how to pass arguments efficiently (**kwargs in python)

Question

I have a class that inherits from 2 other classes. These are the base classes:

class FirstBase(object):
      def __init__(self, detail_text=desc, backed_object=backed_object,
                   window=window, droppable_zone_obj=droppable_zone_obj,
                   bound_zone_obj=bound_zone_object,
                   on_drag_opacity=on_drag_opacity):
          # bla bla bla

class SecondBase(object):
      def __init__(self, size, texture, desc, backed_object, window):
          # bla bla bla

And this is the child:

class Child(FirstBase, SecondBase):
       """ this contructor doesnt work
       def __init__(self, **kwargs):
          # PROBLEM HERE
          #super(Child, self).__init__(**kwargs)
       """
       #have to do it this TERRIBLE WAY
       def __init__(self, size=(0,0), texture=None, desc="", backed_object=None,
                    window=None, droppable_zone_obj=[], bound_zone_object=[],
                    on_drag_opacity=1.0):
          FirstBase.__init__(self, detail_text=desc, backed_object=backed_object,
                             window=window, droppable_zone_obj=droppable_zone_obj,
                             bound_zone_obj=bound_zone_object,
                             on_drag_opacity=on_drag_opacity)
          SecondBase.__init__(self, size, texture, desc, backed_object, window)

I wanted to solve it all nicely with **kwargs but when I call the first commented out constructor I get TypeError: __init__() got an unexpected keyword argument 'size'.

Any ideas how I can make it work with **kwargs?

Answer 1

Your problem is that you only tried to use super in the child class.

If you use super in the base classes too, then this will work. Each constructor will "eat" the keyword arguments it takes and not pass them up to the next constructor. When the constructor for object is called, if there are any keyword arguments left over it will raise an exception.

class FirstBase(object):
    def __init__(self, detail_text=None, backed_object=None,
                 window=None, droppable_zone_obj=None,
                 bound_zone_obj=None, on_drag_opacity=None, **kwargs):
        super(FirstBase, self).__init__(**kwargs)

class SecondBase(object):
    def __init__(self, size=(0,0), texture=None, desc="",
                 backed_object=None, window=None, **kwargs):
        super(SecondBase, self).__init__(**kwargs)

class Child(FirstBase, SecondBase):
    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        super(Child, self).__init__(**kwargs)

As you can see, it works, except when you pass a bogus keyword argument:

>>> Child()
<__main__.Child object at 0x7f4aef413bd0>
>>> Child(detail_text="abc")
<__main__.Child object at 0x7f4aef413cd0>
>>> Child(bogus_kw=123)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "test.py", line 14, in __init__
    super(Child, self).__init__(**kwargs)
  File "test.py", line 5, in __init__
    super(FirstBase, self).__init__(**kwargs)
  File "test.py", line 10, in __init__
    super(SecondBase, self).__init__(**kwargs)
TypeError: object.__init__() takes no parameters