Storing class objects dynamically in an array

[Brian D]

On Monday, January 21, 2013 8:29:50 PM UTC-6, MRAB wrote:
> On 2013-01-22 01:56, Brian D wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> 
> >
> 
> > I'm trying to instantiate a class object repeated times, dynamically for as many times as are required, storing each class object in a container to later write out to a database. It kind of looks like what's needed is a two-dimensional class object, but I can't quite conceptualize how to do that.
> 
> >
> 
> > A simpler approach might be to just store class objects in a dictionary, using a reference value (or table row number/ID) as the key.
> 
> >
> 
> > In the real-world application, I'm parsing row, column values out of a table in a document which will have not more than about 20 rows, but I can't expect the document output to leave columns well-ordered. I want to be able to call the class objects by their respective row number.
> 
> >
> 
> > A starter example follows, but it's clear that only the last instance of the class is stored.
> 
> >
> 
> > I'm not quite finding what I want from online searches, so what recommendations might Python users make for the best way to do this?
> 
> >
> 
> > Maybe I need to re-think the approach?
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> > Thanks,
> 
> > Brian
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> > class Car(object):
> 
> >
> 
> >      def __init__(self, Brand, Color, Condition):
> 
> >          self.Brand = Brand
> 
> >          self.Color = Color
> 
> >          self.Condition = Condition
> 
> >
> 
> > brandList = ['Ford', 'Toyota', 'Fiat']
> 
> > colorList = ['Red', 'Green', 'Yellow']
> 
> > conditionList = ['Excellent', 'Good', 'Needs Help']
> 
> >
> 
> > usedCarLot = {}
> 
> >
> 
> > for c in range(0, len(brandList)):
> 
> >      print c, brandList[c]
> 
> >      usedCarLot[c] = Car
> 
> >      usedCarLot[c].Brand = brandList[c]
> 
> >      usedCarLot[c].Color = colorList[c]
> 
> >      usedCarLot[c].Condition = conditionList[c]
> 
> >
> 
> > for k, v in usedCarLot.items():
> 
> >      print k, v.Brand, v.Color, v.Condition
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> >>>>
> 
> > 0 Ford
> 
> > 1 Toyota
> 
> > 2 Fiat
> 
> > 0 Fiat Yellow Needs Help
> 
> > 1 Fiat Yellow Needs Help
> 
> > 2 Fiat Yellow Needs Help
> 
> >
> 
> You're repeatedly putting the class itself in the dict and setting its
> 
> (the class's) attributes; you're not even using the __init__ method you
> 
> defined.
> 
> 
> 
> What you should be doing is creating instances of the class:
> 
> 
> 
> for c in range(len(brandList)):
> 
>      print c, brandList[c]
> 
>      usedCarLot[c] = Car(brandList[c], colorList[c], conditionList[c])

Thanks for the quick reply Dave & MRAB. I wasn't even sure it could be done, so missing the instantiation just completely slipped. 

The simplest fix is as follows, but Dave, I'll try to tighten it up a little, when I turn to the real-world code, following your enumeration example. And yes, thanks for the reminder (2.7.3). The output is fine -- I just need a record number and the list of values stored in the class object.

This is the quick fix -- instantiate class Car: 

usedCarLot[c] = Car('','','')

It may not, however, be the best, most Pythonic way.

Here's the full implementation. I hope this helps someone else. 

Thanks very much for the help!

class Car(object):

    def __init__(self, Brand, Color, Condition):
        self.Brand = Brand
        self.Color = Color
        self.Condition = Condition

brandList = ['Ford', 'Toyota', 'Fiat']
colorList = ['Red', 'Green', 'Yellow']
conditionList = ['Excellent', 'Good', 'Needs Help']

#usedCarLot = {0:Car, 1:Car, 2:Car}
usedCarLot = {}

for c in range(0, len(brandList)):
    #print c, brandList[c]
    usedCarLot[c] = Car('','','')
    usedCarLot[c].Brand = brandList[c]
    usedCarLot[c].Color = colorList[c]
    usedCarLot[c].Condition = conditionList[c]

for k, v in usedCarLot.items():
    print k, v.Brand, v.Color, v.Condition