setattr question

[bruno at modulix]

Gerard Flanagan wrote:
> Hello
> 
> I have the following code:
> 
> #### builder.py #########
> class HtmlBuilder(object):
> 
>     @staticmethod
>     def page(title=''):
>         return HtmlPage(title)
> 
>     @staticmethod
>     def element(tag, text=None, **attribs):
>         return HtmlElement(tag, text, **attribs)
> 
>     @staticmethod
>     def literal(text):
>         return HtmlLiteral(text)

Je ne vois pas très bien à quoi sert cette classe (à moins bien sûr
qu'il y ait d'autre code). Pour ce que je vois là, pourquoi ne pas
appeler directement les classes HtmlPage, HtmlElement et HtmlLiteral ?

Err... I don't see the point of this class. Why not just calling the
HtmlPage|Element|Literal classes directly ?

> class HtmlElementFactory(object):
> 
>     def __init__(self):
>         for tag in ['li', 'ul']:
>             setattr( self, tag, HtmlBuilder.element(tag) )
> 
> #########################
> 
> and so I can do the following:
> 
>     html = HtmlElementFactory()
>     ul = html.ul
>     ul.attrib['class'] = 'default'
>     for i in range(3):
>         li = html.li
>         li.text = 'ghfhj'
>         ul.append(li)
>     print ul.to_string()
> 
> but what I'd like to do is:
> 
>     html = HtmlElementFactory()
>     ul = html.ul( class='default' )



>     for i in range(3):
>         ul.append( html.li( 'ghfhj' )
>     print ul.to_string()

'to_string' ?
Let's see... 'to_string', a class with only staticmethods in it...
You're coming from Java, aren't you ?-)

(if yes, google for "python is not java", it may be helpful)

> ie. to pass along *args and **kwargs to the HtmlElement constructor.
> Any suggestions?  

yes : pass along *args and **kwargs to the HtmlElement constructor !-)


> Or is there a better way to this kind of thing?

yes again : kiss (Keep It Simple Stupid)

There's not enough code to really grasp what you're trying to do, but
from what I see, I'd say you're having a bad case of arbitrary
overcomplexification.

What's wrong with:

# nb: class is a reserved word in Python
ul = HtmlElement('ul', css_class='default')
for i in range(3):
  ul.append(HtmlElement('li', 'baaz%d' % i)

# nb2: use the __str__() method of HtmlElement
print str(ul)

Python's philosophy is to make simple things simple (don't worry,
there's still space for complex things -> descriptors, metaclasses etc).

HTH
-- 
bruno desthuilliers
python -c "print '@'.join(['.'.join([w[::-1] for w in p.split('.')]) for
p in 'onurb at xiludom.gro'.split('@')])"