Error importing a dictionary into the external file. Problem self and 'Dict' object has no attribute 'items'

Question

I had a dictionary inside the same single python script file. The script worked fine, all right.

I wanted to create an external file that contains the dictionary. Next, I imported the external file (dictionary.py) into the main file (main.py), but the script didn't work. I would like the import to be successful and without any errors.

This is the external dictionary file (dictionary.py)

class Dict:
    def __init__(self): 



        self.teams = {
            "Liverpool": {
                "Name": "Liverpool",
                "Tournament": "Premier League",

        ....

This is the main.py file (part of the code). The problem arose when I replaced dict_team (dict_team.items) in place of the previous teams.items(). What is teams? It was the name of the dictionary.

Now I get the error: dict_team = dictionary.Dict (self) NameError: name 'self' is not defined

While if I remove (self), I get the error: AttributeError: 'Dict' object has no attribute 'items'

NOTE: When the dictionary was in the only file and I was using teams.items(), I did not get any errors and the script worked correctly. Teams was the name of the dictionary.

The problem is row: for _team in dict_team.items():

#dictionary
import dictionary
dict_team = dictionary.Dict(self)

#function
def on_tournament_selected(event):
    # Clear the entry boxes: aggiunto io
    team.delete(0,'end') 
    
    req_teams = [] # For all the required teams
    sel_tournament = tournament.get() # Get the tournament
    
    # get the names for selected gender
    for _team in dict_team.items(): # Go through all the teams in the dictionary
        key = _team[0] # Get the key
        value = _team[1] # Get the value 
        if value['Campionato'] == sel_tournament: # If Tournament of the loop-ed team is our selected tourname, then 
            req_teams.append(key)
    
    team.config(values=req_teams) # Change the values of the combobox

tournament.bind('<<ComboboxSelected>>', on_tournament_selected)

Answer 1

There are a couple of problems:

1. On line 3, dict_team = dictionary.Dict(self), it doesn't make sense to write self there. self is defined only in the class and is used to refer to the current instance. It isn't used outside a class, so you shouldn't be passing it there.

2. Your dict_team is not a dictionary - it's an instance of a class you've created, called Dict. That class doesn't have an items method, hence why you get the error. If you just want to use a dict, why are you putting it inside a class in the first place?

If you just want to put your dictionary in another file, then you can, e.g.

sports.py:

teams = {"Liverpool": {...}}

and then you just import and use it wherever you want, e.g.

main.py

from sports import teams

for team, value in teams.items():
  # Whatever goes here.

Answer 2

I had used the class to group and sort the dictionary code, but I can safely delete the class.

It seems that by "the dictionary code", you mean the code that creates the ordinary, underlying Python dict. Classes do not exist for this grouping/organizing purpose - modules do. Classes have nothing to do with it. (They can be used that way, but it's usually abusive.)

If you want your module dictionary to contain a dict named teams, then simply write the corresponding dictionary.py file to use a global variable:

# dictionary.py
teams = {
    "Liverpool": {
        "Name": "Liverpool",
        "Tournament": "Premier League",
        # ...
    }
}

Then after you import the module, that dict is an attribute of the module, which you can access with plain old . syntax:

# main.py
import dictionary
# we access `teams` from the `dictionary` module, and then `items()` from that
for team in dictionary.teams.items():
    ...

Alternately, you can use from import syntax to use the name directly:

from dictionary import teams
for team in teams.items():
    ...