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Configuration

Introduction

Before you can make any projects with view.py, you should learn about how it handles configuration. Configuration is handled by the configzen library under the hood, so most questions about configuration will be answered there.

The Config File

When creating your app, view will search for one of the following configuration files:

  • view.toml
  • view.json
  • view.ini
  • view_config.py

Note that while all of these are different formats, they can all evaluate to the same thing internally. If you have any questions on these semantics, once again see configzen.

Programatically

Many Python users aren't fond of the configuration file strategy, and that's okay. View supports editing the config at runtime just fine through the config property. The config property stores a Config object, which holds more subcategories.

app = new_app()
app.config.foo.bar = "..."

Configurations are loaded at runtime by the load_config function. If you would like to use View's configuration file without creating an App, you may use it like so:

from view import load_config

config = load_config()

Settings

View has several different configuration settings. For documentation purposes, values will be talked about in terms of Python (i.e. null values will be regarded as None).

At the top level, there's one real setting: dev.

dev is True by default, and is what tells view.py whether you're running in a production server setting or just running on your local machine.

Environment Variables

If you would like to set a configuration setting via an environment variable, you must account for the setting's environment prefix.

All environment prefixes look like view_<subcategory>_. For example, the loader setting is under the app section, so to set loader you would use the following command:

$ export view_app_loader=filesystem

Environment variables can also be set via the env config setting, or by adding a .env file to the project:

[env]
TEST = "hello"
TEST=hello

You can access environment variables via the view.env utility:

from view import env

test = env("TEST", tp=int)
# test will be an integer. if environment variable "TEST" does not  exist, an exception is thrown.
# if environment variable "TEST" is not an integer, an exception is thrown.

App Settings

Environment Prefix: view_app_

Key Description Default
loader This is the strategy that will be used to load routes. Can be manual, simple, or filesystem. manual
app_path A string defining the location of the app, as well as the variable name. Should be in the format of file_path:variable_name. app.py:app
uvloop Whether or not to use uvloop as a means of event loop. Can be decide or a bool value. decide
loader_path When the loader is simple or filesystem, this is the path that it searches for routes. routes/

Example with TOML:

[app]
loader = "filesystem"
loader_path = "./app"

Server Settings

Environment Prefix: view_server_

Key Description Default
host IPv4 address specifying what address to bind the server to. 0.0.0.0 by default. 0.0.0.0
port Integer defining what port to bind the server to. 5000
backend ASGI backend to use. Can be uvicorn, daphne, or hypercorn. uvicorn
extra_args Dictionary containing extra parameters for the ASGI backend. This parameter is specific to the backend and not View. {}

Example with TOML:

[server]
host = "localhost"
port = 8080

Log Settings

Environment Prefix: view_log_

Key Description Default
level Log level. May be debug, info, warning, error, critical, or an int. This is based on Python's built-in logging module. info
server_logger This is a bool determining whether the ASGI backend's logger should be displayed. False
fancy Whether to use View's fancy output mode. True
pretty_tracebacks Whether to use Rich Exceptions. True
startup_message Whether to show the view.py welcome message on server startup. True

User Logging Settings

Environment Prefix: view_user_log_

  • urgency: The log level for user logging. info by default.
  • log_file: The target file for outputting log messages. None by default.
  • show_time: Whether to show the time in each message. True by default.
  • show_caller: Whether to show the caller function in each message. True by default.
  • show_color: Whether to enable colorization for messages. True by default.
  • show_urgency: Whether to show the urgency for messages. True by default.
  • file_write: The preference for writing to an output file, if set. May be both, to write to both the terminal and the output file, only, to write to just the output file, or never, to not write anything.
  • strftime: The time format used if show_time is set to True. %H:%M:%S by default.

Example with TOML:

[log]
level = "warning"
fancy = false

[log.user]
log_file = "app.log"

Template Settings

Environment Prefix: view_templates_

  • directory: The path to search for templates. ./templates by default.
  • locals: Whether to include local variables in the rendering parameters (i.e. local variables can be used inside templates). True by default
  • globals: The same as locals, but for global variables instead. True by default.
  • engine: The default template engine to use for rendering. Can be view, jinja, django, mako, or chameleon. view by default.

Example with TOML:

[templates]
directory = "./pages"
engine = "jinja"