You want to patch or apply decorators to functions in an existing module. However, youonly want to do it if the module actually gets imported and used elsewhere.
The essential problem here is that you would like to carry out actions in response to amodule being loaded. Perhaps you want to trigger some kind of callback function thatwould notify you when a module was loaded.
This problem can be solved using the same import hook machinery discussed inRecipe 10.11. Here is a possible solution:
# postimport.py
import importlib
import sys
from collections import defaultdict
_post_import_hooks = defaultdict(list)
class PostImportFinder:
def __init__(self):
self._skip = set()
def find_module(self, fullname, path=None):
if fullname in self._skip:
return None
self._skip.add(fullname)
return PostImportLoader(self)
class PostImportLoader:
def __init__(self, finder):
self._finder = finder
def load_module(self, fullname):
importlib.import_module(fullname)
module = sys.modules[fullname]
for func in _post_import_hooks[fullname]:
func(module)
self._finder._skip.remove(fullname)
return module
def when_imported(fullname):
def decorate(func):
if fullname in sys.modules:
func(sys.modules[fullname])
else:
_post_import_hooks[fullname].append(func)
return func
return decorate
sys.meta_path.insert(0, PostImportFinder())To use this code, you use the when_imported() decorator. For example:
>>> from postimport import when_imported
>>> @when_imported('threading')
... def warn_threads(mod):
... print('Threads? Are you crazy?')
...
>>>
>>> import threading
Threads? Are you crazy?
>>>As a more practical example, maybe you want to apply decorators to existing definitions,such as shown here:
from functools import wraps
from postimport import when_imported
def logged(func):
@wraps(func)
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
print('Calling', func.__name__, args, kwargs)
return func(*args, **kwargs)
return wrapper
# Example
@when_imported('math')
def add_logging(mod):
mod.cos = logged(mod.cos)
mod.sin = logged(mod.sin)This recipe relies on the import hooks that were discussed in Recipe 10.11, with a slighttwist.
First, the role of the @when_imported decorator is to register handler functions that gettriggered on import. The decorator checks sys.modules to see if a module was alreadyloaded. If so, the handler is invoked immediately. Otherwise, the handler is added to alist in the _post_import_hooks dictionary. The purpose of _post_import_hooks issimply to collect all handler objects that have been registered for each module. In principle,more than one handler could be registered for a given module.
To trigger the pending actions in _post_import_hooks after module import, the PostImportFinder class is installed as the first item in sys.meta_path. If you recall fromRecipe 10.11, sys.meta_path contains a list of finder objects that are consulted in orderto locate modules. By installing PostImportFinder as the first item, it captures all moduleimports.
In this recipe, however, the role of PostImportFinder is not to load modules, but totrigger actions upon the completion of an import. To do this, the actual import is delegatedto the other finders on sys.meta_path. Rather than trying to do this directly, thefunction imp.import_module() is called recursively in the PostImportLoader class. Toavoid getting stuck in an infinite loop, PostImportFinder keeps a set of all the modulesthat are currently in the process of being loaded. If a module name is part of this set, itis simply ignored by PostImportFinder. This is what causes the import request to passto the other finders on sys.meta_path.
After a module has been loaded with imp.import_module(), all handlers currently registeredin _post_import_hooks are called with the newly loaded module as an argument.
From this point forward, the handlers are free to do what they want with the module.A major feature of the approach shown in this recipe is that the patching of a moduleoccurs in a seamless fashion, regardless of where or how a module of interest is actuallyloaded. You simply write a handler function that’s decorated with @when_imported()and it all just magically works from that point forward.
One caution about this recipe is that it does not work for modules that have been explicitlyreloaded using imp.reload(). That is, if you reload a previously loaded module,the post import handler function doesn’t get triggered again (all the more reason to notuse reload() in production code). On the other hand, if you delete the module fromsys.modules and redo the import, you’ll see the handler trigger again.
More information about post-import hooks can be found in PEP 369 . As of this writing,the PEP has been withdrawn by the author due to it being out of date with the currentimplementation of the importlib module. However, it is easy enough to implementyour own solution using this recipe.