File Management

[Aaron "Castironpi" Brady]

On Oct 15, 12:47 pm, "erict1689" <erict1... at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I am writing this program in which I open up a file and update that
> information but to a new file.  I already have a global variable for
> it but how do I go about creating an openable file in the source code?
>  If it helps here is what I have:
>
> def startUp():
>     # Purpose: opens files and print report headings
>     global empName, previousYTD, payRate, hoursWorked, recordCount,
> eof, payFile, \
>            payFileUpdated, newYTD, currentPay
>     payFile=open("payroll.txt", "r")
>     payFile.readline()
>
> def readRecord():
>     # Purpose: reads a record
>     global empName, previousYTD, payRate, hoursWorked, recordCount,
> eof, payFile, \
>            payFileUpdated, newYTD, currentPay
>
>     employeeRec = payFile.readline()
>     if employeeRec == "":
>         eof = True
>     else:
>         # parse file line for record fields and format/convert for
> final output
>         empName = employeeRec[0:25].strip()
>         previousYTD = float(employeeRec[25:40])
>         payRate = float(employeeRec[40:55])
>         hoursWorked = float(employeeRec[55:70])
>         recordCount += 1
>         eof = False
>
> def writeRecord():
>     # Purpose: writes the updated record to the output file
>     #Parameter
>     global empName, previousYTD, payRate, hoursWorked, recordCount,
> eof, payFile, \
>            payFileUpdated, newYTD, currentPay
>
> def processRecords():
>     # Purpose: loops through input file and processes each record
>     global empName, previousYTD, payRate, hoursWorked, recordCount,
> eof, payFile, \
>            payFileUpdated, newYTD, currentPay
>
>     while not eof:
>         calculatePay()
>         printReportLine()
>         writeRecord()
>         readRecord()
>
> def calculatePay():
>     # Purpose: calculates pay and updated YTD
>     # Return values: float - calculated pay, float - updated YTD amount
>     global empName, previousYTD, payRate, hoursWorked, recordCount,
> eof, payFile, \
>            payFileUpdated, newYTD, currentPay
>
> def printReportLine():
>     # Purpose: prints employee pay information
>     # Parameters passed: float - calculated pay, float - updated YTD
> amount
>     global empName, previousYTD, payRate, hoursWorked, recordCount,
> eof, payFile, \
>            payFileUpdated, newYTD, currentPay
>
> def closeUp():
>     # Purpose: end of program housekeeping
>     global empName, previousYTD, payRate, hoursWorked, recordCount,
> eof, payFile, \
>            payFileUpdated, newYTD, currentPay
>
>     payFile.close()
>     payFileUpdated.close()
>     print "\nNumber of records in the file was",recordCount
>
> Any and all help is appreciated.

You can use 'open( "result.txt", "w" )' to create a file if it doesn't
exist, and write to it.  Use 'a' instead of 'w' to add to the end of
an existing file.

Later on, you might want to create an object and attributes instead of
global variables.  The readability is different, but if you're only
using one such object, it's not necessarily better.  You can always
try it out and go back if you don't like it.

class PayFile:
  def startUp( self ):
    self.payFile=open("payroll.txt", "r")
    self.payFile.readline()
  ... etc ...
  def closeUp( self ):
    self.payFile.close()
    self.payFileUpdated.close()
    print "\nNumber of records in the file was",self.recordCount

payFile= PayFile( ) #create a new instance
#or payFile= payfilemod.PayFile( ) in a separate module
payFile.startUp( ) #call the startUp method

Note the 'self' that precedes the variables.  It acts as a container
for them.  It's worth changing in some cases, even if the code is
merely more therapeutic to read.