Python / configparser file data reading

Question

I'm having some problems with reading data from file. I want to get properties from .ini data file to be red by the function, but configparser doesn't read it properly. I would be very grateful if someone could explain that is wrong. Thank you in advance!

Function snippet

config = configparser.ConfigParser()
config.read('config.ini')

def browseFiles():
    filename = filedialog.askopenfilename(initialdir = config['select']['dir'],
                                          title = config['select']['ttl'],
                                          filetypes = config['select']['ft'])
      
    # Change label contents
    label_file_explorer.configure(text="File Opened: "+filename)

my .ini file data

[select]
#directory
dir = "home/"
#title
ttl = "Select a File"
#filetype
ft = (("Text files","*.txt*"),("all files","*.*"))

Jussi Nurminen · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-03 12:00:41Z

1

As Nirmal Dey pointed out, ConfigParser will only return string values. You'd have to convert them to Python types using e.g. ast.literal_eval

FWIW, I have written a small package called configdot for parsing INI files. It will automatically return Python types and also allows attribute-style access for config variables (e.g. config.select.ft in your case)

answered May 3, 2021 at 12:00

Jussi Nurminen

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4 Comments

Tomee Over a year ago

I love it @jussi, its very convenient

Tomee Over a year ago

By the way where i need put st.literal_eval? In here filedialog.askopenfilename ?

Jussi Nurminen Over a year ago

You'd have to put it around the string-valued arguments. E.g. filetypes = ast.literal_eval(config['select']['ft'])

Tomee Over a year ago

But if i use your package i don't need it right?

Nirmal Dey · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-03 11:07:14Z

1

Config parsers do not guess datatypes of values in configuration files, always storing them internally as strings.

Every key-value pair present in the .ini file would be parsed as a string.

Your filedialog.askopenfilename the function expects a tuple in the filetypes argument while you are giving it a string datatype.

answered May 3, 2021 at 11:07

Nirmal Dey

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2 Comments

Tomee Over a year ago

@Dey Sorry, but I didn't understand correctly the last part

Nirmal Dey Over a year ago

filetypes argument expects an iterator. It can not work with a stringified version of a tuple. if you wish to pass the filetype argument from your .ini file then you need to make a slight change in the .ini file. ``` ft[]=("Text Files", "*.txt") ft[]=(""all files ", ".") ``` after it, the config parser would know that ft is a list and not a single string.

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