using input(), raw_input() to allow user to run different functions

[Chris Rebert]

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 2:41 PM, rhvonlehe at gmail.com<rhvonlehe at gmail.com> wrote:
> Something's been giving me difficulty..
>
> We have a USB-attached device that we frequently debug with simple
> python scripts.  The model has always been that each script logs on to
> the device, does something, then logs off.  As it turns out, we have
> mostly written scripts as unit tests for each API command.  So, we'll
> call one script that will configure a process on the device, and a
> separate script that will retrieve the results of that process.
>
> The model is changing inside the device such that all settings will be
> lost when we log off.  This means we'll have to merge a bunch of
> scripts in various ways.
>
> I thought it would be neat if I could have one master python script do
> the logon, then allow the user to input the name of a previously-
> written script he wanted to execute while logged on.  Finally, when
> exiting the master script, the user would logout from the device.
>
> I'm trying to test this by using input() or raw_input() to get the
> function the user wants to execute.  I'm not having much luck.  Here's
> an example:
>
>
>
> Shell.py:
> #! /usr/bin/env python
> from CollectNDResults import *
> ...
> request = input('Script shell >>> ')
> print request
> exec (request)   ## I realize the parentheses are not needed
> ...
>
>
> When I run Shell.py I get this:
>
> Script shell >>> CollectNDResults
> <function CollectNDResults at 0x00AA75F0>
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>  File "./Shell.py", line 35, in ?
>    Shell(sys.argv[1:])
>  File "./Shell.py", line 24, in Shell
>    exec (request)
> TypeError: exec: arg 1 must be a string, file, or code object
>
>
> Is there a good reference for me to figure out how to turn my function
> name into the code object that I want to execute?

input() already does that. Note how you're getting back a *function
object*. Just call the function (i.e. request() ).
The exec statement takes a *string* of code to execute, not a function
object, hence the error you're getting.

Cheers,
Chris
--
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