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Store instance of class A in instance of class B

I have a question which is more regarding OOP in general rather than python specific.
Is ist possible to store instances of ClassA in instance of ClassB without a specific method, i.e. by some kind of inheritance.
Example: let's say I have one Model class and one Variable class
class Model():
def __init__(self):
self.vars = []
def _update_vars(self,Variable):
self.vars.append(Variable)
class Variable(Model):
def __init__(self,**kwargs):
self.__dict__.update(kwargs)
Is it now possible to call _update_vars whenever an instance of variable is being created.
So if I do something like this:
mdl = Model()
varA = Variable(...)
varB = Variable(...)
that mdl.vars would now include varA and varB.
I know that I could easily do this by passing the variables as an argument to a "public" method of Model. So I am not looking for
mdl.update_vars(varA)
So my two questions are:
is this possible?
if yes: would this very non-standard OOP programming?
Thanks for your help!

That's not how class inheritance is supposed to work. You only want to inherit something if the child class is going to make use of a good amount of the attributes/methods within the parent class. If the child class has a markedly different structure it should be a class of its own.
In either case, as mentioned by #jasonharper, at some point you would need to give direction as to which Variable instance belongs in which Model instance, so you're likely to end up with something like these:
varA = Variable(mdl, ...)
# or this
mdl.varA = Variable(...)
With the first way, you would maintain the method on your Variable class:
class Foo:
def __init__(self):
self.vars = []
class Bar:
def __init__(self, foo_instance, **kwargs):
foo_instance.vars.append(self)
f = Foo()
b = Bar(f, hello='hey')
f.vars
# [<__main__.Bar object at 0x03F6B4B0>]
With the second way, you can append the Variable instances into a list each time it's added:
class Foo:
def __init__(self):
self.vars = []
def __setattr__(self, name, val):
self.__dict__.update({name: val})
if not name == 'vars': # to prevent a recursive loop
self.vars.append(val)
f = Foo()
f.vars
# []
f.a = 'bar'
f.vars
# ['bar']
Of course, an easier way would be to just look directly into the __dict__ each time you want vars:
class Bar:
#property
def vars(self):
# Or you can return .items() if you want both the name and the value
return list(self.__dict__.values())
b = Bar()
b.a = 'hello'
b.vars
# ['hello']
Both of these will work the same even if you assigned the attributes with your own class instances.

You can use super() for this and pass the instance to the parent
class Model():
vars = []
def __init__(self, other=None):
if other:
self.vars.append(other)
class Variable(Model):
def __init__(self, a):
self.a = a
super().__init__(self)
mdl = Model()
varA = Variable(3)
varB = Variable(4)
print(mdl.vars)

Accessing Class variables from another class

How do you access an instance in an object and pass it to another 'main' object? I'm working with a parser for a file that parses different tags, INDI(individual), BIRT(event), FAMS(spouse), FAMC(children)
Basically there are three classes: Person, Event, Family
class Person():
def __init__(self, ref):
self._id = ref
self._birth : None
def addBirth(self, event):
self._birth: event
class Event():
def __init__(self, ref):
self._id = ref
self._event = None
def addEvent(self, event):
self._event = event
#**event = ['12 Jul 1997', 'Seattle, WA'] (this is generated from a function outside a class)
I want to transfer self._event from the Event class into addBirth method to add it into my person class. I have little knowledge on how classes and class inhertiances work. Please help!

If I understand your question, you want to pass an (for example) Event object to an instance of Person?
Honestly, I don't understand the intent of your code, but you probably just need to pass self from one class instance to the other class instance.
self references the current instance.
class Person:
def __init__(self):
self._events = []
def add_event(self, event)
self._events.append(event)
class Event:
def add_to_person(self, person):
person.add_event(self)

The most proper way to handle situations like this is to use getter and setter methods; data encapsulation is important in OO programming. I don't always see this done in Python where I think it should, as compared to other languages. It simply means to add methods to your classes who sole purpose are to return args to a caller, or modify args from a caller. For example
Say you have class A and B, and class B (caller) wants to use a variable x from class A. Then class A should provide a getter interface to handle such situations. Setting you work the same:
class class_A():
def __init__(self, init_args):
x = 0
def someMethod():
doStuff()
def getX():
return x
def setX(val):
x = val
class class_B():
def init(self):
init_args = stuff
A = class_A(init_args)
x = class_A.getX()
def someOtherMethod():
doStuff()
So if class B wanted the x property of an instance object A of class class_A, B just needs to call the getter method.
As far as passing instances of objects themselves, say if you wanted A to pass an already-created instance object of itself to a method in class B, then indeed, you simply would pass self.

How to access a class method from a property definition

I have a model where I want to use a class method to set the default of for a property:
class Organisation(db.Model):
name=db.StringProperty()
code=db.StringProperty(default=generate_code())
#classmethod
def generate_code(cls):
import random
codeChars='ABCDEF0123456789'
while True: # Make sure code is unique
code=random.choice(codeChars)+random.choice(codeChars)+\
random.choice(codeChars)+random.choice(codeChars)
if not cls.all().filter('code = ',code).get(keys_only=True):
return code
But I get a NameError:
NameError: name 'generate_code' is not defined
How can I access generate_code()?

As I said in a comment, I would use a classmethod to act as a factory and always create you entity through there. It keeps things simpler and no nasty hooks to get the behaviour you want.
Here is a quick example.
class Organisation(db.Model):
name=db.StringProperty()
code=db.StringProperty()
#classmethod
def generate_code(cls):
import random
codeChars='ABCDEF0123456789'
while True: # Make sure code is unique
code=random.choice(codeChars)+random.choice(codeChars)+\
random.choice(codeChars)+random.choice(codeChars)
if not cls.all().filter('code = ',code).get(keys_only=True):
return code
#classmethod
def make_organisation(cls,*args,**kwargs):
new_org = cls(*args,**kwargs)
new_org.code = cls.generate_code()
return new_org

import random
class Test(object):
def __new__(cls):
cls.my_attr = cls.get_code()
return super(Test, cls).__new__(cls)
#classmethod
def get_code(cls):
return random.randrange(10)
t = Test()
print t.my_attr

You need specify the class name: Organisation.generate_code()

Python: class static member pointing to itself? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Closed 11 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
Can I get a reference to the 'owner' class during the init method of a descriptor?
Code is worth a thousand words:
>>> class ShortRib(object):
>>> def __init__(self, owner):
>>> self.owner = owner
>>>
>>> ... some more methods and stuff ...
>>>
>>>
>>> class Cow(object):
>>> shortRib = ShortRib(self)
>>>
>>>
>>> class BrownCow(Cow):
>>> pass
>>>
>>> BrownCow.shortRib.owner
<class '__main__.BrownCow'>
This doesn't work, though i wish it would. Basically, I want each class to have some static/class variables (i'm not sure which it is in this case?) but need each of those guys to know who (which class) it belongs to. Unfortunately, I can't "get" at the class in the body of the class declaration. Of course, I could always do this using a decorator:
>>> def vars(**kwargs):
>>> def wrap(cls):
>>> for k, w in kwargs.items():
>>> setattr(cls, k, w(cls))
>>> return cls
>>> return wrap
>>>
>>> #vars(shortRib=lambda cls: ShortRib(cls)
>>> class BrownCow(Cow):
>>> ...
>>>
>>> BrownCow.shortRib.owner
which would work. Another way would to have a class decorator that goes through all the shortRibs and similar static variables and sets their owner after the class declaration is complete. However, this seems like an incredibly roundabout and unintuitive way of doing what should be a pretty simple operation: having the static/class members of a class know who they belong to.
Is there a "proper" way of doing this?
Clarification:
I want these members to belong to the class, not to the instances. I'm trying to go for a almost-purely-functional style, using classes only for inheritance of shared behavior, and not creating instances of them at all. Instances would tend to give my functions access to arbitrary instance data shared across all functions, which would break the pure-functioness I am trying for. I could just use empty instances which I don't touch, but I think using pure classes would be cleaner.

You can easily do this in __new__:
class ShortRib(object):
def __init__(self, owner):
self.owner = owner
class Cow(object):
shortRib = None
def __new__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
if cls.shortRib == None:
cls.shortRib = ShortRib(cls)
return super(Cow, cls).__new__(cls, *args, **kwargs)
Cow()
Cow.shortRib.owner
Or even __init__, if you don't mind referencing self.__class___.
You can also do it with a metaclass:
class ShortRib(object):
def __init__(self, owner):
self.owner = owner
class MetaCow(type):
def __new__(cls, name, base, attrs):
attrs['shortRib'] = ShortRib(cls)
return super(MetaCow, cls).__new__(cls, name, base, attrs)
class Cow(object):
__metaclass__ = MetaCow
Cow.shortRib.owner

Why not let the instances of the Cow class have shortRibs, instead of the class itself?:
class ShortRib(object):
def __init__(self,owner):
self.owner=owner
class Cow(object):
def __init__(self):
self.shortRib=ShortRib(self)
class BrownCow(Cow):
pass
print(BrownCow().shortRib.owner)
# <__main__.BrownCow object at 0xb76a8d6c>
(Otherwise, you'll need a class decorator or metaclass -- as you've already mentioned. But simple is better than complex, so why not choose simple?)
By the way, if you really do want to use classes instead of instances:
class ShortRib(object):
def __init__(self, owner):
self.owner = owner
class MetaCow(type):
def __init__(cls, name, base, attrs):
super(MetaCow, cls).__init__(name, base, attrs)
cls.shortRib = ShortRib(cls)
class Cow(object):
__metaclass__ = MetaCow
class BrownCow(Cow):
pass
print(Cow.shortRib.owner)
# <class '__main__.Cow'>
print(BrownCow.shortRib.owner)
# <class '__main__.BrownCow'>
Using
class MetaCow(type):
def __new__(cls, name, base, attrs):
is incorrect. The signature for type.__new__ is
class MetaCow(type):
def __new__(meta, name, base, attrs):
Since you want to modify the attributes of cls, not meta, use the MetaCow.__init__ not MetaCow__new__.

Two methods to to do what you want:
You can override the __getattr__ method in any class to return anything you desire when you ask for the value of an attribute.
You can use a property, which has a getter that returns the object you want it to return.
Both __getattr__ methods and properties are inherited.

How do I call a parent class's method from a child class in Python?

When creating a simple object hierarchy in Python, I'd like to be able to invoke methods of the parent class from a derived class. In Perl and Java, there is a keyword for this (super). In Perl, I might do this:
package Foo;
sub frotz {
return "Bamf";
}
package Bar;
#ISA = qw(Foo);
sub frotz {
my $str = SUPER::frotz();
return uc($str);
}
In Python, it appears that I have to name the parent class explicitly from the child.
In the example above, I'd have to do something like Foo::frotz().
This doesn't seem right since this behavior makes it hard to make deep hierarchies. If children need to know what class defined an inherited method, then all sorts of information pain is created.
Is this an actual limitation in python, a gap in my understanding or both?

Use the super() function:
class Foo(Bar):
def baz(self, **kwargs):
return super().baz(**kwargs)
For Python < 3, you must explicitly opt in to using new-style classes and use:
class Foo(Bar):
def baz(self, arg):
return super(Foo, self).baz(arg)

Python also has super as well:
super(type[, object-or-type])
Return a proxy object that delegates method calls to a parent or sibling class of type.
This is useful for accessing inherited methods that have been overridden in a class.
The search order is same as that used by getattr() except that the type itself is skipped.
Example:
class A(object): # deriving from 'object' declares A as a 'new-style-class'
def foo(self):
print "foo"
class B(A):
def foo(self):
super(B, self).foo() # calls 'A.foo()'
myB = B()
myB.foo()

ImmediateParentClass.frotz(self)
will be just fine, whether the immediate parent class defined frotz itself or inherited it. super is only needed for proper support of multiple inheritance (and then it only works if every class uses it properly). In general, AnyClass.whatever is going to look up whatever in AnyClass's ancestors if AnyClass doesn't define/override it, and this holds true for "child class calling parent's method" as for any other occurrence!

Python 3 has a different and simpler syntax for calling parent method.
If Foo class inherits from Bar, then from Bar.__init__ can be invoked from Foo via super().__init__():
class Foo(Bar):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
# invoke Bar.__init__
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)

Many answers have explained how to call a method from the parent which has been overridden in the child.
However
"how do you call a parent class's method from child class?"
could also just mean:
"how do you call inherited methods?"
You can call methods inherited from a parent class just as if they were methods of the child class, as long as they haven't been overwritten.
e.g. in python 3:
class A():
def bar(self, string):
print("Hi, I'm bar, inherited from A"+string)
class B(A):
def baz(self):
self.bar(" - called by baz in B")
B().baz() # prints out "Hi, I'm bar, inherited from A - called by baz in B"
yes, this may be fairly obvious, but I feel that without pointing this out people may leave this thread with the impression you have to jump through ridiculous hoops just to access inherited methods in python. Especially as this question rates highly in searches for "how to access a parent class's method in Python", and the OP is written from the perspective of someone new to python.
I found:
https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/classes.html#inheritance
to be useful in understanding how you access inherited methods.

Here is an example of using super():
#New-style classes inherit from object, or from another new-style class
class Dog(object):
name = ''
moves = []
def __init__(self, name):
self.name = name
def moves_setup(self):
self.moves.append('walk')
self.moves.append('run')
def get_moves(self):
return self.moves
class Superdog(Dog):
#Let's try to append new fly ability to our Superdog
def moves_setup(self):
#Set default moves by calling method of parent class
super(Superdog, self).moves_setup()
self.moves.append('fly')
dog = Superdog('Freddy')
print dog.name # Freddy
dog.moves_setup()
print dog.get_moves() # ['walk', 'run', 'fly'].
#As you can see our Superdog has all moves defined in the base Dog class

There's a super() in Python too. It's a bit wonky, because of Python's old- and new-style classes, but is quite commonly used e.g. in constructors:
class Foo(Bar):
def __init__(self):
super(Foo, self).__init__()
self.baz = 5

I would recommend using CLASS.__bases__
something like this
class A:
def __init__(self):
print "I am Class %s"%self.__class__.__name__
for parentClass in self.__class__.__bases__:
print " I am inherited from:",parentClass.__name__
#parentClass.foo(self) <- call parents function with self as first param
class B(A):pass
class C(B):pass
a,b,c = A(),B(),C()

If you don't know how many arguments you might get, and want to pass them all through to the child as well:
class Foo(bar)
def baz(self, arg, *args, **kwargs):
# ... Do your thing
return super(Foo, self).baz(arg, *args, **kwargs)
(From: Python - Cleanest way to override __init__ where an optional kwarg must be used after the super() call?)

There is a super() in python also.
Example for how a super class method is called from a sub class method
class Dog(object):
name = ''
moves = []
def __init__(self, name):
self.name = name
def moves_setup(self,x):
self.moves.append('walk')
self.moves.append('run')
self.moves.append(x)
def get_moves(self):
return self.moves
class Superdog(Dog):
#Let's try to append new fly ability to our Superdog
def moves_setup(self):
#Set default moves by calling method of parent class
super().moves_setup("hello world")
self.moves.append('fly')
dog = Superdog('Freddy')
print (dog.name)
dog.moves_setup()
print (dog.get_moves())
This example is similar to the one explained above.However there is one difference that super doesn't have any arguments passed to it.This above code is executable in python 3.4 version.

In this example cafec_param is a base class (parent class) and abc is a child class. abc calls the AWC method in the base class.
class cafec_param:
def __init__(self,precip,pe,awc,nmonths):
self.precip = precip
self.pe = pe
self.awc = awc
self.nmonths = nmonths
def AWC(self):
if self.awc<254:
Ss = self.awc
Su = 0
self.Ss=Ss
else:
Ss = 254; Su = self.awc-254
self.Ss=Ss + Su
AWC = Ss + Su
return self.Ss
def test(self):
return self.Ss
#return self.Ss*4
class abc(cafec_param):
def rr(self):
return self.AWC()
ee=cafec_param('re',34,56,2)
dd=abc('re',34,56,2)
print(dd.rr())
print(ee.AWC())
print(ee.test())
Output
56
56
56

In Python 2, I didn't have a lot luck with super(). I used the answer from
jimifiki on this SO thread how to refer to a parent method in python?.
Then, I added my own little twist to it, which I think is an improvement in usability (Especially if you have long class names).
Define the base class in one module:
# myA.py
class A():
def foo( self ):
print "foo"
Then import the class into another modules as parent:
# myB.py
from myA import A as parent
class B( parent ):
def foo( self ):
parent.foo( self ) # calls 'A.foo()'

class department:
campus_name="attock"
def printer(self):
print(self.campus_name)
class CS_dept(department):
def overr_CS(self):
department.printer(self)
print("i am child class1")
c=CS_dept()
c.overr_CS()

If you want to call the method of any class, you can simply call Class.method on any instance of the class. If your inheritance is relatively clean, this will work on instances of a child class too:
class Foo:
def __init__(self, var):
self.var = var
def baz(self):
return self.var
class Bar(Foo):
pass
bar = Bar(1)
assert Foo.baz(bar) == 1

class a(object):
def my_hello(self):
print "hello ravi"
class b(a):
def my_hello(self):
super(b,self).my_hello()
print "hi"
obj = b()
obj.my_hello()

This is a more abstract method:
super(self.__class__,self).baz(arg)