How to pass values to a Python executable from a config file

Question

I have created a Python executable using Py2exe. My python script pick values from a config file,but when i compile the script as an executable the values are hardcoded. Is there a way where i can still use my config file to feed values to my executable.

MyPythonScript

driver = webdriver.Firefox()
driver.maximize_window()
driver.get(url)
driver.find_element_by_name("UserName").send_keys(username)
driver.find_element_by_name("Password").send_keys(password)

Myconfigfile

url = 'http://testurl'
username = 'testdata'
password = 'testdata'

Please show the part of the code where you read the configuration file. — Hai Vu
– Hai Vu, Commented May 21, 2015 at 13:01
I am just importing the Config file using the command from config import *. — user3486694
– user3486694, Commented May 22, 2015 at 6:33

boaz_shuster · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-22 07:03:07Z

1

Unfortunately, it's not obvious how you read the username and password from the config file.

In addition to that, may I suggest you to use any third-party to parse your configuration file, for example, configobj and configparser modules.

How to do that?

Assuming that you specify the path to the configuration file, when you run the execution file in the following way:

my_script.exe c:\Myconfigfile.txt

and assuming the configuration file looks like this:

[login]
username = user01
password = 123456

These are two examples of how to do that:

The ConfigParser way

import sys, ConfigParser

if len(sys.argv) < 2:
    print "missing configuration file path"

config_path = sys.argv[1]
config = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
config.readfp(open(config_path))
print config.get('login', 'username'), config.get('login', 'password')

The not so recommended way

import sys

if len(sys.argv) < 2:
    print "missing configuration file path"

config_path = sys.argv[1]
config_hash = {}
with open(config_path, 'r') as config_stream:
    lines = config_stream.readlines()
for line in lines:
    key_value = line.split('=')
    # skip lines that are not in the "key = value" format
    if len(key_value) != 2:
        continue
    config_hash[key_value[0].strip()] = key_value[1].strip()

print config_hash['username'], config_hash['password']

edited May 22, 2015 at 7:03

answered May 21, 2015 at 13:13

boaz_shuster

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3 Comments

knitti Over a year ago

why do you roll your own config parser when recommending configobj? And what is wrong with the standard library configparser?

boaz_shuster Over a year ago

@knitti, I was giving an example and implicating that using a third-party for parsing configuration file is the best way to do that. I haven't used configparser, so I cannot recommend it. I will add it to the post, though. ;)

user3486694 Over a year ago

Thank you for the solution schlezzz. I think your reply is close to what i wanted.

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