python enums with attributes

Question

Consider:

class Item:
   def __init__(self, a, b):
       self.a = a
       self.b = b

class Items:
    GREEN = Item('a', 'b')
    BLUE = Item('c', 'd')

Is there a way to adapt the ideas for simple enums to this case? (see this question) Ideally, as in Java, I would like to cram it all into one class.

Java model:

enum EnumWithAttrs {
    GREEN("a", "b"),
    BLUE("c", "d");

    EnumWithAttrs(String a, String b) {
      this.a = a;
      this.b = b;
    }

    private String a;
    private String b;

    /* accessors and other java noise */
}

Answer 1

Python 3.4 has a new Enum data type (which has been backported as enum34 and enhanced as aenum¹). Both enum34 and aenum² easily support your use case:

• aenum (Python 2/3)

    import aenum
    class EnumWithAttrs(aenum.AutoNumberEnum):
        _init_ = 'a b'
        GREEN = 'a', 'b'
        BLUE = 'c', 'd'
  

• enum34 (Python 2/3) or standard library enum (Python 3.4+)

    import enum
    class EnumWithAttrs(enum.Enum):
  
        def __new__(cls, *args, **kwds):
            value = len(cls.__members__) + 1
            obj = object.__new__(cls)
            obj._value_ = value
            return obj
        def __init__(self, a, b):
            self.a = a
            self.b = b
  
        GREEN = 'a', 'b'
        BLUE = 'c', 'd'
  

And in use:

>>> EnumWithAttrs.BLUE
<EnumWithAttrs.BLUE: 1>

>>> EnumWithAttrs.BLUE.a
'c'

---

¹ Disclosure: I am the author of the Python stdlib Enum, the enum34 backport, and the Advanced Enumeration (aenum) library.

² aenum also supports NamedConstants and metaclass-based NamedTuples.