Python dataclass from a nested dict

Question

The standard library in 3.7 can recursively convert a dataclass into a dict (example from the docs):

from dataclasses import dataclass, asdict
from typing import List

@dataclass
class Point:
     x: int
     y: int

@dataclass
class C:
     mylist: List[Point]

p = Point(10, 20)
assert asdict(p) == {'x': 10, 'y': 20}

c = C([Point(0, 0), Point(10, 4)])
tmp = {'mylist': [{'x': 0, 'y': 0}, {'x': 10, 'y': 4}]}
assert asdict(c) == tmp

I am looking for a way to turn a dict back into a dataclass when there is nesting. Something like C(**tmp) only works if the fields of the data class are simple types and not themselves dataclasses. I am familiar with [jsonpickle][1], which however comes with a prominent security warning.

---

EDIT:

Answers have suggested the following libraries:

• dacite
• mashumaro (I used for a while, works well but I quickly ran into tricky corner cases)
• pydantic (works very well, excellent documentation and fewer corner cases) [1]: https://jsonpickle.github.io/

Answer 1

I'm the author of dacite - the tool that simplifies creation of data classes from dictionaries.

This library has only one function from_dict - this is a quick example of usage:

from dataclasses import dataclass
from dacite import from_dict

@dataclass
class User:
    name: str
    age: int
    is_active: bool

data = {
    'name': 'john',
    'age': 30,
    'is_active': True,
}

user = from_dict(data_class=User, data=data)

assert user == User(name='john', age=30, is_active=True)

Moreover dacite supports following features:

• nested structures
• (basic) types checking
• optional fields (i.e. typing.Optional)
• unions
• collections
• values casting and transformation
• remapping of fields names

... and it's well tested - 100% code coverage!

To install dacite, simply use pip (or pipenv):

$ pip install dacite