[Tutor] exceptions

[Brian van den Broek]

Diana Hawksworth said unto the world upon 2005-04-15 22:25:
> Hello list,
> 
> I have been trying to trap a string entry by raising an exception.  The code follows - but the exception is never raised.  What am I doing wrong?
> 
> TIA Diana
> 
>  try:
>             
>             self.guess = int(self.num_ent.get())
> 
>             self.num_ent.delete(0,END)
>             self.num_ent.focus_set()
>         
>             
>             if self.guess < self.number:            
>                 message = str(self.guess) + " is too low. You need to guess higher"
> 
>             if self.guess > self.number:      
>                 message = str(self.guess) + " is too high. You need to guess lower"
>             
>             if self.guess == self.number:
>                 message = str(self.guess) + " is the correct number!"
>                 self.message_txt.config(state = NORMAL)
>                 self.message_txt.config(state = DISABLED)
>         
>             self.message_txt.config(state = NORMAL)
>             self.message_txt.delete(0.0, END)
>             self.message_txt.insert(0.0, message)
>             self.message_txt.config(state = DISABLED)
> 
> 
>  except(ValueError):
>          message = str(self.guess) + " is not a number. Please try again!"
> 

Hi Dianna,

What are you expecting to raise the ValueError? It looks to me like it 
must be the line:

self.guess = int(self.num_ent.get())

But, if that is so, then the assignment to message in your except 
clause won't work, as self.guess won't have been assigned.

I'm no expert, so I may be missing something, but I wouldn't be 
surprised if your num_ent.get() has details that are pertinent. What 
does that method return?

And, while I'm writing, I'd suggest rewriting your lines like:

message = str(self.guess) + " is the correct number!"

in this form instead:

message = "%s is the correct number!" %self.guess

The almost irrelevant benefit is that it is faster. The big plus is 
string formatting is so handy, that I think it helps a lot to get used 
to using it in most cases, even those that are easy to handle with 
string concatenation as you have done.

Best,

Brian vdB