switching an instance variable between a property and a normal value

[Steven Bethard]

I'd like to be able to have an instance variable that can sometimes be
accessed as a property, and sometimes as a regular value, e.g. something
like:

py> class C(object):
.... def usevalue(self, x):
.... self.x = x
.... def usefunc(self, func, *args, **kwds):
.... self._func, self._args, self._kwds = func, args, kwds
.... self.x = C._x
.... def _get(self):
.... return self._func(*self._args, **self._kwds)
.... _x = property(_get)
....
py> c = C()
py> c.usevalue(4)
py> c.x
4
py> c.usefunc(list)
py> c.x # I'd like this to print []
<property object at 0x04166DA0>

Of course, the code above doesn't do what I want because C._x is a
property object, so the assignment to self.x in usefunc just adds
another name for that property object. If I use self._x (or
getattr(self, '_x'), etc.) then self._func only gets called that one time:

py> class C(object):
.... def usevalue(self, x):
.... self.x = x
.... def usefunc(self, func, *args, **kwds):
.... self._func, self._args, self._kwds = func, args, kwds
.... self.x = self._x
.... def _get(self):
.... return self._func(*self._args, **self._kwds)
.... _x = property(_get)
....
py> c = C()
py> c.usefunc(list)
py> c.x is c.x # I'd like this to be False
True

Is there any way to get the kind of behavior I'm looking for? That is,
is there any way to make self.x use the property magic only some of the
time?

Steve

P.S. Yes, I know I could make both access paths run through the
property magic, with code that looks something like:

py> class C(object):
.... _undefined = object
.... def __init__(self):
.... self._value, self._func = C._undefined, C._undefined
.... def usevalue(self, x):
.... self._value = x
.... self._func = C._undefined
.... def usefunc(self, func, *args, **kwds):
.... self._func, self._args, self._kwds = func, args, kwds
.... self._value = C._undefined
.... def _get(self):
.... if self._value is not C._undefined:
.... return self._value
.... if self._func is not C._undefined:
.... return self._func(*self._args, **self._kwds)
.... raise AttributeError('x')
.... x = property(_get)
....
py> c = C()
py> c.usevalue(4)
py> c.x
4
py> c.usefunc(list)
py> c.x is c.x
False

This code is kinda complicated though because I have to make sure that
only one of self._func and self._value is defined at any given time.

 

[Nick Coghlan]

I'd like to be able to have an instance variable that can sometimes be
accessed as a property, and sometimes as a regular value, e.g. something
like:

If you want the behaviour to be switchable per-instance, you have to go the
route of always running through the property machinery, since property() creates
a descriptor on the class, not the instance.

On the other hand, if you want to switch the behaviour of every instance, then
making usevalue and usefunc class methods may give you some mileage.

I'm rather curious about your use case, though. . .

Here's a different way of using the property machinery, too:

Py> class C(object):
.... def __init__(self):
.... self._use_val = None
.... def useval(self, x):
.... self._val = x
.... self._use_val = True
.... def usefunc(self, func, *args, **kwds):
.... self._func, self._args, self._kwds = (func, args, kwds)
.... def _get(self):
.... use_val = self._use_val
.... if use_val is None:
.... raise AttributeError('x')
.... if use_val:
.... return self._val
.... else:
.... return self._func(*self._args, **self._kwds)
.... x = property(_get)
....
Py> c = C()
Py> c.useval(4)
Py> c.x
4
Py> c.usefunc(list)
Py> c.x
[]