[ale] Python help for sig generator

[Joe]

What version of Python are you using? The "file" built-in is apparently
a recent development. Try replacing

affs = file(aff_file).readlines()

with

f = open(aff_file,"r")
affs = f.readlines()

HTH,

-- Joe Knapka

Trey Sizemore <treysizemore at bigfoot.com> writes:

> On Sat, 2003-03-15 at 22:28, Joe wrote:
> > Trey Sizemore <treysizemore at bigfoot.com> writes:
> > 
> > > I saw a post where someone had given a sample Python script to randomly
> > > generate sigs pulled from a text file.  I copied the script and made it
> > > executable, but the actual pulling of lines from the text file doesn't
> > > seem to work (see below).  I am using Evolution for email.  Here is the
> > > script (in my /home/trey
> > > directory):
> > > 
> > > #!/usr/bin/python
> > > 
> > > # change this to point to your file of quotes
> > > aff_file = "/home/trey/quotes.txt"
> > > 
> > > import string, random
> > > 
> > > # hack this at will
> > > print "---<br>"
> > > print "Cheers,<br>"
> > > print "Trey<br>"
> > > print "---<br>"
> > > print "<br>"
> > > print "Today's Affirmation (selected automatically just for you):<br>"
> > > print "<br>"
> > > 
> > > # cryptic python stuff which pulls a line from a text file
> > > # at random
> > > affs = file(aff_file).readlines()
> > > aff = affs[int(random.random() * len(affs))].split("\n")[0]
> > > 
> > > # print the randomly selected line
> > > print aff
> > 
> > If you run the Python script from the command line (eg
> > "python theScript.py"), do you get a random quote? (You
> > should, the code looks fine, provided each quote is
> > just one line long.)
> > 
> > Therefore, the problem is likely in the way you've configured
> > your mail client to use the script. I have no clue about
> > Evolution, sorry :-( But it should be something obvious.
> > Either your client directly supports using an outside executable
> > to generate siggage, or it doesn't; if it doesn't, you'll
> > probably need to use a named pipe (or FIFO, First-In-First-Out).
> > 
> > I used to do this with "fortune". I created a named fifo using mkfifo,
> > and ran a script that waited for the fifo to become writeable. When
> > that happened, it piped the output of "fortune" into the fifo,
> > followed by a ^D.  I told my email client that the file containing my
> > sig was the fifo. The email client thought it was reading a regular
> > file for my .sig, but each time it read that file, it got a different
> > fortune.
> > 
> > HTH,
> > 
> > -- Joe Knapka
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ale mailing list
> > Ale at ale.org
> > http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> 
> Here is the command line output:
> 
> trey at libranet:~$ python signature.py
> ---<br>
> Cheers,<br>
> Trey<br>
> ---<br>
> <br>
> Today's Affirmation (selected automatically just for you):<br>
> <br>
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "signature.py", line 19, in ?
>     affs = file(aff_file).readlines()
> NameError: name 'file' is not defined
> 
> It looks as if the variable IS defined.  The file source file is
> quotes.txt located in /home/trey.  Hmmmm.
> 
> > 
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> 

-- 
  "I'd rather chew my leg off than maintain Java code, which
   sucks, 'cause I have a lot of Java code to maintain and
   the leg surgery is starting to get expensive." - Me
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