Nested Python class needs to access variable in enclosing class

Question

I've seen a few "solutions" to this, but the solution every time seems to be "Don't use nested classes, define the classes outside and then use them normally". I don't like that answer, because it ignores the primary reason I chose nested classes, which is, to have a pool of constants (associated with the base class) accessible to all sub-class instances which are created.

Here is example code:

class ParentClass:

    constant_pool = []
    children = []

    def __init__(self, stream):
        self.constant_pool = ConstantPool(stream)
        child_count = stream.read_ui16()
        for i in range(0, child_count):
            children.append(ChildClass(stream))

    class ChildClass:

        name = None

        def __init__(self, stream):
            idx = stream.read_ui16()
            self.name = constant_pool[idx]

All classes are passed a single param, which is a custom bitstream class. My intention is to have a solution that does not require me to read the idx value for ChildClass while still in the ParentClass. All child-class stream reading should be done in the child class.

This example is over simplified. The constant pool is not the only variable i need available to all subclasses. The idx variable is not the only thing read from the stream reader.

Is this even possible in python? Is there no way to access the parent's information?

Answer 1

Despite my "bit patronizing" comment (fair play to call it that!), there are actually ways to achieve what you want: a different avenue of inheritance. A couple:

1. Write a decorator that introspects a class just after it's declared, finds inner classes, and copies attributes from the outer class into them.

2. Do the same thing with a metaclass.

Here's the decorator approach, since it's the most straightforward:

def matryoshka(cls):

    # get types of classes
    class classtypes:
        pass
    classtypes = (type, type(classtypes))

    # get names of all public names in outer class
    directory = [n for n in dir(cls) if not n.startswith("_")]

    # get names of all non-callable attributes of outer class
    attributes = [n for n in directory if not callable(getattr(cls, n))]

    # get names of all inner classes
    innerclasses = [n for n in directory if isinstance(getattr(cls, n), classtypes)]

    # copy attributes from outer to inner classes (don't overwrite)
    for c in innerclasses:
        c = getattr(cls, c)
        for a in attributes:
            if not hasattr(c, a):
                setattr(c, a, getattr(cls, a))

    return cls

Here is a simple example of its use:

@matryoshka
class outer(object):

    answer = 42

    class inner(object):

        def __call__(self):
            print self.answer

outer.inner()()   # 42

However, I can't help but think some of the ideas suggested in other answers would serve you better.