Script Importer

Dependable Imports for Your Ever-Changing Scripts.

Working with constantly changing Python scripts poses a unique challenge: how do you maintain reliable imports? The answer is script_importer. This innovative tool enables you to lock in on a specific version of your script, ensuring that future changes won't disrupt your dependencies. With script_importer, you're free to innovate and iterate your scripts while keeping other projects stable and dependable.

Examples

Example 1: Simple Import You can use script_importer to import the latest version of the say_hello function from myutils.py. This will always import say_hello from the most recent commit (as the suffix .latest suggests).

# This is your original script file `myutils.py`
def say_hello():
    print('hello')

# Now you want to use it in another place:
import script_importer
from script_importer.myutils.latest import say_hello

# Using the function
say_hello()  # prints: hello

Example 2: Version-specific Import With the .v suffix, script_importer can import a specific version of a function. Even though myutils.py has been modified, you can still access the old version of say_hello thanks to script_importer.

# Assume that you have modified `myutils.py` and it now looks like this:
def say_hello():
    print('hello, world!')

# But you still want the old version in another place:
import script_importer

# v20230103192241 is a version identifier, 'v' followed by the datetime of the specific git commit
from script_importer.myutils.v20230103192241 import say_hello

# Using the function
say_hello()  # prints: hello

Example 3: Managing Multiple Script Versions script_importer allows you to manage and use multiple versions of a script within the same project. By importing different versions of the say_hello function under different names, you can use the version that suits your needs in each part of your project.

# Assume that you have multiple versions of `myutils.py` and you want to use different versions in different places:
import script_importer

# Importing the latest version
from script_importer.myutils.latest import say_hello as latest_hello
latest_hello()  # prints: hello, world!

# Importing a specific version, again using the datetime of the commit as the version identifier
from script_importer.myutils.v20230103192241 import say_hello as old_hello
old_hello()  # prints: hello

Example 4: Importing Like Standard Python Imports With the .file suffix, you can import whatever is currently in the script file with script_importer. It works just like the standard Python import. This is particularly useful for testing out your scripts. But be aware, you must commit your changes to be able to lock in on them, as shown in Example 2.

# Assume that you have multiple versions of `myutils.py` and you want to use different versions in different places:
import script_importer

# Importing the latest version
from script_importer.myutils.file import say_hello as latest_hello
latest_hello()  # prints: hello, world!

# Importing a specific version, again using the datetime of the commit as the version identifier
from script_importer.myutils.v20230103192241 import say_hello as old_hello
old_hello()  # prints: hello

How to use

Install the package

pip install script_importer

Import syntax

You must import the script_importer package first. Then you can import a specific version of a script.

# Import the package first
import script_importer

# Import from script myutil.py
from script_importer.myutil.latest import foo
# OR import the whole script
import script_importer.myutil.latest as Util
# OR import everything
from script_importer.myutil.latest import *

Package statement follows the syntax script_importer.<name_of_scriptfile>.<version> (e.g., script_importer.myutil.latest). It always has three components, separated by dots.

1. script_importer. The name of the package.
2. <name_of_scriptfile>. The file name of your script, no space allowed. script_importer searches in order of specified folders (see the setup guide below), and returns the first result. Try not to have scripts under the same name.
3. <version>. Specify the version of the script to import from. Can be one of
   1. file. Import the file on disk just like the standard Python import.
   2. vyyyymmddHHMMSS. Import a specific version to lock in. It is a v followed by the datetime of the git commit in yyyymmddHHMMSS (year month day hour minutes seconds) format.
   3. latest Import the script from the latest commit. Automatically prints out the vyyyymmddHHMMSS information for you to lock in.

Setup script folders

Working like Python imports, script_importer searches for the requested script by its file name in the given folders. You can set the folders globally in the environment variable SCRIPT_IMPORTER_PATH. For example, we add a folder under C drive named my scripts, and another folder named PythonScripts under our Documents folder. In all OS systems, you need to separate multiple folders by a semicolon. Note that the order of folders matters. If you have two script files with the same name, the one that appeared first in the folders will be used.

SCRIPT_IMPORTER_PATH=C:\my scripts;C:\Document\PythonScripts

You can also modify the path script_importer searches by manipulating its path attribute:

import script_importer
# modify the path list and add a new folder to search for scripts
script_importer.path.append('D:/new script')
# import a constant from a script located at D:/new script/foo.py
from script_importer.foo.file import pi
print(pi) 
# prints 3.14