Single use

import spruce.settings as _settings

settings = _settings.Settings(organization='myorg',
                              application='myapp')
with settings.open(), settings.ingroup('db'):
    dbserver = settings.value('server', required=True)
    dbport = settings.intvalue('port')
    db_entity_tables = settings.listvalue('entity_tables')

Multiple uses

import spruce.settings as _settings

settings = _settings.Settings(organization='myorg',
                              application='myapp')
with settings.open():
    with settings.ingroup('dbconn'):
        dbserver = settings.value('server', required=True)
        dbport = settings.intvalue('port')

    with settings.ingroup('dbtables'):
        db_entity_tables = settings.listvalue('entity_tables')

Factory method

from collections import namedtuple as _namedtuple

import spruce.settings as _settings

class User(_namedtuple('User', ('name', 'password'))):
    @classmethod
    def from_settings(cls, settings, group=None, name_key='name',
                      password_key='password'):
        with settings.ingroup(group):
            name = settings.value(name_key, required=True)
            password = settings.value(password_key, required=True)
        return cls(name=name, password=password)

settings = _settings.Settings(organization='myorg',
                              application='myapp')
with settings.open():
    user = User.from_settings(settings, 'user')

Scopes

Settings may be specified for the entire system or per user. This scope is called the base scope.

Settings are specific to organizations, applications, or subsystems, which are collectively called component scopes. Subsystems are grouped by the applications to which they belong. Applications are grouped by the organizations that produce them.

Settings

Each setting is a (key, value) pair. A key is a non-empty string that identifies the setting uniquely per application. A value is any string (or any object that can be represented as a string).

Keys are case-sensitive.

Groups

Keys can be grouped; for example, Book/Color and Book/PageCount are both part of the Book group, and some storage formats (such as conf) may reflect this by writing Color and PageCount entries together in a Book section.

Groups can be nested.

Locations

The primary location is the unique location determined by the combination of format, base scope, organization, application, and subsystem specified when creating a Settings object.

When settings are written, they are always written to the primary location.

When a setting is queried, the primary location is searched first. If it is not found there, the fallback mechanism is triggered. First, greater component scopes are searched. If the setting is not found there and the base scope is user, then the original component scope is searched in the system base scope, followed by the greater component scopes in system.

Formats

Settings formats specify where and how settings are stored. Each format defines the file path at which settings are stored for a given scope and how to read and write settings in those files.