Containment constraints

Containment constraints allow us to express restrictions on the types of items that can be placed in containers or on the types of containers an item can be placed in. We express these constraints in interfaces. Let's define some container and item interfaces:

>>> from zope.container.interfaces import IContainer
>>> from zope.location.interfaces import IContained
>>> from zope.container.constraints import containers, contains

>>> class IBuddyFolder(IContainer):
...     contains('.IBuddy')

In this example, we used the contains function to declare that objects that provide IBuddyFolder can only contain items that provide IBuddy. Note that we used a string containing a dotted name for the IBuddy interface. This is because IBuddy hasn't been defined yet. When we define IBuddy, we can use IBuddyFolder directly:

>>> class IBuddy(IContained):
...     containers(IBuddyFolder)

Now, with these interfaces in place, we can define Buddy and BuddyFolder classes and verify that we can put buddies in buddy folders:

>>> from zope import interface

>>> class Buddy:
...     interface.implements(IBuddy)

>>> class BuddyFolder:
...     interface.implements(IBuddyFolder)

>>> from zope.container.constraints import checkObject, checkFactory
>>> from zope.component.factory import Factory

>>> checkObject(BuddyFolder(), 'x', Buddy())
>>> checkFactory(BuddyFolder(), 'x', Factory(Buddy))
True

If we try to use other containers or folders, we'll get errors:

>>> class Container:
...     interface.implements(IContainer)

>>> class Contained:
...     interface.implements(IContained)

>>> checkObject(Container(), 'x', Buddy())
... # doctest: +ELLIPSIS
Traceback (most recent call last):
InvalidContainerType: ...

>>> checkFactory(Container(), 'x', Factory(Buddy))
False

>>> checkObject(BuddyFolder(), 'x', Contained())
... # doctest: +ELLIPSIS
Traceback (most recent call last):
InvalidItemType: ...

>>> checkFactory(BuddyFolder(), 'x', Factory(Contained))
False

In the example, we defined the container first and then the items. We could have defined these in the opposite order:

>>> class IContact(IContained):
...     containers('.IContacts')

>>> class IContacts(IContainer):
...     contains(IContact)

>>> class Contact:
...     interface.implements(IContact)

>>> class Contacts:
...     interface.implements(IContacts)

>>> checkObject(Contacts(), 'x', Contact())

>>> checkFactory(Contacts(), 'x', Factory(Contact))
True

>>> checkObject(Contacts(), 'x', Buddy())
... # doctest: +ELLIPSIS
Traceback (most recent call last):
InvalidItemType: ...

>>> checkFactory(Contacts(), 'x', Factory(Buddy))
False

The constraints prevent us from moving a container beneath itself (either into itself or another folder beneath it):

>>> container = Container()
>>> checkObject(container, 'x', container)
Traceback (most recent call last):
TypeError: Cannot add an object to itself or its children.

>>> import zope.location.interfaces
>>> import zope.interface
>>> subcontainer = Container()
>>> zope.interface.directlyProvides(subcontainer,
...     zope.location.interfaces.ILocation)
>>> subcontainer.__parent__ = container
>>> checkObject(subcontainer, 'x', container)
Traceback (most recent call last):
TypeError: Cannot add an object to itself or its children.

CHANGES