[MERGE] Rule-based preferences (EOL part 1 of 3)

[Ian Clatworthy]

John Arbash Meinel wrote:
> John Arbash Meinel has voted tweak.

> +    def get_items(self, path, names=None):
> +        """Return the preferences for a path as a sequence of
> name,value tuples.
> +
> +        :param path: tree relative path
> +        :param names: the list of preferences to lookup - None for all
> +        :return: None if no rule matched, otherwise a sequence of
> name,value
> +          tuples. If names is not None, the sequence is the same length as
> +          names, tuple order matches the order in names, and undefined
> +          preferences are given the value None.
> +        """
> +        raise NotImplementedError(self.get_items)
> 
> ^- The api here seems heavily dependent on whether names is supplied or
> not. (If you supply it, you always get return values, if you don't you
> sometimes get a sequence, sometimes get None.)

Hmm, not really. As the text says "None if no rule matched".
I think the API design is OK - it's exactly what *I* want/need. :-)
I'm happy to improve the docstring if you can suggest some better text.

> +    def test_get_items_from_extension_match(self):
> +        rs = self.make_searcher(["[*.txt]", "foo=bar", "a=True"])
> 
> ^- Shouldn't these lines have '\n' at the end of them?
> Even better, have it take "text" and then do the splitting yourself
> before handing it to _IniBasedRulesSearcher. I think it would be a lot
> easier for humans to understand than trying to follow the nested [] and
> quote characters.

I'm yet to do this but I'm happy to once the namespace keyword is agreed
(and hence the text is stable).

Ian C.