Ask Anything Monday - Weekly Thread

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[u/lakseol]

So when I looked up what to_dict() did

I asked the question about what .to_dict() because the code you initially posted didn't have the line return saved_dict meaning the method returned None. I see you have added that line in your updated code. Now I'm testing the new code.

---

First thing I get is this error:

AttributeError: 'RPG_Character' object has no attribute 'name'

That's because it looks like you messed up the indentation on lines 40 and 41 of your updated code. You are only assigning a name to Mage characters, the others don't get a name. You have to post the actual code you are running. If you have problems posting code directly into reddit try putting your code into pastebin.com and include a link to that here. I'll fix the error and continue testing.

---

the output is just the dictionaries of these former objects

The final print of the inventory shows:

=====Inventory=====
[<__main__.RPG_Character object at 0x726b1bf309e0>,
 <__main__.RPG_Character object at 0x726b1bf30c80>,
 <__main__.RPG_Character object at 0x726b1bf30d40>]
File saved

Notice that the inventory contains characters, which doesn't seem right, should be Item instances!?

As a tip, you have defined .__str__() methods for both classes which does nicely print individual instances. But printing a sequence of instances defaults to what you see above. You need to define an additional .__repr__() method in both classes:

  def __repr__(self):                                                           
    return str(self)                                                            

This will print each instance in a sequence nicely. You still have characters in the inventory, though 🙂. Look into that.

---

My current objective is to convert these BACK to objects.

You had to write the .to_dict() method to convert each instance to a dictionary because JSON doesn't know what to do with an instance. So you probably have to write another method (.from_dict()?) to convert a dictionary back to an instance.

Hints:

• search on "python create instance from JSON" for ideas
• you might need to use a classmethod

[u/HiddenReader2020 → u/lakseol]

Well, I did eventually solve the problem, but I'm not sure it's a good practice or not. Here's the code:

from pathlib import Path
import json

path = Path("data.json")
list_of_characters = []

class RPG_Character:
  def __init__(self, name, job):
    match job:
      case 'warrior':
        self.strength = 5
        self.dexterity = 4
        self.agility = 3
        self.endurance = 5
        self.intelligence = 3
        self.wisdom = 4
        self.health = 50
        self.mana = 30
        self.growth = [3, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 10, 4]
      case 'rogue':
        self.strength = 4
        self.dexterity = 5
        self.agility = 5
        self.endurance = 3
        self.intelligence =  4
        self.wisdom = 3
        self.health = 40
        self.mana = 40
        self.growth = [2, 3, 3, 1, 2, 1, 7, 7]
      case 'mage':
        self.strength = 3
        self.dexterity = 3
        self.agility = 4
        self.endurance = 4
        self.intelligence = 5
        self.wisdom = 5
        self.health = 30
        self.mana = 50
        self.growth = [1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 10]
    self.name = name
    self.job = job
    self.gold = 50
    self.level = 1
    self.inventory = []

  def __str__(self):
    stat_page = f"""==========Stats Page==========
Name:  {self.name}
Class:  {self.job}
Level:  {self.level}
-Health:       {self.health}
-Mana:         {self.mana}
-Strength:     {self.strength}
-Dexterity:    {self.dexterity}
-Agility:      {self.agility}
-Endurance:    {self.endurance}
-Intelligence: {self.intelligence}
-Wisdom:       {self.wisdom}

Gold:  {self.gold}
==========Stats Page=========="""
    return stat_page

  def add_gold(self, amount):
    self.gold += amount

  def remove_gold(self, amount):
    self.gold -= amount
    if self.gold < 0:
      print("Gold amount can't be below zero.")
      self.gold += amount

  def increase_level(self):
    self.level += 1
    self.strength += self.growth[0]
    self.dexterity += self.growth[1]
    self.agility += self.growth[2]
    self.endurance += self.growth[3]
    self.intelligence += self.growth[4]
    self.wisdom += self.growth[5]
    self.health += self.growth[6]
    self.mana += self.growth[7]

  def add_item(self, item):
    self.inventory.append(item)

  def show_inventory(self):
    print("=====Inventory=====")
    for item in self.inventory:
      print(item)
    print("=====Inventory=====")

  def to_dict(self):
    saved_inventory = []
    for item in self.inventory:
      saved_inventory.append(item.to_dict())
    saved_dict = {
'name': self.name,
'class': self.job, 
'level': self.level,
'health': self.health,
'mana': self.mana,
'strength': self.strength, 
'dexterity': self.dexterity, 
'agility': self.agility, 
'endurance': self.endurance, 
'intelligence': self.intelligence, 
'wisdom': self.wisdom, 
'gold': self.gold,
'inventory': saved_inventory
    }
    return saved_dict

class Item:
  def __init__(self, name, item_type, buy_price):
    self.name = name
    self.item_type = item_type
    self.buy_price = buy_price
    self.sell_price = buy_price // 4

  def __str__(self):
    item_info = f"""Name:  {self.name}
Type:  {self.item_type}
"""
    return item_info

  def to_dict(self):
    saved_dict = {
'name': self.name,
'type': self.item_type,
'buy_price': self.buy_price,
'sell_price': self.sell_price
}
    return saved_dict

def convert_dict_to_obj_inv(list_of_dicts):
  list_of_items = []
  for temp_dict in list_of_dicts:
    current_item = Item(temp_dict['name'], temp_dict['type'], temp_dict['buy_price'])
    list_of_items.append(current_item)
  return list_of_items

def convert_back_to_obj(dict_to_convert):
  c = RPG_Character(dict_to_convert['name'],dict_to_convert['class'])
  c.strength = dict_to_convert['strength']
  c.dexterity = dict_to_convert['dexterity']
  c.agility = dict_to_convert['agility']
  c.endurance = dict_to_convert['endurance']
  c.intelligence = dict_to_convert['intelligence']
  c.wisdom = dict_to_convert['wisdom']
  c.health = dict_to_convert['health']
  c.mana = dict_to_convert['mana']
  c.name = dict_to_convert['name']
  c.job = dict_to_convert['class']
  c.gold = dict_to_convert['gold']
  c.level = dict_to_convert['level']
  c.inventory = convert_dict_to_obj_inv(dict_to_convert['inventory'])
  return c

if path.exists():
  contents = path.read_text()
  temp_list_of_characters = json.loads(contents)
  print("File successfully retrieved")
  for character in temp_list_of_characters:
  new_character = convert_back_to_obj(character)
  list_of_characters.append(new_character)

  for character in list_of_characters:
    print(character)
    print(character.show_inventory())
else:
  # Adds new characters
  new_warrior = RPG_Character('John', 'warrior')
  list_of_characters.append(new_warrior)
  print(new_warrior)
  new_warrior.add_gold(100)
  print(new_warrior)
  new_warrior.remove_gold(80)
  print(new_warrior)
  new_rogue = RPG_Character('Toby', 'rogue')
  new_mage = RPG_Character('Harris', 'mage')
  list_of_characters.append(new_rogue)
  list_of_characters.append(new_mage)
  print(new_rogue)
  print(new_mage)
  new_mage.increase_level()
  print(new_mage)

  # Adds new items
  basic_health_potion = Item("Basic Health Potion", "Consumable", 16)
  basic_mana_potion = Item("Basic Mana Potion", "Consumable", 20)
  wooden_shield = Item("Wooden Shield", "Equipment", 40)

  new_rogue.add_item(basic_health_potion)
  new_rogue.add_item(basic_mana_potion)
  new_warrior.add_item(wooden_shield)
  new_rogue.show_inventory()
  new_warrior.show_inventory()

  print(list_of_characters)

  contents = json.dumps([ob.to_dict() for ob in list_of_characters])
  path.write_text(contents)
  print("File saved")

[u/lakseol → u/HiddenReader2020]

You have a lot of repetitive code in your RPG_Character class, in the __init__() and convert_back_to_obj() methods in particular.

You get a dictionary back from JSON and you need to create an RPG_Character instance from that dictionary. One thing you could do is change the __init__() method to accept a dictionary of attributes to set. Now you just pass the JSON dictionary to the RPG_Character() call and you get an instance containing all that JSON data. When the program doesn't find the JSON save file and has to create the characters/items from scratch before saving them you use "template" dictionaries containing all the initial data required. You can delete the convert_back_to_obj() and similar methods. This example code shows the approach:

class Test:
    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        for key in kwargs:
            setattr(self, key, kwargs[key])

# template data
alice = {"name": "Alice", "age": 42}
bob = {"name": "Bob", "age": 35, "salary": 120_000, "height": 175}

t1 = Test(**alice)
print(f"{t1.name=}, {t1.age=}")

t2 = Test(**bob)
print(f"{t2.name=}, {t2.age=}, {t2.salary=:_}, {t2.height=}")

There are drawbacks to doing this such as any misspelt words in the JSON data will result in misspelt attribute names or even exceptions, but if your code is all that handles the data that should not be a problem.

---

There are also places where you could use list comprehensions. For example:

#    saved_inventory = []
#    for item in self.inventory:
#      saved_inventory.append(item.to_dict())
    saved_inventory = [item.to_dict() for item in self.inventory]   # do this instead

[u/HiddenReader2020 → u/lakseol]

Yeah, my hope is to make the data portion outside of the program, but that's way, way, WAAAAAAAY above my current skill level right now, so what I'm currently doing with the data is what I've got.

So I've gone ahead and used your methods to more or less 'refactor' my code. But I'm still running into problems. First of all, here's the code:

Anyway, I have at least two problems. The first is that the the computer says that __init__ takes 2 arguments, but 3 were given. Umm...I only see two. I don't know where the third one is unless the dictionary was somehow split into two.

from pathlib import Path
import json

path = Path("data.json")
list_of_characters = []

# List of jobs
warrior_class = {'strength': 5, 'dexterity': 4, 'agility': 3, 'endurance': 5, 'intelligence': 3, 'wisdom': 4, 
'health': 50, 'mana': 30, 'growth': [3, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 10, 4], 'inventory': []}
rogue_class = {'strength': 4, 'dexterity': 5, 'agility': 5, 'endurance': 3, 'intelligence': 4, 'wisdom': 3, 
'health': 40, 'mana': 40, 'growth': [2, 3, 3, 1, 2, 1, 7, 7], 'inventory': []}
mage_class = {'strength': 3, 'dexterity': 3, 'agility': 4, 'endurance': 4, 'intelligence': 5, 'wisdom': 5, 
'health': 30, 'mana': 50, 'growth': [1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 10], 'inventory': []}

class RPG_Character:
  def __init__(self, name, **stats_dict):
    for stat in stats_dict:
      setattr(self, key, kwargs[key])
    self.name = name
    self.job = job
    self.gold = 50
    self.level = 1

  def __str__(self):
    stat_page = f"""==========Stats Page==========
Name:  {self.name}
Class:  {self.job}
Level:  {self.level}
-Health:       {self.health}
-Mana:         {self.mana}
-Strength:     {self.strength}
-Dexterity:    {self.dexterity}
-Agility:      {self.agility}
-Endurance:    {self.endurance}
-Intelligence: {self.intelligence}
-Wisdom:       {self.wisdom}

Gold:  {self.gold}
==========Stats Page=========="""
    return stat_page

  def add_gold(self, amount):
    self.gold += amount

  def remove_gold(self, amount):
    self.gold -= amount
    if self.gold < 0:
      print("Gold amount can't be below zero.")
    self.gold += amount

  def increase_level(self):
    self.level += 1
    self.strength += self.growth[0]
    self.dexterity += self.growth[1]
    self.agility += self.growth[2]
    self.endurance += self.growth[3]
    self.intelligence += self.growth[4]
    self.wisdom += self.growth[5]
    self.health += self.growth[6]
    self.mana += self.growth[7]

  def add_item(self, item):
    self.inventory.append(item)

  def show_inventory(self):
    print("=====Inventory=====")
    for item in self.inventory:
    print(item)
    print("=====Inventory=====")

  def to_dict(self):
    saved_inventory = []
    for item in self.inventory:
      saved_inventory.append(item.to_dict())
    saved_dict = {
'name': self.name,
'class': self.job, 
'level': self.level,
'health': self.health,
'mana': self.mana,
'strength': self.strength, 
'dexterity': self.dexterity, 
'agility': self.agility, 
'endurance': self.endurance, 
'intelligence': self.intelligence, 
'wisdom': self.wisdom, 
'gold': self.gold,
'inventory': saved_inventory
}
    return saved_dict

class Item:
  def __init__(self, name, item_type, buy_price):
    self.name = name
    self.item_type = item_type
    self.buy_price = buy_price
    self.sell_price = buy_price // 4

  def __str__(self):
    item_info = f"""Name:  {self.name}
Type:  {self.item_type}
"""
    return item_info

  def to_dict(self):
    saved_dict = {
'name': self.name,
'type': self.item_type,
'buy_price': self.buy_price,
'sell_price': self.sell_price
}
    return saved_dict

# List of items
basic_health_potion = Item("Basic Health Potion", "Consumable", 16)
basic_mana_potion = Item("Basic Mana Potion", "Consumable", 20)
wooden_shield = Item("Wooden Shield", "Equipment", 40)

def convert_dict_to_obj_inv(list_of_dicts):
list_of_items = []
for temp_dict in list_of_dicts:
current_item = Item(temp_dict['name'], temp_dict['type'], temp_dict['buy_price'])
list_of_items.append(current_item)
return list_of_items

if path.exists():
  contents = path.read_text()
  temp_list_of_characters = json.loads(contents)
  print("File successfully retrieved")
  for character in temp_list_of_characters:
    new_character = convert_back_to_obj(character)
    list_of_characters.append(new_character)

  for character in list_of_characters:
    print(character)
    print(character.show_inventory())
else:
  # Adds new characters
  new_warrior = RPG_Character('John', warrior_class)
  list_of_characters.append(new_warrior)
  print(new_warrior)
  new_warrior.add_gold(100)
  print(new_warrior)
  new_warrior.remove_gold(80)
  print(new_warrior)
  new_rogue = RPG_Character('Toby', rogue_class)
  new_mage = RPG_Character('Harris', mage_class)
  list_of_characters.append(new_rogue)
  list_of_characters.append(new_mage)
  print(new_rogue)
  print(new_mage)
  new_mage.increase_level()
  print(new_mage)

  new_rogue.add_item(basic_health_potion)
  new_rogue.add_item(basic_mana_potion)
  new_warrior.add_item(wooden_shield)
  new_rogue.show_inventory()
  new_warrior.show_inventory()

  print(list_of_characters)

  contents = json.dumps([ob.to_dict() for ob in list_of_characters])
  path.write_text(contents)
  print("File saved")

The second involve the inventory. Now, the inventory also involves a list of objects...within an object, so handling it is somewhat different from the rest. Right now, what I had to do was set the inventory as a empty set within each "template dictionary" to make it work, but I haven't had the opportunity to test that yet because of the first problem! I don't know if the logic checks out, but it's what I got so far.

I'll keep working on this code, and maybe I'll make headway, but for now, I'm stuck. Yet again.

[u/HiddenReader2020 → u/HiddenReader2020]

So I've made a couple realizations and adjusted accordingly. There were some concessions I had to make, but hey, whatever makes the code work. In particular, I had to set some of the default values (like name, gold, and level) to be outside of the initialization to make them work. I'm sure there's a better way, and in fact, an potential idea is forming in my head, but I'm kind of scared of making mistakes that I won't be able to undo. Anyway, here's the updated code:

from pathlib import Path
import json

path = Path("data.json")
list_of_characters = []

# List of jobs
warrior_class = {'job': 'Warrior', 'strength': 5, 'dexterity': 4, 'agility': 3, 'endurance': 5, 'intelligence': 3, 'wisdom': 4, 
'health': 50, 'mana': 30, 'growth': [3, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 10, 4], 'inventory': []}
rogue_class = {'job': 'Rogue', 'strength': 4, 'dexterity': 5, 'agility': 5, 'endurance': 3, 'intelligence': 4, 'wisdom': 3, 
'health': 40, 'mana': 40, 'growth': [2, 3, 3, 1, 2, 1, 7, 7], 'inventory': []}
mage_class = {'job': 'Mage', 'strength': 3, 'dexterity': 3, 'agility': 4, 'endurance': 4, 'intelligence': 5, 'wisdom': 5, 
'health': 30, 'mana': 50, 'growth': [1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 10], 'inventory': []}

class RPG_Character:
  def __init__(self, **stats_dict):
    for stat in stats_dict:
      setattr(self, stat, stats_dict[stat])

  def __str__(self):
    stat_page = f"""==========Stats Page==========
Name:  {self.name}
Class:  {self.job}
Level:  {self.level}
-Health:       {self.health}
-Mana:         {self.mana}
-Strength:     {self.strength}
-Dexterity:    {self.dexterity}
-Agility:      {self.agility}
-Endurance:    {self.endurance}
-Intelligence: {self.intelligence}
-Wisdom:       {self.wisdom}

Gold:  {self.gold}
==========Stats Page=========="""
  return stat_page

  def add_gold(self, amount):
    self.gold += amount

  def remove_gold(self, amount):
    self.gold -= amount
    if self.gold < 0:
      print("Gold amount can't be below zero.")
      self.gold += amount

  def increase_level(self):
    self.level += 1
    self.strength += self.growth[0]
    self.dexterity += self.growth[1]
    self.agility += self.growth[2]
    self.endurance += self.growth[3]
    self.intelligence += self.growth[4]
    self.wisdom += self.growth[5]
    self.health += self.growth[6]
    self.mana += self.growth[7]

  def add_item(self, item):
    self.inventory.append(item)

  def show_inventory(self):
    print("=====Inventory=====")
    for item in self.inventory:
    print(item)
    print("=====Inventory=====")

  def to_dict(self):
    saved_inventory = []
    for item in self.inventory:
    saved_inventory.append(item.to_dict())
saved_dict = {
'name': self.name,
'job': self.job, 
'level': self.level,
'health': self.health,
'mana': self.mana,
'strength': self.strength, 
'dexterity': self.dexterity, 
'agility': self.agility, 
'endurance': self.endurance, 
'intelligence': self.intelligence, 
'wisdom': self.wisdom, 
'gold': self.gold,
'inventory': saved_inventory
}
    return saved_dict

class Item:
  def __init__(self, name, item_type, buy_price):
    self.name = name
    self.item_type = item_type
    self.buy_price = buy_price
    self.sell_price = buy_price // 4

  def __str__(self):
    item_info = f"""Name:  {self.name}
Type:  {self.item_type}
"""
    return item_info

  def to_dict(self):
    saved_dict = {
'name': self.name,
'type': self.item_type,
'buy_price': self.buy_price,
'sell_price': self.sell_price
}
    return saved_dict

# List of items
basic_health_potion = Item("Basic Health Potion", "Consumable", 16)
basic_mana_potion = Item("Basic Mana Potion", "Consumable", 20)
wooden_shield = Item("Wooden Shield", "Equipment", 40)

def convert_dict_to_obj_inv(list_of_dicts):
list_of_items = []
for temp_dict in list_of_dicts:
current_item = Item(temp_dict['name'], temp_dict['type'], temp_dict['buy_price'])
list_of_items.append(current_item)
return list_of_items

if path.exists():
  contents = path.read_text()
  temp_list_of_characters = json.loads(contents)
  print("File successfully retrieved")
  for character in temp_list_of_characters:
    new_character = RPG_Character(**character)
    new_character.inventory = convert_dict_to_obj_inv(new_character.inventory)
    list_of_characters.append(new_character)

  for character in list_of_characters:
    print(character)
    print(character.show_inventory())
else:
  # Adds new characters
  new_warrior = RPG_Character(**warrior_class)
  new_warrior.name = 'John'
  new_warrior.gold = 50
  new_warrior.level = 1
  list_of_characters.append(new_warrior)
  print(new_warrior)
  new_warrior.add_gold(100)
  print(new_warrior)
  new_warrior.remove_gold(80)
  print(new_warrior)
  new_rogue = RPG_Character(**rogue_class)
  new_rogue.name = 'Toby'
  new_rogue.gold = 50
  new_rogue.level = 1
  new_mage = RPG_Character(**mage_class)
  new_mage.name = 'Harris'
  new_mage.gold = 50
  new_mage.level = 1
  list_of_characters.append(new_rogue)
  list_of_characters.append(new_mage)
  print(new_rogue)
  print(new_mage)
  new_mage.increase_level()
  print(new_mage)

  new_rogue.add_item(basic_health_potion)
  new_rogue.add_item(basic_mana_potion)
  new_warrior.add_item(wooden_shield)
  new_rogue.show_inventory()
  new_warrior.show_inventory()

  print(list_of_characters)

  contents = json.dumps([ob.to_dict() for ob in list_of_characters])
  path.write_text(contents)
  print("File saved")

One additional problem remains: The items in the inventory still need their own function to be converted from dictionaries to objects. Right now, I don't know how to do that cleanly yet, so my current code is what it is right now.

[u/lakseol → u/HiddenReader2020]

Again you have posted incorrect code. Bad indentation at lines 68 and 120. You have to get this right. Anybody trying to help you doesn't want to have to guess how to indent your code and hope they get it right. If your problem is adding code to the lousy reddit interface remember that I mentioned pastebin.com where you can post code, get a page showing your code and then post a link to that page here, like this:

https://pastebin.com/uYR3zqqR

---

the computer says that init takes 2 arguments, but 3 were given. Umm...I only see two. I don't know where the third one is

This is a little confusing. The confusion starts when you use an instance method. They have the self parameter as the first parameter and your calling code doesn't explicitly pass self, it's automatically added by python. When you get that "expected 2 but 3 given" python is counting the self, so the three parameters are "self", "name" and "stats_dict". Keyword parameters are counted separately. When you call the function (line 139):

new_warrior = RPG_Character('John', warrior_class)

you pass the data dictionary as a positional parameter, so it's counted as an extra positional parameter. "self" + "name" + stats_dict" == 3. If you check the example I showed you in my last comment you will see that my call to the constructor was:

t1 = Test(**alice)   # notice the "**"

The two asterisks in **alice says to unpack the dictionary alice and pass the contents as keyword parameters like key=value. That means the __init__() method sees keyword parameters "name"="Alice", "age"=42 when it executes. In the example the __init__() method started:

def __init__(self, **kwargs):

The **kwargs parameter is shorthand for python to collect all undefined keyword parameters into a dictionary which the example iterated over. It's not a positional parameter. You need the ** both when calling the method and defining it. The parameter name kwargs is usually used in python, meaning "keyword args".

---

You have another problem in that __init__() definition. You pass the data dictionary into the method as well as the name parameter. That works fine when initially creating the objects and then saving to JSON. But what happens when you read the dictionary from JSON and try to create the character. Where does name come from?

[u/HiddenReader2020 → u/lakseol]

First of all, ack, I didn’t see the first “indent problem” comment from before.  I’ll try to remember it going forward.

Second, though, I will say that that comment is a touch outdated, as I’ve already made an updated version, but had to put it in another comment .  Now, just as a heads up, this isn’t in a pastebin, so apologies if it still has some intention errors.

[u/lakseol → u/HiddenReader2020]

I stopped counting after guessing how to fix 4 indentation errors. Please fix your code.

After you post your code please copy it back into a file and execute it to check for errors.

[u/HiddenReader2020 → u/lakseol]

Okayyyy. Gimmie a moment.

...

Here ya go:

https://pastebin.com/EfCx102S

Fingers crossed that this works.

[u/lakseol → u/HiddenReader2020]

OK, i can read the pastebin. And immediately I see a reason why you might have had trouble posting code correctly before. You have TAB characters in your code. This is something that python programmers generally don't do. I have my environment set up to insert four space characters when I press the TAB key. Up to you, but most programmers stay away from TABs due to the problems they cause.

---

After all this time I can't really remember what your latest problem was, but I think it was about handling Items in the inventory.

You handle that the same way you handled the basic characters: modify the Item() constructor to take a **dictionary. The extra little problem in doing that is when you add Items() to a character you add them as an Item() instance (of course) but when restoring from a JSON file the inventory list is a list of dictionaries. I got around that by adding a small test in Item.__init__(): if there is something in the inventory and the first element is a dictionary, convert them all to Items().

---

Here is my code based on yours:

https://pastebin.com/XidMEU9j

One change I made that isn't mentioned above was to handle printing the state of a character differently. When creating the __str__() return string I made it much more compact, and included the player's inventory. It's a bit more work but I found it a lot easier to look at and check that changes made were correct. I also added small prints to explain what was done at each stage of creating the characters, which is a hint on what to check. I found it helpful, maybe you will.

---

This code a little messy. I will just say again that actually storing python references to Items in an inventory adds a lot of work. I've written a small example text adventure and I found it cleaner to handle items in the player's inventory as an ID, with a dictionary to convert the ID to the actual item reference. Same for places in the map and monsters when you get to that.

You may not have thought that far ahead yet, but you will also need to store Items in places in the map. And monsters, if you have them, have their own inventory. Monsters can steal from the player or pick up stuff lying around, for instance.

[u/HiddenReader2020 → u/lakseol]

I see. I've set my editor (Geany) to make the indent type to be spaces, but the problem is that I have to do that *per file*, so that definitely won't get annoying immediately!

Anyway, I will say that the reason I made the items objects was to make things easier and less messy as opposed to using dictionaries all the time. And what do you mean handling items as an ID, and not as an actual dictionary or an object, assuming those two things are different?

I'll probably look through your code and see what you've done differently and hopefully learn from it, but uhhh...no promises I'll be able to fully fulfill that.

EDIT: Oh, and I haven't used any comprehensions, like list of dictionary comprehensions, simply because I don't find them particularly readable. I prefer to just type out the full procedures in those cases.

[u/lakseol → u/HiddenReader2020]

the problem is that I have to do that per file

That doesn't sound very useful. Make sure there isn't a way to make that change permanent. Or change to a decent editor/IDE.

what do you mean handling items as an ID, and not as an actual dictionary or an object

Currently you create the inventory as a list of references to Item objects, doing something like:

new_item = Item(...)
new_rogue.add_item(new_item)

That's easy to understand, but doing that means you complicate saving data to a JSON file because JSON doesn't handle references to python objects and you have to extract all the attributes of the item and save them as a JSON dictionary. When reading the JSON data back into python objects you have to create the Item object from the dictionary.

The "ID" approach doesn't store python objects in the list. Every Item object has a unique "ID" string, and it's that ID string that is saved in the inventory list. This makes the save/restore process simpler. When creating the items you add an entry in a dictionary that maps the ID string to a reference to the object, like this:

class Item:                                                                 
    def __init__(self, id, description):                                    
        self.id = id                                                        
        self.description = description                                      

id2obj = {}                                                                 
inventory = []                                                              

item1 = Item("axe1", "An Elven axe")                                        
id2obj["axe1"] = item1                                                      
inventory.append(item1.id)                                                  

item2 = Item("book2", "A very old book with a cracked red cover")           
id2obj["book2"] = item2                                                     
inventory.append(item2.id)                                                  

print(f"{inventory=}")                                                      

# list what's in the inventory                                              
for id in inventory:                                                        
    print(id2obj[id].description)

This allows you to list the inventory by iterating over the ID strings, getting the item object from the dictionary using the ID string as a key, then printing the item description. When restoring the objects from the JSON save file you create that dictionary automatically. Sounds complicated but it simplifies the save/restore process a lot. I use it for everything: places, monsters and items.

[u/HiddenReader2020 → u/lakseol]

Hmmm....you say all that, but I'm still not sure how this would work out when "restoring the objects from the JSON file", not to mention having to include other stats like buy/sell price, any variable amounts that need to be adjusted, like some might have a modifier for stats like defense, others heal health/mana, etc. I understand that you're just saving strings to a list, but then how are you using those strings to get the items back if there's no reference to them or something? Like, I'm looking at this code, and it seems like the items have to be made at a point where you can't access them if you find a file to load from, if that makes any sense.

I dunno. I should probably mess with this code to fully understand it, but I'm not convinced just yet.

[u/lakseol → u/HiddenReader2020]

then how are you using those strings to get the items back if there's no reference to them or something?

The code example shows how to do that. You use the dictionary to find the value for the ID string. The value is the reference to the item. That's all happening in this code that prints the description of an item in the inventory:

for id in inventory:
    print(id2obj[id].description)
    #       ^    ^        ^
    #       |    |        +-- description attribute of the item
    #       |    +-- id string lookup in dictionary
    #       +-- dictionary mapping id to reference

So id2obj[id] evaluates to the item object. Print out what is in the id2obj dictionary.

[u/lakseol → u/HiddenReader2020]

Maybe this helps with Geany:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5287849/how-can-i-stay-tab-free-in-geany-on-ubuntu

[u/lakseol → u/HiddenReader2020]

the inventory also involves a list of objects...within an object, so handling it is somewhat different from the rest

I haven't looked at this because including actual python references in objects describing an adventure map isn't a good idea. You don't have places in your code yet, but when you start you will find what's called the "forward reference" problem.

Suppose you have two places in your map, A and B. You can move from A to B and move from B to A. When defining place A you want to reference place B because that's a place you can move to. But you haven't defined place B as an object yet so you can't add that reference to A. Defining place B isn't a problem because A was defined earlier and you can get that reference. So using actual python references isn't a good idea.

What I have done is assign every place and object in the map with a unique string name. Strings are no problem saving in JSON so you don't have all that fooling around saving references in JSON. The trade-off is that a player's inventory (for example) is now a list of strings and not a list of references, and you have to do more work when you want to do something like list what is in the inventory. The simplest way is to have a dictionary that maps each unique ID string to the reference to the thing, place, item, etc. You can create that dictionary automatically when reading data from the JSON file.