Python - Write multiple JSON files each time user submits the form

Question

This code writes a file named vip.json. Currently, it is overwriting the same file each time i submit the form. But, I want - Each time i click on submit in my form (which is built in flask) I want new files created for each submission. Something like - vip1.json, vip2.json, vip3.json and so on each time the form is submitted.

from flask import Flask, render_template, url_for, flash, redirect, request, 
jsonify, json
from forms import RequestForm

@app.route("/home", methods=['POST'])
def home():
form = RequestForm()
employee_id = form.employee_id.data
email = form.email.data
network = form.network.data
app_name = form.app_name.data
vip_name = form.vip_name.data
pool_name = form.pool_name.data
pool_monitor = form.pool_monitor.data
pool_member = form.pool_member.data
load_balance = form.load_balance.data
ssl = form.ssl.data

data={}

data = {
    'Employee ID': employee_id,
    'Email': email,
    'Network': network,
    'App Name': app_name,
    'VIP Name': vip_name,
    'Pool name': pool_name,
    'Pool Monitor': pool_monitor,
    'Pool Member': pool_member,
    'Load Balancing Method': load_balance,
    'SSL': ssl
}

if form.validate_on_submit():
    with open("C:\\pytest\\vip.json",'w') as j:
        json.dump(data, j)

    return render_template ('home.html', title='Home', data=data, form=form, employee_id=employee_id, email=email, network=network, app_name=app_name, vip_name=vip_name, pool_name=pool_name, pool_monitor=pool_monitor, pool_member=pool_member, load_balance=load_balance, ssl=ssl)
else:
    return render_template('request.html', form=form)

I had a look online but i could not get anything useful. What will be the best way to do this?

Answer 1

You could use glob to scan your directory and get a list of all your json files, get the file with the latest version, then iterate it by one for the new file's name:

import os
import glob

# Use glob to get a list of existing vip files.
dir = "C:/pytest/"
files = glob.glob(os.path.join(dir, "vip*.json")) # Let's say it returns ["C:/pytest/vip1.json", "C:/pytest/vip2.json", "C:/pytest/vip3.json"]

# Grab the latest vip file.
latest_file = sorted(files)[-1]

# Strip the path so it's just the file's name.
file_name = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(latest_file))[0]

# Extract the number from the file's name.
num = int(file_name.lstrip("vip"))

# Generate your new path.
new_path = os.path.join(dir, "vip{}.json".format(num + 1))
# Output of new_path: C:/pytest/vip4.json

You may need additional error checking, like if num is really a number or if there are no existing files then to default num to 1, but I'll leave that to you.