prettyetc 0.4.0

Core library of the prettyetc project

The project is divided in 2 packages:

• prettyetc-qt (a qt-based graphical interface for prettyetc)

• prettyetc (the core with the APIs)

prettyetc-qt

Browse your configuration files in a visual way with a pretty and universal interface.

Prettyetc allows you to edit your configs in a multitabbed window, each config is displayed as a foldable tree that has no ugly brackets, quotes or anything else which might be language specific.

For example you can read a JSON and an INI file using the same view and structure.

The official GUI is powered by the Qt framework, using the official Python bindings.

prettyetc

Edit configuration files with an advanced tree-based data structure and convert them to other languages.

Installation

NOTE: If you have both Python 2 and 3 installed in your system, you probably need use pip3 instead of pip.

Full installation with the UI: pip install prettyetc-qt .

Or, if you want only the core: pip install prettyetc[all].

More informations about the installation process at: https://prettyetc.gitlab.io/prettyetc/developing/userguide/installation.html

An example (using the core APIs)

Let’s see what prettyetc can do.

from prettyetc.etccore import ConfigFileFactory, DictField

# create the factory
factory = ConfigFileFactory(enable_logger=True)

# create the file, this can be used to read and write the file
file = factory.create_file("colors.json")

# read the file and save it in a RootField
root = file.read()

# add a new color
color = {
    "color": "aqua",
    "code": {
        "rgba": [0, 255, 255, 1],
        "hex": "#0FF"
    },
    "web_safe": True,
}
root["colors"].add(DictField.from_primitives(color))

# change red color name
red_color = root["colors"][2]
red_color["color"].data = "light-red"

# change red color codes
red_color["code"]["rgba"][0].data = 204
red_color["code"]["hex"].data = "#c00"

# change red color web_safe field
red_color["web_safe"].data = False

# write the RootField to file (beautified json)
file.write(root, language="json", beautify=True)

See getting started for a quick start on how to use prettyetc.

Supported languages

Due to languages nature or the used backend, the parsers/serializers do not implement all field specifications, but a subset of those.

• JSON (json)

• INI (configparser)

• XML (XML ElementTree)

• YAML (* ruamel.yaml)

• A self-defined language called etc, see below (Embedded code + * lark-parser)

Here is a detailed table explaining what feature are supported by language.

Language - Type	JSON Parser	JSON Serializer	INI Parser	INI Serializer	XML Parser	XML Serializer	YAML Parser	YAML Serializer	Etc 1 Parser	Etc 1 Serializer
Field name	V 2	V 2	V	V	V	V	V 2	V 2	V	V
Field description (comment)	I	I							V	V
Field readonly	I	I							V	V
Field attributes	I	I			V	V
Indexable fields	V	V	V 3	V 3	V	V	V	V
Typed field	V	V	E 4	E 4	P	P	V	V	V	V

* backend require external libraries

Legend:

empty space: not supported yet

I: impossible due to language specification

E: enforced support

P: partially supported

V: fully supported

¹: the etc language is divided into some sublanguages, so some feature can be unavailable in a specific sublanguage.

²: For arrays, the name can be setted to None or to an integer index.

³: limited to one level.

⁴: The INI specification does not support typing, so any key and value is a string.

Docs

For a detailed explanation of core features, Prettyetc’s Field meaning, API reference and other, we suggest to go to the documentation of Prettyetc.

API Documentation: https://prettyetc.gitlab.io/prettyetc/index.html

An explanation of the etc language

The etc configuration language is a collection of micro-languages, all of them are structured similar to INI files (without sections).

The origin of this name is the *nix /etc folder that contain the system or default configuration for lots of programs and also kernel settings.

Except for files specifically formatted in INI or JSON, the files in this folder has an undefined and a simple syntax; made by spaces, the “:” character or the “=” character (somewhere) and the “#” character as comment start, that remember the sh/bash syntax.

Examples of these files are: /etc/resolv.conf /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/modules.

Our parser aim to handle most of it, representing it using fields in a universal view.