MetaKit issues with Python 2.2.1 CGI script

[Gordon McMillan]

[posted and mailed]

Wayne Pierce wrote:

> I have been working on a CGI script that is supposed store data into a
> MetaKit database, but is only storing one character per 'field.'

[...]

>     import metakit
>     db = metakit.storage("officer.mk",1)
>     ovw = db.view("officer")
> 
>     data =
>     "reportingAgency='%s',firstName='%s',lastName='%s',email='%s',number
>     ='%s'" 
> % (reportingAgency,firstName,lastName,email,number)
> 
>   /*
>     The above data is parsed from a CGI form.
>   */
> 
>     ovw.append(data)

You are passing one argument (a string) to append. As a desperate
fallback, it's treating it as a sequence.

  ovw.append(reportingAgency=reportingAgency, firstName=firstName,
             lastName=lastName, email=email, number=number)

is what you want. There's no need for any string substition.

If you don't know what fields will be present at runtime, then 
construct a dictionary:
  
  d = {'reportingAgency':reportingAgency,
        .... }

  ovw.append(d)

-- Gordon
http://www.mcmillan-inc.com/