need dict to maintain order

[Jason Orendorff]

> Here's what I was able to come up with (constantly referring to the
> man/tut :)). Maybe someone finds it... hmmm... useful and/or enjoys
> commenting newbies' code :)

Not bad at all!  Some random comments...


> fullname = self.dirname + '\\' + self.links[self.cur_link][0]

Try os.path.join() for this.  It's more portable.


> try:
>    os.mkdir(self.dirname)
> except OSError:
>    pass

It's better to do

  if not os.path.isdir(self.dirname):
      os.mkdir(self.dirname)

and not squelch the error, if one occurs.

    * * *

For such simple tasks, it's interesting to see what could be done
with a more procedural, non-OO approach.  Here's another way to
write your program -- in half as much code.  I find it easier to
follow the flow of this version; YMMV.


import os

class Style:
    """ Lightweight object encapsulating style parameters. """
    def __init__(self, start, end, sep):
        self.start = start
        self.end = end
        self.separator = sep

horz_style = Style('<div class="navbar-horiz">[ ', ' ]</div>', '\n | ')
vert_style = Style('<div class="navbar-vert">', '</div>', '<br><br>\n')

def build_navbars(dirname, links, style):
    if not os.path.isdir(dirname):
        os.mkdir(dirname)
    for filename, title in links:
        # Open the file and write the header.
        fullpath = os.path.join(dirname, filename)
        f = open(fullpath, 'w')
        f.write(style.start)

        # Build the list of links.
        nav_list = []
        for link, caption in links:
            if link == filename:
                nav = '<span class="disabled-link">%s</span>' % caption
            else:
                nav = '<a href="%s">%s</a>' % (link, caption)
            nav_list.append(nav)

        # Write all links to the file, with separators.
        f.write(style.separator.join(nav_list))

        # Write the footer and close the file.
        f.write(style.end)
        f.close()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    links = [
        ('index.html', 'Home'),
        ('prog.html', 'Programming'),
        ('doc.html', 'Docs')
        ]
    build_navbars('navbar_horz', links, horz_style)
    build_navbars('navbar_vert', links, vert_style)

## Jason Orendorff    http://www.jorendorff.com/