alexwlchan-python-js-files 0.0.1

Work with JSON which is stored as a value in a JavaScript file

python-js-files

This is a collection of Python functions for manipulating JavaScript "data files" -- that is, JavaScript files that define a single variable with a JSON value.

This is an example of a JavaScript data file:

const shape = { "sides": 5, "colour": "red" };

Think of this module as the JSON module, but for JavaScript files.

Usage

• You can read a JavaScript file with read_js(path, varname)
• You can write a JavaScript file with write_js(path, value, varname)
• You can append an item to a JavaScript array with append_to_js_array(path, value)
• You can append a key-value pair to a JavaScript object with append_to_js_object(path, key, value)

Installation

Copy the file src/javascript folder into your project. You probably want to copy the tests as well.

Eventually this will be a pip installable package, once I've done some more testing (see issue #3).

Why not use JSON files?

If you've opening an HTML file from disk, you can load data from a local JavaScript file, for example:

<script src="file://users/alexwlchan/repos/python-js-files/data.js"></script>

This is the only way to load data from an external file from an HTML file you've opened locally -- you can't do this with a JSON file, for example.

I have a lot of HTML files and local sites I build with an HTML viewer and metadata in a JavaScript file. The convenience of this approach outweighs the mild annoyance of having to store data in JavaScript, not JSON.

License

MIT.