This is just an utility module in order to ease the parsing of ini files and the type conversion for python 2.x. In python 3 the standard library modules are better, and a module like that would probably be less useful. I'm using this to parse .ini files within a complex infrastructure component, with many configuration variables and sections.

This module helps for:

• Automatic type conversion
• Section templating
• Easy definition of default values for options
• Providing dictionary-like option groups (called "multioptions")

As a general approach, I choosed to not use custom objects but just builtin types like dictionaries as output and input of methods, to keep things simple. I think that simple objects and methods may define usage patterns which are encapsulated into functions like 'selective_update'

Multioptions

This kind of options deserves a specific coverage, since it may result complex for those writing the configuration files.

The purpose of this feature is to write a mapping, like a dictionary, in a configuration file. If a component needs a structure like the following to be configurable:

d = {
   'level one' : {
       'key one' : 'value one',
       'key two' : 'value two',
       }
   'level two' : {
       'key three' : 'value three',
       }
   }

How to write it in a configuration file? With ini_parse, it may look flattened like:

level_one_key_one   = value one
level_one_key_two   = value two
level_two_key_three = value three

Which is not so good-looking, but it allows you to insert a very complex configurable structure in your configuration file.

Another use for multioptions is to build an option group within a section. For example, in a configuration file like:

[person Larry]

age = 37

[person Linda]

age = 33

relative_child = Mary
relative_husband = Larry

Templating

This functionality allows you to simplify multiple sections with share some common values.

If you write something like:

[template a]
b = b
c = c
d = d
i = i

[section e]
template = a

[section f]
template = a

[section g]
template = a
c = h

With ini_parse that will be equivalent to writing:

[section e]
b = b
c = c
d = d
i = i

[section f]
b = b
c = c
d = d
i = i

[section g]
b = b
c = h
d = d
i = i

So the file will be simplyfied with templates, and the common values between sections will be more evident.