.ds CP 2003-2004
.ds TC \'tconfpy\'
.TH TCONFPY 3 "TundraWare Inc."

.SH NAME tconfpy.py
 Configuration File Support For Python Applications

.SH SYNOPSIS

It is common to provide an external "configuration file" when writing
sophisticated applications.  This gives the end-user the ability to
easily change program options by editing that file.

\*(TC is a Python module for parsing such configuration files. \*(TC
understands and parses a configuration "language" which has a rich set
of string-substitution, variable name, conditional, and validation
features.

By using \*(TC, you unburden your program from the major responsibility
of configuration file parsing and validation, while providing your
users a rich set of configuration features.


.SH INSTALLATION
There are three ways to install \*(TC depending on your preferences
and type of system.  In each of these installation methods you must be
logged in with root authority on Unix-like systems or as the
Administrator on Win32 systems.


.SS Preparation - Getting And Extracting The Package


For the first two installation methods, you must first download the
latest release from:

.nf
   http://www.tundraware.com/Software/tconfpy/
.fi

Then unpack the contents by issuing the following command:

.nf
   tar -xzvf py-tconfpy-X.XXX.tar.gz   (where X.XXX is the version number)
.fi

Win32 users who do not have tar installed on their system can find
a Windows version of the program at:

.nf
    http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/
.fi


.SS Install Method #1 - All Systems (Semi-Automated)


Enter the directory created in the unpacking step above.  Then issue
the following command:

.nf
    python setup.py install
.fi

This will install the \*(TC module and compile it.

You will manually have to copy the 'test-tc.py' program to a directory
somewhere in your executable path.  Similarly, copy the documentation
files to locations appropriate for your system.


.SS Install Method #2 - All Systems (Manual)


Enter the directory created in the unpacking step above.  Then,
manually copy the tconfpy.py file to a directory somewhere in your
PYTHONPATH.  The recommended location for Unix-like systems is:

.nf
    .../pythonX.Y/site-packages
.fi

For Win32 systems, the recommended location is:

.nf
    ...\\PythonX.Y\\lib\\site-packages
.fi

Where X.Y is the Python release number.


You can pre-compile the \*(TC module by starting Python interactively
and then issuing the command:

.nf
    import tconfpy
.fi

Manually copy the 'test-tc.py' program to a directory
somewhere in your executable path.  Copy the documentation
files to locations appropriate for your system.


.SS Install Method #3 - FreeBSD Only (Fully-Automated)


Make sure you are logged in as root, then:

.nf
      cd /usr/ports/devel/py-tconfpy
      make install
.fi

This is a fully-automated install that puts both code and
documentation where it belongs.  After this command has completed
you'll find the license agreement and all the documentation (in the
various formats) in:

.nf
     /usr/local/share/doc/py-tconfpy
.fi

The 'man' pages will have been properly installed so either of these
commands will work:

.nf
    man tconfpy
    man test-tc
.fi

.SS Bundling \*(TC With Your Own Programs


If you write a program that depends on \*(TC you'll need to ensure
that the end-users have it installed on their systems.  There are two
ways to do this:

1) Tell them to download and install the package as described above.
   This is not recommended since you cannot rely on the technical
   ability of end users to do this correctly.

2) Just include 'tconfpy.py' in your program distribution directory.
   This ensures that the module is available to your program
   regardless of what the end-user system has installed.




.SH PROGRAMMING USING THE \*(TC API

\*(TC is a Python module and thus available for use by any Python
program.  This section discusses how to invoke the \*(TC parser, the
options available when doing so, and what the parser returns to
the calling program.

.SS API Overview
The \*(TC API consists of a single call.  Only the configuration file
to be processed is a required parameter, all the others are optional
and default as described below:    

.nf
.B retval = ParseConfig(cfgfile, InitialSymTbl={}, AllowNewVars=True, AllowNewNamespaces=True, Debug=False, LiteralVars=False)

where:

.B cfgfile
    The the name of a file containing configuration information

.B InitialSymTbl
    A pre-populated symbol table.  Defaults to an empty symbol table.  As
    described below, this must contain valid \'VarDescriptor\' entries
    for each symbol in the table.

.B AllowNewVars
    Allow the user to create new variables in the configuration
    file.  Defaults to True.

.B AllowNewNamespaces
    Allow new namespaces to be created in the configuration file.
    Defaults to True.

.B Debug
    Defaults to False.  If set to True, \*(TC will provide detailed
    debugging information about each line processed when it returns.

.B LiteralVars
    Defaults to False.  If set to True this option Enables variable 
    substitutions within \'.literal\' blocks of a configuration file.
    See the section in the language reference below on \'.literal\'
    usage for details.

.B retval
    An object of type \'tconfpy.RetObj\' used to return parsing
    results.


.SS Passing An Initial Symbol Table

The simplest way to parse a configuration file is just to call
the parser with the name of that file:


.nf
retval = ParseConfig("myconfigfile")
.fi

Assuming your configuration file is valid, \'ParseConfig()\' will
return a symbol table populated with all the variables defined in the
file and their associated values. This symbol table will have
.B only
the symbols defined in that file (plus a few built-in and pre-defined
symbols needed internally by \*(TC).

However, the API provides a way for you to pass a "primed" symbol
table to the parser that contains pre-defined symbols/values of
your own choosing.  Why on earth would you want to do this?  There
are a number of reasons:

.nf
1) You may wish to write a configuration file which somehow depends
   on a pre-defined variable which only the calling program can know:

     .if [APPVERSION] == 1.0
          # Set configuration for older application releases
     .else
          # Set configuration for newer releases
     .endif

   In this example, only the calling application can know its own
   version, so it sets the variable APPVERSION in a symbol table
   which is passed to \'ParseConfig()\'.

2) You may wish to "protect" certain variable names be creating
   them ahead of time and marking them as "Read Only".  This is
   useful when you want a variable to be available for use
   within a configuration file, but you do not want users to
   be able to change its value.  In this case, the variable can
   be referenced in a string substitution or conditional test,
   but cannot be changed.

3) You may want to place limits on what values can be assigned to
   a particular variable.  By default, all variables newly defined
   within a configuration file are defined to be strings of any
   length, with no restrictions on their content.  By pre-defining a
   variable, you can specify its type (integer, string, boolean, or
   complex), a list of possible legal values, a range of legal values,
   min/max string length, or a set of regular expressions for string
   variables - one of which must match. In other words, you can have
   \*(TC "validate" what values the user assigns to particular
   variables.  This substantially simplifies your application because
   no invalid variable value will ever be returned from the parser.

.fi



class VarDescriptor(object):

    # Default variable type is a writeable string with no constraints
    def __init__(self):
        self.Value     = ""
        self.Writeable = True
        self.Type      = TYPE_STRING
        self.Default   = ""
        self.LegalVals = []
        self.Min       = None
        self.Max       = None

# End of class 'VarDescriptor'



When you pass an initial symbol table to the parser, \*(TC does
some basic validation that the table contents properly conform
to the \'VarDescriptor\' format and generates error messages if
it finds problems.   However, the program does
.B not
check your specifications to see if they make sense.  For instance
if you define an integer with a minimum value of 100 and a maximum
value of 50, \*(TC cheerfully accepts these limits even they they
are impossible.  You'll just be unable to do anything with that
variable - any attempt to change its value will cause an error
to be recorded.  Similarly, if you put a value in \'LegalVals\' that
is outside the range of \'Min\' to \'Max\', \*(TC will accept
it quietly.

.SS The \'AllowNewVars\' Option

By default, \*(TC lets the user define any new variables they
wish in a configuration file, merely by placing a line in the
file in this form:

.nf
   Varname = Value
.fi

However, you can disable this capability by calling the parser like
this:

.nf
   retval = ParseConfig("myconfigfile", AllowNewVars=False)
.fi

This means that the configuration file can "reference"
any pre-defined variables, and even change their values
(if they are not Read-Only), but it cannot create
.B new
variables.  

This feature is primarily intended for use when you pass an initial
symbol table to the parser and you do not want any other variables
defined by the user.  Why?  There are several possible uses for
this option:

.nf

1) You know every configuration variable name the calling program 
   will use ahead of time.  Disabling new variable names keeps
   the configuration file from getting cluttered with variables
   that the calling program will ignore anyway, thereby
   keeping the file more readable.

2) You want to insulate your user from silent errors caused
   by misspellings.  Say your program looks for a configuration
   variable called \'MyEmail\' but the user enters something
   like \'myemail = foo@bar.com\'.  \'MyEmail\' and \'myemail\'
   are entirely different variables and only the former is
   recognized by your calling program.  By turning off new
   variable creation, the user's inadvertent misspelling of
   the desired variable name will be flagged as an error.

.fi

Note, however, that there is one big drawback to disabling
new variable creation.  \*(TC processes the configuration 
file on a line-by-line basis.  No line "continuation" is
supported.  For really long variable names and ease of
maintenance, it is sometimes helpful to create "intermediate"
variables what hold temporary values used to construct 
a variable actually needed by the calling program.  For example:

.nf

inter1 = Really, really, really, really, long argument #1
inter2 = Really, really, really, really, long argument #2

realvar = command [inter1] [inter2]
.fi

If you disable new variable creation you can't do this
anymore unless all the variables \'inter1\', \'inter2\',
and \'realvar\' are predefined in the initial symbol
table passed to the parser.


.SS The \'AllowNewNamespaces\' Option

By default, \*(TC supports the use of an arbitrary number of
lexical namespaces.  They can be predefined in an initial
symbol table passed to the parser and/or created in the configuration
file as desired.  (The details are described in a later section
of this document.)

There may be times, however, when you do not want users creating new
namespaces on their own.  The reasons are much the same as for 
preventing the creation of new variables in the option above:
Maintaining simplicity and clarity in the configuration file and
preventing "silent" errors due to misspellings.

In this case, call the API with \'AllowNewNamespaces=False\' and the
creation of new namespaces in the configuration file will be disabled.
Any attempt to create a new namespaces via either the
\'[new-ns-name]\' or \'NAMESPACE=new-ns-name\' methods will cause a
parse error to be generated.

It is important to realize that this option only disables the
creation of
.B new
namespaces.  As discussed in the later section on namespace
processing, it is possible to pass an initial symbol table to the
parser which has one or more pre-defined namespaces in it.  Each of
these pre-defined namespaces is available for use throughout the
configuration file even if \'AllowNewNamespaces\' is set to False.


.SS The \'Debug\' Option

\*(TC has a fairly rich set of debugging features built into its
parser.  It can provide some detail about each line parsed as well
as overall information about the parse.  Be default, debugging is
turned off.  To enable debugging, merely set \'Debug=True' in the
API call:

.nf
retval = ParseConfig("myconfigfile", Debug=True)
.fi

.SS The \'LiteralVars\' Option

\*(TC supports the inclusion of literal text anywhere in a
configuration file via the \'.literal\' directive.  This
directive effectively tells the \*(TC parser to pass
every line it encounters "literally" until it sees a
corresponding \'.endlinteral\' directive.   By default,
\*(TC does
.B exactly
this.  However, \*(TC has very powerful variable substitution
mechanisms.  You may want to embed variable references in a
"literal" block and have them replaced by \*(TC.

Here is an example:

.nf
     MyEmail = me@here.com   # This defines variable MyEmail

    .literal
        printf("[MyEmail]");  /* A C Statement */
    .endliteral
.fi

By default, \'ParseConfig()\' will leave everything within
the \'.literal\'/\'.endliteral\' block unchanged.  In our
example, the string:

.nf
    printf("[MyEmail]");  /* A C Statement */
.fi

would be in the list of literals returned by \'ParseConfig()\'.

However, we can ask \*(TC to do variable replacement
.B within
literal blocks by setting \'LiteralVars=True\' in the
\'ParseConfig()\' call:

.nf
retval = ParseConfig("myconfigfile", LiteralVars=True)
.fi


In this example, \*(TC would return:

.nf
    printf("me@here.com");  /* A C Statement */
.fi

At first glance this seems only mildly useful, but it is
actually very handy.  As described later in this document,
\*(TC has a rich set of conditional operators and string
sustitution facilities.  You can use these features along
with literal block processing and variable substitution
within those blocks.  This effectively lets you use
\*(TC as a preprocessor for
.B any
other language or text.



.SS How \*(TC Processes Errors

As a general matter, when \*(TC encounters an error in the
configuration file currently being parsed, it does two things.  First,
it adds a descriptive error message into the list of errors returned
to the calling program (see the next section).  Secondly, in many
cases, noteably during conditional processing, it sets the parser
state so the block in which the error occurred is logically False.
This does not happen in every case, however.  If you are having
problems with errors, enable the Debugging features of the package and
look at the debug output.  It provides detailed information about what
caused the error and why.


.SS \*(TC Return Values

When \*(TC is finished processing the configuration file it returns an
object which contains the entire results of the parse.  This includes
a symbol table, any relevant error or warning messages, debug information
(if you requested this via the API), and any "literal" lines encountred
in the configuration.

The return object is an instance of the class \'twander.RetObj\' which is
nothing more than a container to hold return data.  In the simplest
case, we can parse and extract results like this:

.nf
from tconfpy import *

retval = ParseConfig("myconfigfile", Debug=True)
.fi

\'retval\' now contains the results of the parse:

.nf
retval.Errors -   A Python list containing error messages.  If this list
                  is empty, you can infer that there were no parsing
                  errors - i.e., The configuration file was OK.

retval.Warnings - A Python list containing warning messages.  These
                  describe minor problems not fatal to the parse
                  process, but that you really ought to clean up in
                  the configuration file.


retval.SymTable - A Python dictionary which lists all the defined
                  symbols and their associated values.  A "value"
                  in this case is always an object of type
                  tconfpy.VarDescriptor (as described above).

retval.Literals - As described below, the \*(TC configuration language
                  supports a \'.literal\' directive.  This directive
                  allows the user to embed literal text anywhere in
                  the configuration file.  This effectively makes
                  \*(TC useful as a preprocessor for any other
                  language or text.  retval.Literals is a Python list
                  containing all literal text discovered during the parse.

retval.Debug -    A Python list containing detailed debug information for
                  each line parsed as well as some brief summary
                  information about the parse.  retval.Debug defaults
                  to an empty list and is only populated if you set
                  \'Debug=True\' in the API call that initiated the
                  parse (as in the example above).
.fi


.SH CONFIGURATION LANGUAGE REFERENCE


\*(TC recognizes a full-featured configuration language that includes
variable creation and value assignment, a full preprocessor with
conditionals, type and value enforcement, and lexical namespaces.
This section of the document describes that language and provides
examples of how each feature can be used.

.SS General Rules For The \*(TC Configuration Language

.SS Variables And Variable References

.SS Predefined Variables

.SS The \'.include\' Directive

.SS Conditional Directives

.SS \'.literal\. - Using \*(TC As A Preprocessor For Other Languages

.SS Type And Value Enforcement

.SS Lexical Namespaces

.SH ADVANCED TOPICS

.SS Guaranteeing A Correct Base Configuration

.SS Enforcing Mandatory Configurations


.SH OTHER

\*(TC requires Python 2.3 or later.

.SH BUGS AND MISFEATURES
None known as of this release.

.SH COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING
\*(TC is Copyright(c) \*(CP TundraWare Inc.  For terms of use, see
the tconfpy-license.txt file in the program distribution.  If you
install \*(TC  on a FreeBSD system using the 'ports' mechanism, you
will also find this file in /usr/local/share/doc/py-tconfpy.

.SH AUTHOR
.nf
Tim Daneliuk
tconfpy@tundraware.com