Python AttributeError: 'module' has no attribute 'currentanimation'

Question

I have some code in main.py:

import pygame, char
def move(char):
    #movement code
    #friction
    if char.xaccel == 0:
        if abs(char.xvel) < char.xvelfalloff: char.xvel = 0
        elif abs(char.xvel) == char.xvel: char.xvel -= char.xvelfalloff
        elif abs(char.xvel) != char.xvel: char.xvel += char.xvelfalloff
    #acceleration
    char.xvel += char.xaccel
    #max speed
    if abs(char.xvel) > char.xmaxvel: char.xvel = math.copysign(char.xmaxvel,char.xvel)
    #position/collision detection
    char.x += char.xvel
    char.xaccel = 0
    char.yaccel = char.ygravity
    char.yvel += char.yaccel
    char.y += char.yvel
    if char.y < 0: #TODO: more collision detection
        char.yvel = 0
        char.y = 0
        char.onground = True
    if char.jumping:
        char.yvel = char.jumpstrength
        char.jumping = False
        char.onground = False
    #no more movement code
charObj = char.Char()
charObj = move(charObj)
screen.blit(char.currentanimation, pygame.Rect(char.x, (screen_height-char.y)-char.height, char.width, char.height))
pygame.display.flip()

and some code in char.py:

import pygame
class Char(): 
    spritesheet = pygame.image.load("images/spritesheet.png")
        walkanim = []
        for i in range(7):
            spritesheet.set_clip(pygame.Rect(((sprite_width-7)*i)+3,12,sprite_width,sprite_height))
            spritesheetsubsurface = spritesheet.subsurface(spritesheet.get_clip())
            walkanim.append(pygame.transform.scale(spritesheetsubsurface, (width, height)))

        spritesheet.set_clip(pygame.Rect(0,577,sprite_width,sprite_height))
        spritesheetsubsurface = spritesheet.subsurface(spritesheet.get_clip())
        idleanim = pygame.transform.scale(spritesheetsubsurface, (width, height))
        lastanim = "right"

        currentanimation = idleanim
        animationframeindex = 0
        animationframepause = 6 #how many frames go by between animation frames
        animationframetime = 0 #how many frames we have been on the same animation frame

Note that I've cut out everything unrelated here. So, I get an error when I run this code that says:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\spng453\scripts\super smash feminist\main.py", line 90, in <module>
    screen.blit(char.currentanimation, pygame.Rect(char_x, (screen_height-char_y)-char_height, char_width, char_height))
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'currentanimation'

I literally have no idea where I could have gone wrong here. Any help with understanding where this problem stems from would be appreciated.

Answer 1

If you define a class to have an attribute (ie, self.currentanimation), you can access it like so:

charObj = char.Char()
charObj.currentanimation

What you're doing in your code is looking inside the module char, not inside your instance of Char (charObj). The char module has no attribute/variable/etc named currentanimation. But instances of Char do – or, rather, they will once you define an __init__() method in your class definition, and start using self :-)

For more on setting and accessing attributes, take a look at this section of the docs.