[Tutor] writing HTML code to a variable/file

[spir]

Le Tue, 26 May 2009 15:57:10 +0100,
Dayo Adewunmi <contactdayo at gmail.com> s'exprima ainsi:

> Hi,
> 
> I'm extracting data from OpenLDAP, which needs to be formatted into 
> hyperlinks. So far, I can print the generated HTML code:
> 
> print "<a href=\"http://users.example.com/~" + userName + ">" + lastName 
> + ", " + firstName + "</a>"

This is the string object you'll have to save below.
You'd better use "interpolated string" for legibility:

html_link = "<a href=\"http://users.example.com/~%s>%s, %s</a>" %(userName,lastName,firstName)

> However I want to write each line to a file first, so that I can 
> alphabetically sort the links by lastName, before printing them.

You don't need a file (not even for readable programmer feedback) -- just a list. And sort the list.

> I've found this snippet:
> 
> # Let's create a file and write it to disk.
> filename = "test.dat"
> # Let's create some data:
> done = 0
> namelist = []
> *while* *not* done:
>     name = raw_input("Enter a name:")
>     *if* type(name) == type(""):
>         namelist.append(name)
>     *else*:
>         *break*

Things like
   if type(name) == type(""):
is considered bad python idiom (for goood reasons). Prefere:
   if isinstance(name, basestring):
which also has the advantage to let unicode pass in.

>     # Create a file object:
>     # in "write" mode
>     FILE = open(filename,"w")
>     FILE.writelines(namelist)
>     
>     # Alternatively
>     # for name in namelist:
>     #       FILE.write(name)
>     
>     FILE.close() # this is icing, you can just exit and this will be
>     # handled automagically.
> 
> source: http://www.penzilla.net/tutorials/python/fileio/
> 
> Going by the above snippet, I will need to write the hyperlink to a 
> variable, e.g. name, which is in turn appended to namelist, and 
> subsequently written to the file. How do I save this
> 
> <a href=\"http://users.example.com/~" + userName + ">" + lastName + ", " 
> + firstName + "</a>
> 
> to a variable, then?

Answer above.

> Thanks
> 
> Dayo


Denis
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