Fundamentals

Config Classes#

Anyfig allows you to specify configs in Python code. Instead of defining values in json or yaml, you add them to an Anyfig config-class as attributes.

import anyfig

@anyfig.config_class  # Registers the class with anyfig
class MyConfig:
  def __init__(self):
    # Config-values goes as attributes
    self.experiment_note = 'Changed stuff'
    # ... More config values

What Can You Put in a Config Class?#

Defining configurations in Python has multiple benefits, one of them being that you can define configs at runtime. Any Python code can go into the config. You can for example call a function and put the result into the config, even if the return value is a custom object.

Just because you can put anything into the config doesn't mean that you should. Keep your configs simple and readable. Complex logic code is better suited for the main program. With that said, it's ultimately up to you... With great power comes great responsibility 🕷️

import anyfig
from pathlib import Path
import time

@anyfig.config_class  # Registers the class with anyfig
class MyConfig:
  def __init__(self):
    # Config-values goes as attributes
    self.experiment_note = 'Changed stuff'
    self.save_directory = Path('output')
    self.start_time = time.time()

Initialize Config#

To access the config-values you need to instantiate an object from the config class. This is done via Anyfig's init_config function. The returned object behaves as a normal class, with the exception of some added Anyfig functionality, for example a custom __str__ function.

import anyfig
from pathlib import Path
import time

@anyfig.config_class  # Registers the class with anyfig
class MyConfig:
  def __init__(self):
    # Config-parameters goes as attributes
    self.experiment_note = 'Changed stuff'
    self.save_directory = Path('output')
    self.start_time = time.time()

# Instantiate config object
config = anyfig.init_config(default_config=MyConfig)
print(config)

# ~~~ ⬇ Output ⬇ ~~~
MyConfig:
    experiment_note (str): Changed stuff
    save_directory (PosixPath): output
    start_time (float): 1586769550.863856

Using the Config#

Once the config object is initialized, the config-values can be accessed via the dot notation.

import anyfig
from pathlib import Path
import time
from myproject.io import FileWriter

@anyfig.config_class  # Registers the class with anyfig
class MyConfig:
  def __init__(self):
    # Config-parameters goes as attributes
    self.experiment_note = 'Changed stuff'
    self.save_directory = Path('output')
    self.start_time = time.time()

# Instantiate config object
config = anyfig.init_config(default_config=MyConfig)

# Use config values
writer = FileWriter(config.save_directory)
...

Global Config#

Most people pass the config-object around their code, accessing the config-values at various places to initilize their other components. Anyfig offers an alternative to this. The anyfig.init_config() function registers the config-object with Anyfig, allowing it to be accessed from any file through anyfig.get_config() or the proxy class anyfig.global_cfg.

Global objects are often considered bad practice because multiple components can change the same global object which complicates understandability and debugging. Anyfig's config-objects are immutable by default to mitigate this.

my_project/another_file.py

from anyfig import global_cfg, get_config

class SomeClass:
  def __init__(self):
    # Access the config directly through an instance of the GlobalConfig helper class
    self.save_dir = global_cfg.save_directory

    # Or get the actual config-object. This is needed for e.g. isinstance(...) checks
    config = get_config()
    self.save_dir = config.save_directory

Saving & Loading#

Coming soon...