Re: [Configobj-develop] validation question

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

On 01/02/2010 13:29, Chris Jones wrote:
> Hey
>
> I'm using the excellent validation features to convert config files into
> the correct types, and it's working very well so far. I hacked something
> up that generates the configspec on the fly based on my own internal
> tree of default values, which has been a nice timesaver.
>
> However, I'm now trying to extend my application and I'm struggling to
> conceptualise how I'm going to validate the config (and more
> importantly, convert the types automatically).
>
> The problem is that the config section for the new feature is recursive.
> It's intended to describe a particular layout of widgets in my
> application, so the same layout can be recreated when starting the
> application.
> (the application is a tiled terminal emulator,
> http://www.tenshu.net/terminator)
>
> The config structure would be something like:
>
> [layouts]
>    [mydebugginglayout]
>      [window0]
>        type = Window
>        [child1]
>          type = Terminal
>        [child2]
>          type = VPaned
>          [child3]
>            type = HPaned
>              [child4]
>                type = Terminal
>              [child5]
>                type = Terminal
>          [child6]
>            type = Terminal
>
>    


One possibility would be to have each element as a top level item (with 
generated name) that can be validated with a standard configspec. Each 
item could have a list of children (ordered) - specified by name. 
Perhaps something like this:

[layouts]
[[mydebugginglayout]]
[[[window0]]]
type = Window
children = child0, child1, child2
[[[child0]]
...

This would be easier to validate but means your config file doesn't 
reflect the layout structure directly.

Validation doesn't currently support recursive repeated sections, so I 
can't think of an obvious way of doing what you want - other than doing 
the recursion manually validating a section at a time... That probably 
wouldn't be too hard if you prefer that.

Michael



> I'm not super happy about the windowN/childN section names, but storing
> those as lists doesn't seem to fit the configobj style, so I'm expecting
> to autogenerate them.
> Given that this can essentially nest infinitely, how would I write a
> configspec for it?
> Would it make more sense to store the children of each level as a list
> and treat it as a string, then recursively validate each child object?
>
> I'm not sure that any of what I've just written makes sense, let me know
> if I can clarify anything.
>
> Thanks very much for a great config file system :)
>
> Cheers,
>    


-- 
http://www.ironpythoninaction.com/
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/blog

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