tabular data

[Bill Wilkinson]

<<<For example, say that I have the following tabular data: [(2,1,"REC02"),
<<<(1,3,"REC03"),(3,1,"REC01")], and I want to obtain: [(1,3,"REC03"),
<<<(2,1,"REC02"),(3,1,"REC01")], that is, the tabular data should be
<<<sorted on the first and then the second column.

You can get lists.py from:
http://starship.python.net/crew/lemburg/

It has this routine, which is attributed to Guido and others.

def sortedby(list,*indices):
   nlist = map( lambda x,indices=indices:
   map( lambda i,x=x: x[i], indices) + [x],
   list)
    nlist.sort()
    return map( lambda l: l[-1], nlist)

The list in not sorted in place though.

<<<By the way, should I represent rows by tuples or by embedded lists?

They need to be lists if you want to edit them... In my opinion, a list of
dictionaries is the best way to go.....

<<<Another problem: to visually represent/edit tabular data, I need an
<<<editable grid widget (with possibly comboboxes as cell editors).
<<<TkInter does not seem to have an appropriate grid widget.

wxPython has a grid that is ok... There is a new grid that will be available
soon that will be a bit better.