2.5.2:
unique_key1 foo1
unique_key2 foo2
unique_key3 foo3
****
new_unique_key foo1
unique_key2 foo2
unique_key3 foo3

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