Flask, WSGI, and Global Variables to Hold Database Pool - python

I'm using WSGI/Apache2 and am trying to declare my database pool on init, to be accessible via a global var from my endpoints. I'm using Redis and Cassandra (DSE, specifically). It's my understanding that both the Redis and DSE libs offer pool management so this shouldn't be an issue.
My folder structure for my WSGI app looks something akin to
folder/
tp.wsgi
app/
__init__.py
decorators/
cooldec.py
mod_api/
controllers.py
tp.wsgi looks like the following
#! /usr/bin/env python2.7
import sys
import logging
logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stderr)
sys.path.insert(0, "/opt/tp")
from app import app
def application(environ, start_response):
return app(environ, start_response)
__init__.py looks like the following
#! /usr/bin/env python2.7
from flask import Flask
from cassandra.cluster import Cluster
# Import our handlers
from app.mod_api.files import mod_files
# Setup routine
def setup():
# Instantiate Flask
app = Flask('app')
# Set up a connection to Cassandra
cassandraSession = Cluster(['an ip address', 'an ip address']).connect('keyspace')
cassandraSession.default_timeout = None
# Register our blueprints
app.register_blueprint(mod_files)
...
return app, cassandraSession
app, cassandraSession = setup()
I'm calling a decorator defined in cooldec.py that handles authentication (I use that term loosely, for a reason. I ask that we not go down the path of using Flask extensions for authentication, that's out of scope for this question and isn't applicable in my use-use [see: loose usage of the term 'authentication'])
In cooldec.py and controllers.py I'm trying to access the cassandraSession global but I keep getting global name 'cassandraSession' is not defined. I know what the error means, but I'm not sure why I'm seeing this. It's my understanding that the way I've set my WSGI app up allows for cassandraSession to be accessible within the scope of the app, no?
I found Preserving state in mod_wsgi Flask application but .. it hasn't really shed any light on to what I'm doing wrong.

My issue was the location of my imports. I made a few changes to tp.wsgi and __init__.py and I've got what I need working. That is, calling from app import cassandraSession from within cooldec.py and controllers.py
Below is how I've set up the aforementioned.
tp.wsgi
#! /usr/bin/env python2.7
import sys
import logging
logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stderr)
sys.path.insert(0, "/opt/tp")
from app import app as application
__init__.py
#! /usr/bin/env python2.7
# API Module
from flask import Flask, jsonify
from cassandra.cluster import Cluster
# Create our API
app = Flask('app')
# Define a cassandra cluster/session we can use
cassandraSession = Cluster(['an ip address' 'an ip address']).connect('keyspace')
cassandraSession.default_timeout = None
... Register blueprints
These are overly simplified edits, but it gives the idea of what I was doing wrong (eg: declaring in wrong file and trying to import improperly.
In both cooldec.py and controllres.py we can now do
from app import cassandraSession
rows = cassandraSession.execute('select * from table')
Tip for new WSGI developers: Continue to think "in python".
+ WARNING +
I have yet to find an absolute answer on whether or not this is safe to do. Doing this using sqlalchemy is perfectly OK due to how sqlalchemy handles connection pooling. I am, as of yet, unaware if this is safe to do with Cassandra/DSE, so proceed with caution if you utilize this post.

Related

Running Flask from an imported module

I'm trying to run Flask from an imported module (creating a wrapper using decorators).
Basically I have:
app.py:
import mywrapper
#mywrapper.entrypoint
def test():
print("HEYO!")
mywrapper.py
from flask import Flask
ENTRYPOINT = None
app = Flask(__name__)
#app.route("/")
def listen():
"""Start the model API service"""
ENTRYPOINT()
def entrypoint(f):
global ENTRYPOINT
ENTRYPOINT = f
return f
FLASK_APP=app
Running python -m flask, however, results in:
flask.cli.NoAppException: Failed to find Flask application or factory in module "app". Use "FLASK_APP=app:name to specify one.
Is there any trick to getting Flask to run like this? Or is it just not possible? The purpose of this is to abstract Flask away in this situation.
In my head flask should try to import mywrapper.py, which imports app.py which should generate the app and route, yet this doesn't seem to be what occurs.
Any help would be appreciated.
So I've since learnt that Flask searches only in the chosen module's namespace for a variable containing a Flask object.
There may be a smart way to avoid this limitation, but I instead decided that it was more sensible to instead just wrap the Flask class itself. If people want direct Flask functionality, I don't really care in this situation, so the only real limitation I have from this is some function names are off limits.
Basically:
wrapper.py:
class Wrapper(Flask):
def __init__(self, name):
super().__init__(name)
self.entrypoint_func = None
#self.route("/")
def listen():
return self.entrypoint_func()
def entrypoint(self, f):
assert self.entrypoint_func is None, "Entrypoint can only be set once"
self.entrypoint_func = f
return f
and app.py:
from mywrapper import Wrapper
app = Wrapper(__name__)
#app.entrypoint
def test():
print("HEYO!")
return "SUCCESS"
This is still abstracted enough that I am happy with the results.

Configuring WSGI (flask factory) with PythonAnywhere

I'm having issues with deploying a Flask Application with WSGI and PythonAnywhere. I assume I have done something wrong but I wasn't able to find exactly what I did do wrong.
Here's my WSGI config file
import sys
# add your project directory to the sys.path
project_home = u'/home/{redacted}/src'
if project_home not in sys.path:
sys.path = [project_home] + sys.path
from start import run as application
Here's start.py
from bin import app
run = app.register().run()
Although if I try it this way it still does not work
from bin import app
run = app.register()
And here's what I'm doing in bin/main.py
class Application():
# Some required code redacted, although not necessary for this example
def __init__(self):
self.app = Flask(__name__, instance_relative_config=True)
def register(self):
""" Starts Flask App """
try:
self.configure_app()
self.register_blueprints()
except Exception as e:
print(f"Error configuring Application: {e}")
return self.app
app = Application()
Just in case you're interested, here's how it's imported through bin/__ init __.py
from .main import app
I do understand that the method in which I am doing this is over complicating it a little bit, and that I could get it working with a more normal method. Although I want it done this way and I'm fairly sure it can work this way, because the example I've shown 100% works on my machine.
Help is very appreciated. I am 100% aware I am doing something wrong here I just need help figuring out what it is.

How to unittest a function that use app.logger of Flask

For sure I'm missing something in Flask and unit test integration (or logger configuration maybe)
But when I'm trying to unittest some class methods that have some app.logger I'm having troubles with RuntimeError: working outside of the application context
So a practical example:
utils.py
import boto3
from flask import current_app as app
class CustomError(BaseException):
type = "boto"
class BotoManager:
def upload_to_s3(self, file):
try:
# do something that can trigger a boto3 error
except boto3.exceptions.Boto3Error as e:
app.logger.error(e)
raise CustomError()
test_utils.py
import pytest
from utils.py import CustomError, BotoManager
def test_s3_manager_trigger_error():
boto_manager = BotoManager()
with pytest.raises(CustomError):
boto_manager.upload_to_s3('file.txt') # file doesn't exist so trigger error
So the thing is that when I run it show me the error:
RuntimeError: Working outside of application context.
Becuase the app is not created and I'm not working with the app, so have sense.
So I only see two possible solutions (spoiler I don't like any of them):
Don't log anything with app.logger outside of the views (I think I can use the python logging system, but this is not the desired behaviour)
Don't unittest the parts that use app.logger
Did someone face this problem already? How did you solve it? Any other possible solution?

Flask ImportError: cannot import name routes

I'm converting a cli application to use a REST api and I've read up on flask and I thought I understood things but apparently not :-D. based on this: https://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/the-flask-mega-tutorial-part-i-hello-world
I have a directory structure:
--myApp
myApp.py
--APIService
__init__.py
WebService.py
myApp.py:
from APIService import app
app.run(debug = True )
init:
from flask import Flask
app = Flask(__name__)
from app import routes
WebService.py:
from APIService import app
class WebService(object):
'''
classdocs
'''
def __init__(self,):
'''
Constructor
'''
#app.route('/')
#app.route('/index')
def index():
return "Hello, World!"
I've tried this a few different ways like renaming app to APIService but I keep circling back to the same error: APIService\__init__.py", line 5, in <module> from app import routes ImportError: No module named app
I just don't get what I'm doing wrong here. I did pip install flask so the module is there. I skipped the environment part but that's because I wasn't bothered with running globally for now. anyone have a clue as to what I messed up?
In the following line insideAPIService\__init__.py:
from app import routes
the keyword routes is referencing a separate Python Module inside the APIService folder that is named "routes.py" in the Flask Mega Tutorial. It seems like you have renamed the "routes.py" file to "WebService.py" so you can solve the import issue by changing the import line insideAPIService\__init__.pyto:
from app import WebService

Unit testing Flask app running under uwsgi

I’m relatively new to python and am looking for a pythonic way to handle this practice.
I’ve inherited a fairly trivial Python 2.7 Flask app that runs under uwsgi that I want to add some unit tests to. It does some initialization at indentation level 0 that is required when it’s running in uwsgi but needs to be skipped when under test.
I’m given to understand that often python apps use the
if __name__ == '__main__':
pattern to isolate code that should run when the script is run on its own and should not run when it’s imported. In this case, however, both when the script is run under uwsgi and when the script is imported into the unit tests, __name__ is the same; the name of the script, so I can’t use that to differentiate between uwsgi and unit-testing environments.
This sample code illustrates what I'm working with.
In the Flask application (flask_app.py):
import logging
import bcrypt
from flask import Flask, jsonify, abort, make_response, request
from ConfigParser import SafeConfigParser
# some initialization that only makes sense when running from the uwsgi context on the server
PARSER = SafeConfigParser()
PARSER.read('config.ini')
LOG_FILE = PARSER.get('General', 'logfile')
APP = Flask(__name__)
#APP.route('/', methods=['GET'])
def index
...
#APP.route('/<p1>/<p2>', methods=['PUT'])
def put(p1, p2):
...
if __name__ == '__main__':
APP.run(debug = True, host='0.0.0.0')
In the unit tests (tests.py):
import os
import unittest
from flask import json
from flask_app import APP
class FlaskAppTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
def setUp(self):
self.APP = APP.test_client()
def test_GET(self):
resp = self.APP.get('/')
assert 'Some Html' in resp.data
def test_PUT(self):
resp = self.APP.put('/1/2')
assert 'Got 1, 2' in resp.data
if __name__ == '__main__':
unittest.main()
What I was thinking of doing was to move the initialization so that it only runs when flask_app is being executed by uwsgi and not when it's running via tests.py, perhaps by checking name and determining which path to execute based on that, but when I examine the output of print(name) either when running flask_app under uwsgi or by executing tests.py the output is "flask_app", so I can't seem to use that as a discriminator.
Is there an idiomatic way in python to handle this?
As it turns out the Python module for uWSGI actually offers a mechanism to determine if the app is being run under uWSGI. The uwsgi module is available for import if you are in a uWSGI context, so I ended up checking whether i could import that module and only executing the initialization code if I could.
# detect if we're running under uWSGI; only init if we are, not if we're testing
try:
import uwsgi
IN_UWSGI = True
except ImportError:
IN_UWSGI = False
Then wrap the init code with
if IN_UWSGI:
This seems much more reliable then checking the module name of the module that's doing the import, which was the only other thing I could think of to do.

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