Let’s start with something simple. The most basic kind of interface we can code would allow users to type keys and values in a console window in order to process the database (instead of writing Python program code). Example 2-21, for instance, implements a simple interactive loop that allows a user to query multiple record objects in the shelve by key.

# interactive queries
import shelve
fieldnames = ('name', 'age', 'job', 'pay')
maxfield   = max(len(f) for f in fieldnames)
db = shelve.open('class-shelve')

while True:
    key = raw_input('
Key? => ')       # key or empty line, exc at eof
    if not key: break
    try:
        record = db[key]                # fetch by key, show in console
    except:
        print 'No such key "%s"!' % key
    else:
        for field in fieldnames:
            print field.ljust(maxfield), '=>', getattr(record, field)

This script uses getattr to fetch an object’s attribute when given its name string, and the ljust left-justify method of strings to align outputs (maxfield, derived from a comprehension expression, is the length of the longest field name). When run, this script goes into a loop, inputting keys from the interactive user (technically, from the standard input stream, which is usually a console window) and displaying the fetched records field by field. An empty line ends the session:

Key? =>sue
name => Sue Jones
age  => 45
job  => music
pay  => 40000

Key? => nobody
No such key "nobody"!

Key? =>

Example 2-22 goes further and allows interactive updates. For an input key, it inputs values for each field and either updates an existing record or creates a new object and stores it under the key.

# interactive updates
import shelve
from person import Person
fieldnames = ('name', 'age', 'job', 'pay')

db = shelve.open('class-shelve')
while True:
    key = raw_input('
Key? => ')
    if not key: break
    if key in db.keys( ):
    record = db[key]                      # update existing record
    else:                                     # or make/store new rec
        record = Person(name='?', age='?')    # eval: quote strings
    for field in fieldnames:
        currval = getattr(record, field)
        newtext = raw_input('	[%s]=%s
		new?=>' % (field, currval))
        if newtext:
            setattr(record, field, eval(newtext))
    db[key] = record
db.close( )

Notice the use of eval in this script to convert inputs (as usual, that allows any Python object type, but it means you must quote string inputs explicitly) and the use of setattr call to assign an attribute given its name string. When run, this script allows any number of records to be added and changed; to keep the current value of a record’s field, press the Enter key when prompted for a new value:

Key? =>tom
        [name]=Tom Doe
                new?=>
        [age]=55
                new?=>56
        [job]=mgr
                new?=>
        [pay]=65000.0
                new?=>90000

Key? => nobody
        [name]=?
                new?=>'John Doh'
        [age]=?
                new?=>55
        [job]=None
                new?=>
        [pay]=0
                new?=>None

Key? =>

This script is still fairly simplistic (e.g., errors aren’t handled), but using it is much easier than manually opening and modifying the shelve at the Python interactive prompt, especially for nonprogrammers. Run the query script to check your work after an update (we could combine query and update into a single script if this becomes too cumbersome, albeit at some cost in code and user-experience complexity):

Key? =>tom
name => Tom Doe
age  => 56
job  => mgr
pay  => 90000

Key? => nobody
name => John Doh
age  => 55
job  => None
pay  => None

Key? =>