Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Find centralized, trusted content and collaborate around the technologies you use most.

Learn more about Collectives

Teams

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Learn more about Teams

I have a program (like a macro) that runs within a parent program and imports an API module from that program (lets call it foo ). The problem is that that module only exists within that program, so I can't do things like run pydocmd outside the software because the script throws a ReferenceError. To aid in my own development I have create a type stub file, foo.pyi , in my project directory. What I would like to do is import that type stub as a normal Python file if the import fails, to provide dummy functions and properties. Something like:

import foo except ImportError: from . import foo.pyi

This raises an error, however, as it's trying to import pyi from the foo library that does not exist in the project folder. The only other option I can think of is to have an identical copy of the .pyi file as, say "dummy_foo.py" but then I have to maintain two copies of the same file in one repo. I'd rather not do that.

can you elaborate a bit more on the stub file? Those are usually used for type-hinting, but your question makes it sound like you have actual logic in it? I have a fairly good idea on how to solve your question as long as I understood it correctly. I just want to make sure I've got it right before answering. It would help a TON if you could add an MRE to your question (also for future visitors). – exhuma Jan 29, 2021 at 11:05 def import_stub(stubs_path, module_name): sys.path_hooks.insert(0, importlib.machinery.FileFinder.path_hook( (importlib.machinery.SourceFileLoader, ['.pyi'])) sys.path.insert(0, stubs_path) return importlib.import_module(module_name) finally: sys.path.pop(0) sys.path_hooks.pop(0)

I found this question, but my problem was about type checking. In my case pyi file contains class definition (so type hints are working), but the library doesn't. Solution is in checking typing.TYPE_CHECKING :

from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
if TYPE_CHECKING:
    from library import _PrivateClass
def foo(x: "_PrivateClass"):
        
Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow!
Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.