🔒 Unsure of how to approach project spread across multiple files.

[hidden lodge]

I currently have a larger scale project than I normally attempt, in that I'm at the point where it is more convenient to split up my code base into multiple files.

I currently have my file system arrayed as such:

src/
  main.py
  tools/
    __init__.py
    widgets.py

I would like to add a new file about.py to the src directory such that:

src/
  about.py
  main.py
  tools/
    __init__.py
    widgets.py

And where about.py is accessable by both main.py and tools/__init__.py.

How would I best go about doing this, and how would I organise the entry point to the application?

Response from @velvet quartz:

Best to use a unique project name for your package
So you have
project-name/src/project_name/__init__.py
And
project-name/src/project_name/__main__.py
And then you can run it with python -m project_name
Then relative imports will work

@velvet quartz I'm sorry I didn't respond to this, I somehow forgot I made this post. I have a few more questions about this project. Some further help would be greatly appreciated!

• I've been told elsewhere that it's bad practice to use relative imports from a parent directory, is that the case or should I still be fine?

• And, were I to build this with PyInstaller or similar, how would I go about that considering the entry point is a directory?

[winter valley]

@hidden lodge

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[languid smelt]

didn't you repost this

[velvet quartz]

Relative imports are fine inside a package, they don't work outside a top level package

Which is why it's best to only have one top level package

[hidden lodge]

It didn't get answered the first time, the second someone did answer but I completely forgot I made the post, and I'm still a little unsure of a couple things.

[hidden lodge]

ok, so importing from a parent directory, so long as it is still in the package, is fine?

[velvet quartz]

Yeah

Eg you'd only have one directory and no files in src

And you'd use python -m project_name to run your package

Using the __main__.py as an entry

[hidden lodge]

ok

in which case the working directory would still be src/ or would it be src/project_name/? i.e. where would I need to put files that are read by __main__.py?

[velvet quartz]

Use importlib.resources

And put files somewhere under src/project_name

https://docs.python.org/3/library/importlib.resources.html#importlib.resources.files

[hidden lodge]

so something like:

src/
  project_name/
    __init__.py
    __main__.py
    about.py
    assets/ <- Folder containing JSON and image files.
    tools/
      __init__.py
      widgets.py

[velvet quartz]

I'd also put an __init__.py in your assets folder

So you can do

import json
import importlib.resources
from . import assets

example = importlib.resources.files(assets) / "example.json"
with example.open('rb') as f:
    data= json.load(f)

[hidden lodge]

ok

I also just tested putting the assets folder in src/ as so:

src/
  assets/
    example.json
  project_name/
    __init__.py
    __main.py

and was able to read example.json from __main__.py. Is using importlib.resources preferable or did I just come across a fluke?

[velvet quartz]

You just fluked it

You should use importlib.resources

[hidden lodge]

Ok, and lastly, how would I go about building the project with something like pyinstaller?

[velvet quartz]

I don't know, I heard good things about https://github.com/indygreg/PyOxidizer

[hidden lodge]

Ok, thank you very much for giving me your time, after I didn't respond the first time!

!close

[winter valley]

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