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pythonclassobjectcontainers

Getting container/parent object from within contained object


In Python, is it possible to get the object, say Foo, that contains another object, Bar, from within Bar itself? Here is an example of what I mean:

class Foo(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.bar = Bar()
        self.text = "Hello World"

class Bar(object):
    def __init__(self):
        # I want to access the properties of the container object
        self.newText = foo.text

foo = Foo()

Is this possible?


Solution

  • Pass a reference to the Bar object, like so:

    class Foo(object):
        def __init__(self):
            self.text = "Hello World"  # has to be created first, so Bar.__init__ can reference it
            self.bar = Bar(self)
    
    class Bar(object):
        def __init__(self, parent):
            self.parent = parent
            self.newText = parent.text
    
    foo = Foo()
    

    Edit: as pointed out by @thomleo, this can cause problems with garbage collection. The suggested solution is laid out at http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2009/06/12/safely-using-destructors-in-python/ and looks like

    import weakref
    
    class Foo(object):
        def __init__(self):
            self.text = "Hello World"
            self.bar = Bar(self)
    
    class Bar(object):
        def __init__(self, parent):
            self.parent = weakref.ref(parent)    # <= garbage-collector safe!
            self.newText = parent.text
    
    foo = Foo()