I'm trying to write multiple keys and associated values from a nested dictionary via string formatting. I have tried various approaches but as it is nested I don't seem to be having much luck. Is this possible?
Nested Dictionary
defaultdict(None, {'Devicename': {'OS': 'version', 'Name': 'name'}, 'Devicename': {'OS': 'version', 'Name': 'name'}})
Formatting Data
HEADER = '''
<html>
<head>
<h2>Summary</h2>
<tr>
<td><b>Device:</b> {0}</td>
</tr>
<table style="width:80%">
<tr>
<td><b>Name:</b> {1}</td>
<td><b>OS:</b> {2}</td>
</tr>
</table>
</head>
<body>
'''
Writing To File
with open("Summary.html", "w+") as outfile:
outfile.write(HEADER.format(device_dic[0], device_dic['Name'], device_dic['OS']))
#Potentially multiple items of each as shown in test dictionary. The `Devicename` varies so cant be called by string example ['OS'].
Loop through the dictionary to access its contents. You can use the items() dictionary method to loop through its keys and values together:
>>> a = collections.defaultdict(None, {'Devicename1': {'OS': 'version', 'Name': 'name'}, 'Devicename2': {'OS': 'version', 'Name': 'name'}})
>>> HEADER = '''
... <html>
... <head>
... <h2>Summary</h2>
... <tr>
... <td><b>Device:</b> {0}</td>
... </tr>
... <table style="width:80%">
... <tr>
... <td><b>Name:</b> {1}</td>
... <td><b>OS:</b> {2}</td>
... </tr>
... </table>
... </head>
... <body>
... '''
>>> for key,d in a.items():
... print(HEADER.format(key, d['Name'], d['OS']))
...
<html>
<head>
<h2>Summary</h2>
<tr>
<td><b>Device:</b> Devicename2</td>
</tr>
<table style="width:80%">
<tr>
<td><b>Name:</b> name</td>
<td><b>OS:</b> version</td>
</tr>
</table>
</head>
<body>
<html>
<head>
<h2>Summary</h2>
<tr>
<td><b>Device:</b> Devicename1</td>
</tr>
<table style="width:80%">
<tr>
<td><b>Name:</b> name</td>
<td><b>OS:</b> version</td>
</tr>
</table>
</head>
<body>
The following code uses list iterations [ expr(arg) for arg in list ] to enumerate over the devices, and dictionary unpacking to provide the arguments for format.
from collections import defaultdict
device_dic = defaultdict(None, {'Devicename1': {'OS': 'version1', 'Name': 'name1'}, 'Devicename2': {'OS': 'version2', 'Name': 'name2'}})
HEADER1 = '''
<html>
<head>
'''
# Split this since we'll have multiple copies
# Note that the {} use named arguments for format here. {OS}, etc.
HEADER2 = '''
<h2>Summary</h2>
<tr>
<td><b>Device:</b> {0}</td>
</tr>
<table style="width:80%">
<tr>
<td><b>Name:</b> {OS}</td>
<td><b>OS:</b> {Name}</td>
</tr>
</table>
'''
HEADER3 = '''
</head>
<body>
'''
with open("Summary.html", "w+") as outfile:
outfile.write(HEADER1
# We iterate over the items in the dictionary here.
# The **value unpacks the nested dictionary. see https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/controlflow.html#unpacking-argument-lists
+ "".join([HEADER2.format(key, **value) for key, value in device_dic.items()]) \
+ HEADER3
)
