Introspection, importing and Flash

[Vsevolod (Simon) Ilyushchenko]

Hi,

Last year I have written a Perl module to serve as a backend to
Macromedia Flash applications: http://www.simonf.com/amfperl

I have just rewritten it in Python, which I have not used before. Thus,
a couple of questions which I was not able to solve with online research:

1. To send an arbitrary object to Flash, I would like to use
introspection to find out the values of all its instance variables. How
can I get their names? I've read about __dict__, __slots__, and
__getattr__, but I am not sure what would be the most universal way to
get all the instance variable names from both old-style and new-style
objects. I would need something like __listattr__, which does not exist.

2. Python class importing works in a rather confusing way. In Perl, I
have a top-level class AMF::Perl, which I "import" once and then create
its instance like this: "new AMF::Perl". The file Perl.pm lives in the
AMF directory.

In Python, the most concise way I found was to have AMFPython.py in the
AMF directory, place __init__.py with "import AMFPython" in the AMF
directory, then say in my top-level script
import AMF
instance = AMF.AMFPython.AMFPython()
Which is rather redundant. I'd like to do something not more complicated
than:

import AMF.AMFPython as AMF
instance = AMF()

but I don't know if it's possible.

Thanks,
Simon
--

Simon (Vsevolod ILyushchenko) si****@cshl.edu
http://www.simonf.com

Terrorism is a tactic and so to declare war on terrorism
is equivalent to Roosevelt's declaring war on blitzkrieg.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, U.S. national security advisor, 1977-81

[Christopher T King]

> 1. To send an arbitrary object to Flash, I would like to use

introspection to find out the values of all its instance variables. How
can I get their names? I've read about __dict__, __slots__, and
__getattr__, but I am not sure what would be the most universal way to
get all the instance variable names from both old-style and new-style
objects. I would need something like __listattr__, which does not exist.
What you seek is the dir() function, in concert with the getattr()
function. Note that dir() returns both hidden and visible methods as well
as instance variables. You can weed out the functions (if so desired) by
using the callable() function. Example:

for attrname in dir(object):
attr=getattr(object,attrname)
if not callable(attr):
<do something>
2. Python class importing works in a rather confusing way. In Perl, I
have a top-level class AMF::Perl, which I "import" once and then create
its instance like this: "new AMF::Perl". The file Perl.pm lives in the
AMF directory.

Python modules can be either directories with __init__.py entries (as you
have discovered) or a single file. If you rename AMFPython.py to AMF.py
and place it in your program's main directory, you can then do either
this:

import AMF
instance = AMF.AMFPython()

or this:

from AMF import AMFPython
instance = AMFPython()

The dotted import notation in Python is used to refer to modules contained
in directories, not classes contained within modules.

[Follower]

> What you seek is the dir() function, in concert with the getattr()

function.

Note the standard `dir()` proviso:

"Because dir() is supplied primarily as a convenience for use at an
interactive prompt, it tries to supply an interesting set of names
more than it tries to supply a rigorously or consistently defined set
of names, and its detailed behavior may change across releases."

-- <http://www.python.org/doc/current/lib/built-in-funcs.html>

Off the top of my head I'd say you'd use `__slots__` if it exists,
otherwise use `__dict__`. But I'm thinking this is possibly a FAQ that
has a "proper" answer someone else will point to.

--Phil.