Re: [Configobj-develop] Problem with unrepr mode

[Jeffrey B. <jef...@ea...>]

On Sunday 21 September 2008 13:25:27 Michael Foord wrote:
> Jeffrey Barish wrote:
> > On Sunday 21 September 2008 11:30:36 Michael Foord wrote:
> >> Jeffrey Barish wrote:
> >>> On Sunday 21 September 2008 04:17:50 Michael Foord wrote:
> >>>> Jeffrey Barish wrote:
> >>>>> On Saturday 20 September 2008 18:55:17 Jeffrey Barish wrote:
> >>>>>> Configobj was working fine until I switched to using unrepr mode. 
> >>>>>> Now it works fine on one platform, but on another the same code
> >>>>>> produces the following error:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>   ...
> >>>>>>   File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/configobj.py", line 1272,
> >>>>>> in __init__ self._load(infile, configspec)
> >>>>>>   File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/configobj.py", line 1355,
> >>>>>> in _load raise error
> >>>>>> configobj.ConfigObjError: Parsing failed with several errors.
> >>>>>> First error at line 3.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Line 3 is:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> v = 0.77304964539007093
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I am using version 4.5.3 on python 2.5.2.  Considering that the same
> >>>>>> rc file works fine on the other platform, I am at a loss as to what
> >>>>>> to do. Any suggestions?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The problem appears to arise because there is no compiler module on
> >>>>> this platform (Nokia N800).
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Do I have any options other than returning to code like
> >>>>>
> >>>>> if x == 'True'
> >>>>
> >>>> unrepr mode relies on the compiler module - so it won't work on a
> >>>> platform that doesn't provide it.
> >>>>
> >>>> You could use validate and a configspec to convert types instead.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Michael
> >>>
> >>> OK.  I learned how to use validate.  It works nicely for converting
> >>> types and I am also doing range checking, so it's a better solution
> >>> anyway.
> >>>
> >>> One problem, though.  In my configuration file I have a section with
> >>> colors, but I don't know a priori what colors it will contain.  For
> >>> example:
> >>>
> >>> [colors]
> >>> color1 = [143, 188, 143]
> >>> color2 = [70, 130, 180]
> >>>
> >>> and so on.  Since I don't know what the keys are going to be, I presume
> >>> that there is no way for me to validate the entries.  Is that true?  It
> >>> would be nice to be able to test that values are between 0 and 255 and
> >>> to convert the strings to integers and the brackets to a list. 
> >>> Currently I am doing
> >>>
> >>> color1 = 143, 188, 143
> >>>
> >>> and not validating.
> >>
> >> You're correct that ConfigObj doesn't support validating arbitrary
> >> entries in a section. It is a worthy feature request though (perhaps "*
> >> = check()").
> >>
> >> I'll add it to my list - but as I am *still* finishing a book it will be
> >> quicker if someone else implements it. It will need to be in the
> >> ConfigObj.validate method rather than in the validate module.
> >>
> >> Michael
> >
> > Here's a worse problem: after using config.reload(), all values revert to
> > strings.  I have to revalidate after every reload to get values back into
> > their correct types.
>
> Hmmm... that sounds like correct behaviour to me. Validation is an
> explicit step.
>
> Michael

You make a good point.  But consider: If I provided a configspec when I 
created the ConfigObj and I then validated the ConfigObj, would it ever 
happen that I would not want the ConfigObj validated again when I call 
reload?  If someone really wanted the values to revert to strings, it seems 
to me that he would create a new ConfigObj (without a configspec) rather than 
call reload.  I see reload as a shortcut for refreshing the values using the 
same procedure I used initially to create them.
-- 
Jeffrey Barish