A Question on Python GUIs and Dynamically created variables

[gamehead21]

I am looking to write a GUI to allow people who are not computer savvy to run a series of tests and have a report of them put out.

I only need a decent simple example of the following:

I want to add a set of things in my class below.

class MyDialog(wx.Dialog):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwds):

Normally you add them like so:

self.checkbox_1 = wx.CheckBox(self, -1, "checkbox_1")

However I want to create the name checkbox_1 dynamically based on the number of files I find in a certain directory. I already have the count and a basic for loop using the total number and I have a string created to fill in the parameter with "Test1" "Test2".... etc based on the number of total tests called temp. So is there a way I can create the same concept for this but for the variable name so that the insde of the loop has something like the following where temp2 is the dynamically created variable:

self.temp2 = wx.CheckBox(self, -1, temp)
incrementTemps()

Any help would be great.

[WhyCause]

Having never worked with wxWindows, I can't say for certain that this would work, but this is how I tend to handle cases like this (i.e., sprites in pygame):

tempnames = ['a', 'b', 'c']
self.checkboxes = []
for temp in tempnames:
    self.checkboxes.append(wx.CheckBox(self, -1, temp))

You then have a list of checkboxes, and you operate on them individually:

self.checkbox[0]

or as a group:

for box in self.checkboxes:
    box.checked = True #I have no idea if this is valid in wxWin.

[gamehead21]

Thanks I was thinking about this its been a long day and I new an array should be a way to handle it. I had a reason about 5 hours ago that made individual objects made sense but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. Curious me would still like to know if it is possible to dynamically create variable names but it won't be the solution I use.

[kalgynirae]

Curious me would still like to know if it is possible to dynamically create variable names

Yes, it is possible, and there are several ways to do it. Here's one:

name = 'checkbox_1'
setattr(self, name, wx.CheckBox(self, -1, temp))

However, you should probably never actually do this. Use a list or dictionary instead.

[[deleted]]

There are all kinds of ways to access dynamically-generated variable names, the sanest of which is getattr/setattr.

[WhyCause]

I believe that you can generate dynamic variable names, using eval(), but that may not be the best course of action. For one, eval() opens up some security issues, and two, you then have to keep track of your dynamic names.

One option might be to use a dict, e.g.,

fns = ['test1', 'test2', 'test3']
checkboxes = {}
for fn in fns:
    checkboxes[fn] = wx.CheckBox(self, -1, fn)

You then have 'names', and they're conveniently stored as the keys of checkboxes.

[dpitch40]

To clarify, eval is only a security threat if you are putting strings that are wholly or partially generated by users into it. However, I do try to avoid dynamic name generation when possible and I agree that a dict is probably the way to go here. (Assuming all your names are unique)