Splitting a class definition into several files?

[Jerry]

My "main" class is getting a bit long...Is it possble to split a class definition
into several files and then import the pieces to get the whole definition?

Jerry

[Diez B. Roggisch]

Jerry wrote:

My "main" class is getting a bit long...Is it possble to split a class
definition into several files and then import the pieces to get the whole
definition?

I think there is some design issue if you really have a problem like this.

Apart from that, it should be possible to compose your main class by
inheriting from several subclasses that are in distinct files, like this:

---file A ---

class A:
def a(self):
pass

---file B ---

class B:
def b(self):
pass

---file main ---

class Main(A,B):
def __init__(self):
pass

--
Regards,

Diez B. Roggisch

[Bengt Richter]

On 15 Nov 2004 15:08:31 -0800, je*********@eku.edu (Jerry) wrote:

My "main" class is getting a bit long...Is it possble to split a class definition
into several files and then import the pieces to get the whole definition?

Jerry

Ignoring the fact that this is not unlikely a symptom of a design problem ... ;-)

If you import from different files, the code in them will have distinct
globals() dictionaries -- i.e., the module dicts of the respective imported
modules. If that doesn't matter -- as e.g., if you wanted to define the functions
for methods that don't use globals (including the Main class name) then you could
use import to bind methods and initial class variable values -- remembering that
the latterbindingswithin the Main class.
__________________________________________________ ___________________

for line in file('main.py'): print line.rstrip() ...
__________________________________________________ ___________________

class Main(object):
"""
Class Main demonstrates
- importing functions from other module global scope to become methods
showing distinction of global references from imported vs locally defined
method functions.
- including code into class via execfile
- normal method and class variable definitions
"""
# do example imports
from main_methods_1 import main_method_1, trouble, trouble_global, foo_mm1
# from main_methods_2 import ...
# from main_methods_3 import ...

# example execfile
execfile("main_classvar_defs.py")

#normal stuff
def foo(x='foo local'): return locals().keys(), globals().keys()
def normalmethod(self):
"normalmethod defined in class Main of main.py"
return self.normalmethod.__doc__
normal_class_var = 'normal classvar defined in Main of main.py'
__________________________________________________ ___________________
for line in file('main_methods_1.py'): print line.rstrip() ...
__________________________________________________ ___________________

def main_method_1(self):
"main_method_1 defined in main_methods_1.py global scope as function"
return type(self).main_method_1.__doc__ # can't refer to Main.main_method_1

def foo_mm1(x='foo_mm1 local'): return locals().keys(), globals().keys()

trouble_global = 'global defined in global scope of main_methods_1.py'
def trouble(self):
"""
this returns a global, but it's not Main's global
and in fact is also given a Main class var binding via the import *
"""
return trouble_global
__________________________________________________ ___________________
for line in file('main_classvar_defs.py'): print line.rstrip() ...
__________________________________________________ ___________________

cv1 = 'class var cv1 from execfile("main_classvar_defs.py")'
def xfmethod(self):
"defined in main_classvar_defs.py via execfile -- note ref to Main ok"
return Main.xfmethod.__doc__, Main.cv1
def foo_cv1(x='foo_cv1 local'): return locals().keys(), globals().keys()
__________________________________________________ ___________________

Now, importing main:
import main
help(main)
Help on module main:

NAME
main

FILE
c:\pywk\clp\jerry.levan\main.py

CLASSES
__builtin__.object
Main

class Main(__builtin__.object)
| Class Main demonstrates
| - importing functions from other module global scope to become methods
| showing distinction of global references from imported vs locally defined
| method functions.
| - including code into class via execfile
| - normal method and class variable definitions
|
| Methods defined here:
|
| foo(x='foo local')
| #normal stuff
|
| foo_cv1(x='foo_cv1 local')
|
| foo_mm1(x='foo_mm1 local')
|
| main_method_1(self)
| main_method_1 defined in main_methods_1.py global scope as function
|
| normalmethod(self)
| normalmethod defined in class Main of main.py
|
| trouble(self)
| this returns a global, but it's not Main's global
| and in fact is also given a Main class var binding via the import *
|
| xfmethod(self)
| defined in main_classvar_defs.py via execfile -- note ref to Main ok
|
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Data and other attributes defined here:
|
| __dict__ = <dictproxy object at 0x009AEFF0>
| dictionary for instance variables (if defined)
|
| __weakref__ = <attribute '__weakref__' of 'Main' objects>
| list of weak references to the object (if defined)
|
| cv1 = 'class var cv1 from execfile("main_classvar_defs.py")'
|
| normal_class_var = 'normal classvar defined in Main of main.py'
|
| trouble_global = 'global defined in global scope of main_methods_1.py'
mlist = [k for k,v in vars(main.Main).items() if callable(v) and not k.startswith('__')]
mlist ['xfmethod', 'foo_mm1', 'main_method_1', 'trouble', 'foo_cv1', 'foo', 'normalmethod'] minst = main.Main()
for m in mlist: print '%14s: %r'%(m, getattr(minst, m)()) ...
xfmethod: ('defined in main_classvar_defs.py via execfile -- note ref to Main ok', 'class
var cv1 from execfile("main_classvar_defs.py")')
foo_mm1: (['x'], ['__builtins__', 'foo_mm1', '__file__', 'trouble_global', 'main_method_1
', '__name__', 'trouble', '__doc__'])
main_method_1: 'main_method_1 defined in main_methods_1.py global scope as function'
trouble: 'global defined in global scope of main_methods_1.py'
foo_cv1: (['x'], ['__builtins__', '__name__', '__file__', 'Main', '__doc__'])
foo: (['x'], ['__builtins__', '__name__', '__file__', 'Main', '__doc__'])
normalmethod: 'normalmethod defined in class Main of main.py'

minst.trouble() 'global defined in global scope of main_methods_1.py' minst.trouble_global 'global defined in global scope of main_methods_1.py' minst.trouble_global is minst.trouble() True minst.trouble_global is main.Main.trouble_global

True

<disclaimer>I haven't used these techniques in any significant way, so testing is advised.
They're just what I thought of in response to your post, based on a few previous experiments.
;-)</disclaimer>

Regards,
Bengt Richter