Including JSON files as part of Python package

Question

I`m writing a package with a "local database" consisting of a folder and subfolders with json files. My database.py module imports these files with a relative path to them (DB_PATH). When installing the package, load fails since files are not found. Is there a way to import those files as part of the package, or a standard way to handle cases like this?

My python code database.py:

DB_PATH = "./db"


def getIndex():
    filename = f"{DB_PATH}/index.json"

    with open(filename) as f:
        data = json.load(f)

    return data

File system:

📦package
 ┣📂folder
 ┃ ┗📂project
 ┃   ┣📂db
 ┃   ┃ ┣ 📜index.json
 ┃   ┃ ┗📂config
 ┃   ┃   ┣ 📜conf_1.json
 ┃   ┃   ┣ 📜conf_2.json
 ┃   ┃   ┗ ...
 ┃   ┗ 📜database.py
 ┗📜setup.py

Answer 1

If you use a setup.py, add this line:

import glob

setup(
    ...
    data_files=glob.glob('project/db/**')
)

In your database.py

import os.path

DB_PATH = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'db')

The variable __file__ contains the absolute path of the current python script database.py. Use dirname to get the parent folder and join to add database directory in the path.