Re: [Configobj-develop] ConfigObj 4.3.0alpha

[Michael F. <fuz...@vo...>]

Hmmm.... I'm now being bitten by all the ``isinstance(value, dict)`` 
checks in ConfigObj.

When you unrepr a dictionary (or set a value as a dictionary) ConfigObj 
creates a new section.

I'll have to create a new keyword argument for ``Section.__setitem__``, 
``unrepr``. If this is True then setting a dictionary won't create a new 
section.

This makes unrepr incompatible with validate, but I guess this is 
inevitable. It also means that to set a dictionary in unrepr mode you 
have to do :

    cfg.__setitem__(key, value, unrepr=True)

I'll have to check where else this might bite - probably walk as well.

Fuzzyman
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/index.shtml

fuz...@vo... wrote:
>
>
>     ConfigObj 4.3.0alpha
>
> emoticon:ir_scope The Pythonutils SVN Repository 
> <http://svn.pythonutils.python-hosting.com/trunk/pythonutils/> now 
> contains an alpha version of ConfigObj 
> <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/configobj.html>. This will become 
> *ConfigObj 4.3.0*.
>
> I hadn't intended to move so quickly from 4.2.0 to 4.3.0, but some 
> interesting discussions on the configobj-develop list 
> <http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=123265> have led to some fairly 
> major feature enhancements.
>
> These are all implemented and tested, but they do raise a couple of 
> issues and as usual I'd like to see people kicking the code before I 
> do a new release.
>
> The new features include :
>
>     * Support for a copy mode in validation, allowing you to create a
>       default config file /with comments/ from your configspec.
>     * Support for reading empty values (key = and key = # comment) as
>       an empty string.
>     * A new write_empty_values option/attribute that will write the
>       empty string as empty values.
>     * A new unrepr mode. Explained below.
>
> I have also discovered and fixed three bugs [1] <#e275id4> :
>
>     * Line terminators were incorrectly written on windoze. Embarassed
>     * Last occurring comment line could be interpreted as the final
>       comment if the last line wasn't terminated.
>     * Nested list values would be flattened when write was called. Now
>       sub-lists have a string representation written instead.
>
> Finally the encode and decode methods have been deprecated. I /didn't/ 
> deprecate rename as it should be used with walk to transform key and 
> section names. encode and decode are still good examples of this by 
> the way. [2] <#e275id5>
>
>
>       copy mode for validate
>
> Thanks to /Louis Cordier/ for this suggestion. When you supply a 
> configspec you can specify default values to use for any that are 
> missing from the config file.
>
> Normally when you call the validate method 
> <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/configobj.html#validate> it marks 
> any missing values as having been supplied from the default. If you 
> then call write it /doesn't/ write out any values supplied from 
> defaults (unless you change them). This allows you to keep a config 
> file with /only/ values that are different from the defaults.
>
> The validate method now takes an optional copy keyword argument. If 
> this is True, then none of the values are marked as default. In 
> addition all the comments are copied across from the configspec, as 
> are the indentation and encoding settings.
>
> A call to write will then write out a new config file with all the 
> default values specified in the configspec. Smile
>
> This does however lead to me realise that there is currently no way to 
> specify the encoding of a configspec file. Confused
>
> Update
>
> ConfigObj 4.3.0 alpha 2 now allows you to pass in a ConfigObj instance 
> as your configspec. This is not a total solution, but does allow you 
> to read the configspec using ConfigObj, and specify the encoding when 
> you do that.
>
> In order to read a configspec file, you /must/ use the option 
> list_values=False.
>
>
>       unrepr mode
>
> This was suggested by /Kevin Dangoor/ the lead developer of Turbogears 
> <http://www.turbogears.org/> [3] <#e275id6>. It mimics the unrepr mode 
> of the CherryPy Config Module 
> <http://www.cherrypy.org/wiki/ConfigSystem21>, and in fact uses the 
> code from cptools.py 
> <http://www.cherrypy.org/file/trunk/cherrypy/lib/cptools.py>.
>
> If you pass in the unrepr=True keyword when you create your ConfigObj 
> instance, every value is parsed using unrepr. This allows you to have 
> the following types as values :
>
>     integers, strings, True, False, None, floats, complex numbers,
>     lists, dictionaries, tuples
>
> You /can/ use multiline values with unrepr. Smile
>
> When writing in unrepr mode, the built in function repr is used to 
> turn every value into a string.
>
> Note that in unrepr mode :
>
>     /The value 3.0 is a float/
>     /The value "3.0" is a string/
>
> Quote marks take on the same significance as they have in Python 
> syntax, which is different from normal ConfigObj syntax.
>
> [1] <#e275id1> 	But no longer useful since full unicode support was 
> added.
>
> [2] <#e275id2> 	validate also now honours the /order/ of your 
> configspec. Before copy mode, this didn't really matter though.
>
> [3] <#e275id3> 	Looks like ConfigObj won't be used in Turbogears until 
> version 1.1 when a lot of things change.
>
> Posted by *Fuzzyman* on 2006-03-20 12:48:44.
> Categories: Projects 
> <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/weblog/arch_Projects.shtml>, 
> Python <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/weblog/arch_Python.shtml>
> Visit the Voidspace Techie Blog 
> <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/weblog/index.shtml> to read this 
> entry and more.
>