Configuration Classes

SuperConf provides three main configuration classes that serve different purposes in managing configuration data:

Configuration

The base Configuration class is the primary class for defining structured configuration objects. It inherits from ConfigurationDict and uses the DeclarativeValuesMetaclass for handling field declarations.

Key features:

• Declarative style configuration definition
• Field-based configuration with type checking
• Environment variable support through built-in loaders
• Nested configuration support
• Default values and help text support

Example:

from superconf.configuration import Configuration
from superconf.fields import FieldString, FieldInt, FieldBool

class DatabaseConfig(Configuration):
    host = FieldString(default="localhost", help="Database host")
    port = FieldInt(default=5432, help="Database port")
    username = FieldString(help="Database username")
    password = FieldString(help="Database password")

# Usage
db_config = DatabaseConfig()
print(db_config.host)  # "localhost"
print(db_config.port)  # 5432

ConfigurationDict

ConfigurationDict is a dictionary-like configuration container that allows dynamic key-value pairs. It's useful when you need to store configurations with arbitrary keys.

Key features:

• Dictionary-like interface
• Dynamic field creation
• Support for nested configurations
• Caching of values
• Environment variable loading
• Extra fields support (enabled by default)

Example:

from superconf.configuration import ConfigurationDict
from superconf.fields import FieldString, FieldInt

class ServiceConfig(ConfigurationDict):
    url = FieldString()
    timeout = FieldInt(default=30)

class AppConfig(ConfigurationDict):
    services = FieldDict(children_class=ServiceConfig)

# Usage
config = AppConfig(values={
    'services': {
        'auth': {'url': 'https://auth.example.com', 'timeout': 60},
        'api': {'url': 'https://api.example.com'},
    }
})

print(config.services['auth'].timeout)  # 60
print(config.services['api'].timeout)   # 30 (default)

ConfigurationList

ConfigurationList is a list-like configuration container for managing ordered sequences of configuration items.

Key features:

• List-like interface
• Integer-indexed access
• Support for homogeneous configuration items
• Dynamic field creation for list items
• Environment variable loading
• Extra fields support (enabled by default)

Example:

from superconf.configuration import ConfigurationList
from superconf.fields import FieldString, FieldInt, FieldList

class ServiceConfig(Configuration):
    url = FieldString()
    timeout = FieldInt(default=30)

class AppConfig(Configuration):
    services = FieldList(children_class=ServiceConfig)

# Usage
config = AppConfig(values={
    'services': [
        {'url': 'https://auth.example.com', 'timeout': 60},
        {'url': 'https://api.example.com'},
    ]
})

print(config.services[0].timeout)  # 60
print(config.services[1].timeout)  # 30 (default)

Common Features

All configuration classes share these common features:

1. Value Loading: - Support for multiple value loaders (Environment variables, dictionaries, etc.) - Caching of loaded values - Value type casting

2. Field Management: - Declared fields tracking - Dynamic field creation - Field value validation

3. Inheritance Support: - Configuration class inheritance - Field inheritance from parent classes - Override capability through Meta class

4. Value Access: - Dictionary-style access (config['key']) - Attribute-style access (config.key) - Nested value access (config.service.url)