[Configobj-develop] need a __many__ mechanism for keywords

[David H. <neg...@gm...>]

I'm finally getting around to taking advantage of Validator (have been
using configobj for awhile), and unfortunately I'm finding that it
currently lacks a capability that is (for my purposes) a necessity.

Basically, I need a repetition mechanisms that works for keyword=value
pairs.  The '__many__' feature works for repeated subsections within a
given section, but I need something that lets me validate repeated
keywords within a given section.

I.e., for a config like:

[somesection]
foo = 1
bar = 2


I could define a configspec like so:

[somesection]
__many__ = integer(default=0)


That would allow a config file to include an arbitrary number of
keyword=value pairs in the 'somesection' section, and I don't need a
priori knowledge of the full set (the very same logical justification
for the existing __many__ subsection feature).

Without this capability, I'm compelled to restructure to something like this:

[somesection]
    [[foo]]
        value = 1
    [[bar]]
        value = 2


with a configspec like:

[somesection]
    [[__many__]]
        value = integer(default=0)


Which in my opinion is less syntactically efficient for the nature of
the data I need to support.  That is - it forces another layer of
config sectional hierarchy where it isn't needed and it muddies the
namespace unnecessarily.


Is there a way to do this in the current implementation that I haven't
discovered, and if not - could this possibly be added as a new
capability?

regards,

-David