Chris Angelico wrote: > On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 9:32 PM, Kene Meniru <kene.men...@illom.org> > wrote: >> You are saying I can create a python module that can parse this file >> format without using a system like python-ply? I know how to parse >> strings using python but considering that text files that describe a >> whole building may be quite large I thought perhaps the re module may not >> be adequate. > > Effectively, what you do is leverage the Python parser. Your script > would look like this: > > ------------possible user file content for parsing ------------ > # Boiler-plate to make this work > from pypovray import * > > # in the following the python interface program reads > # the contents of the file "other.file" as if its content > # were located at this point. > import other.file > > #In the following the python interface makes "snap_size" a > # global parameter > snap_size = 10 > > > # In the following "buildingLevel" is a class (or function) that is > # called and passed the parameters in parenthesis. > buildingLevel("FirstLevel", 3000) > > # In the following "snapOffset" is a class that is > # called and passed the parameters in parenthesis. > snapOffset("Closet-S1_r1", "Closet-S2_r3", (0,0,0)) > ------------end of user file content > > Note the extreme similarity to your original example. Everything > between the two snip-lines is perfectly legal Python code. (The > semantics of a Python import aren't quite the same as a C preprocessor > #include, so that might need a little tweaking, depending on what you > wanted to achieve there. Possibly "from other.file import *" would do > it.) Instead of writing a file parser, with all the complexities that > that entails, all you need to write is a set of functions/classes that > can be invoked. > > The only part that doesn't work cleanly is the vector, since its > syntax doesn't work in Python. You'll need to use round brackets > instead of angle ones, as in the above example, and on output to > Python, translate them. But that's fairly straight-forward, and by > this method, you get *everything else* done for you - parsing, nesting > of function calls, the entire Python standard library... the works. > > ChrisA
Thanks. This makes sense and it is something I can start right away porting my code. Sincerely glad I voiced my thoughts. The import directive will have to be tackled later but that is not for at least a year or so :-) -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list